Gulfport Army Air Field

Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center Gulfport Army Airfield Gulfport Air Force Base
Part of Mississippi Air National Guard (ANG)
Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, Mississippi
United States Army and Air Force National Guard units training at Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center - Mississippi
Gulfport CRTC
Coordinates	30°24′26″N 89°04′12″W / 30.40722°N 89.07000°W / 30.40722; -89.07000 (Gulfport CRTS)Coordinates: 30°24′26″N 89°04′12″W / 30.40722°N 89.07000°W / 30.40722; -89.07000 (Gulfport CRTS)
Type	Combat Readiness Training Center
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Garrison information
Garrison	255th Air Control Squadron

Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center is a United States Air Force training center, located at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, Mississippi. It is located 5 miles (8.0 km) north-northeast of Gulfport, Mississippi.

The Air National Guard Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC) at Gulfport, Mississippi hosts regular deployments of Air National Guard units, and offers convenient offshore airspace that is fully instrumented (ACMI) for recording air-to-air engagements. Nearby Camp Shelby, MS features an air-to-ground range and sufficient low-altitude MOA airspace to provide realistic ground attack scenarios.

All Airspace and ranges/drop zones are instrumented on the $26 million Air Combat Training System (ACTS). This system provides advanced, realistic training and debriefing capability and combines sophisticated electronic threat and scoring systems as well.

The CRTC has two tenant Mississippi Air National Guard units on base.

While not considered a tenant of the CRTC, 1108 Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group (formerly known as the 1108th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot, or AVCRAD), Mississippi Army National Guard, is co-located at the Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport. They are a full Army aviation maintenance depot facility.

The facility was originally constructed in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces as a training base for Air Corps Flying Training Command. Gulfport Army Airfield opened on 7 July, and the Eastern Technical Training Command conducted technical training and basic training until transferred to Third Air Force on 31 March 1944 with joint use by Technical Training Command for marine training of Emergency Rescue School (3d Air Rescue Group) located at Keesler Army Airbase. The airfield had many several landing fields to support pilot training:

Under Third Air Force, the 328th Army Air Force Base Unit conducted replacement training for heavy bomber (B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator) units. In addition B-29 Superfortress aircrew transition training was performed. With the end of the war and the drawdown of the military, Gulfport AAF was placed into reserve status on 31 January 1946.