Mach 3+ YF-12 interceptor that later became the basis for the SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. In the early 1960s, a YF-12 would launch from Edwards AFB, California, climb to around 70,000 feet and intercept a drone over the Gulf of Mexico that was launched Eglin AFB, shoot it down, and then return to Edwards AFB. This was a spectacular show of advanced technology of that time. MoADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966 and redesignated as the 32d Air Division. DC-09 with its AN/FSQ-7 computer remained under the 32d Air Division until it and the Air Division were inactivated on 31 December 1969 when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE Data Centers. Gunter Annex In 1971, nearly of Gunter were returned to the city of Montgomery. In that year the Air Force Data Systems Design Center moved there and in 1972 the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy came to Gunter. In early 1973, Gunter was redesignated an "Air Force Station". Major construction was undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to the advocacy of Congressman William Dickinson, and in 1988 Gunter was redesignated an "Air Force Base". The primary tenants were still the Extension Course Institute, the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy and the Air Force Data Systems Design Center. In March 1992, Gunter was again redesignated, this time as Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, and now falls under the command of nearby Maxwell Air Force Base. Previous names Army Air Corps Basic Flying School, Municipal Airport, Montgomery, Alabama, 27 August 1940 Gunter Field, 10 February 1941 Gunter Air Force Base, 13 January 1948 Gunter Air Force Station, 1 February 1973 Gunter Air Force Base, 1 July 1988 Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, 1 March 1992 Major commands to which assigned Southeast Air Corps Training Center, 27 August 1940 Air Corps Flying Training Command, 23 January 1942 Re-designated: Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, 15 March 1942 Army Air Forces Training Command, 31 July 1943 Army Air Forces School, 15 December 1945 Re-designated: Air University, 12 Mar 1946 Air Training Command, 15 May 1978 Re-designated: Air Education and Training Command, 1 July 1993 Major ADCOM units assigned Montgomery Air Defense Sector, 8 September 1957 – 1 April 1966 Redesignated: 32d Air Division, 1 April 1966-31 December 1969 Fourteenth Air Force, 1 April 1966 – 1 July 1968 See also Alabama World War II Army Airfields