Tyndall Army Airbase
Tyndall Air Force Base
445 Suwannee Road
Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida 32403
Bay County
850-283-8572
This site is located in the Northwest region of the state.
DIRECTIONS
Tyndall Air Force Base is approximately thirteen miles east of Panama City and twenty miles west of Port St. Joe. Access to the base is from US 98, which intersects the site in an east/west orientation.
Named to honor World War I flying ace and Florida native, Lt. Frank B. Tyndall, the first group of men arrived on the base in August 1941. Eventually encompassing over 28,000 acres along the Gulf of Mexico, this site originated as a diversified gunnery school. Classes began in early 1942 with 8,000 graduates during this first year of operation.
Hollywood movie idol, Clark Gable, received gunnery training here after Officer Candidate School in Miami Beach. Graduating in January 1942, Gable went on combat duty in Europe. Another notable trainee, Detroit Tiger Hall-of-Famer Hank Greenburg, received his gunnery schooling at Tyndall, but to much less fanfare. In addition, cadets from France and China received gunnery training here during 1943.
Students used shotguns in ground training, which evolved to moving target practice on the ground and ultimately in the air with sleeves towed by other aircraft. Although considered to be a B-24 Liberator base, much of the training employed the use of the B-17 Flying Fortress.
With the Allied victory, Tyndall became Tyndall Air Force Base, home to the 325th Fighter Wing. Accordingly, access by the public is limited to only those persons with advance permission.
IMAGES:
LINK:
Tyndall Air Force Base
https://www.tyndall.af.mil/
