Map of Robins AFB CDP

Robins Air Force Base (IATA: WRB, ICAO: KWRB) is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, 18 mi (29 km) south-southeast of Macon and approximately 100 mi (160 km) south-southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. The base is named in honor of Brig Gen Augustine Warner Robins, the Air Force’s “father of logistics”. The base is the single largest industrial complex in Georgia, employing a workforce of over 25,584 civilian, contractor, and military members.

Robins AFB is the home of the Air Force Materiel Command’s Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex (WR-ALC) (FLZ) which is the worldwide manager for a wide range of aircraft, engines, missiles, software and avionics and accessories components. The commander of WR-ALC is Brigadier General Jennifer Hammerstedt. It is one of three Air Force Air Logistic Complexes, the others being Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex (OC-ALC) at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and Ogden Air Logistics Complex (OO-ALC) at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

The host unit at Robins AFB is the 78th Air Base Wing (78 ABW) which provides services and support for the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex and its tenant organizations.

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History

The War Department, in search of a site for an Army Air Corps Depot, selected the sleepy whistle-stop town known as Wellston, Georgia, 18 miles south of Macon. Army Colonel Charles Thomas, originally from Atlanta, landed at the Herbert Smart Airport near Camp Wheeler near Macon in October 1941 to oversee the building of the location which would later become the home to Wellston Air Depot at Robins Field (later to become Robins AFB).

It was Col. Thomas who chose the name Robins for his mentor Brig. Gen. Augustine Warner Robins. Brig. Gen. Robins is considered the “father of logistics” in the United States Air Force for his system of cataloging supplies and materials. He had a lengthy military career prior to becoming the chief of the Air Corps Materiel Division. Robins traveled in China disguised as a millionaire tourist, collecting intelligence for the Army. He also went to Mexico where he served under Gen. John J. Pershing in the Army’s campaign against Pancho Villa. He trained during World War I to become a pilot earning his wings in June 1918. He didn’t get to see combat because the war was ending. Robins suffered a near-fatal plane crash in 1921 in which his jaw and arm were severely broken. Brig. Gen. Robins died of a heart attack on Father’s Day, 16 June 1940 at Randolph Field, Texas, while he was Commandant of the Air Corps Training Center.

After World War II, the number of military and civilian employees dropped until in March 1946 it reached a total of only 3,900. The workforce grew again as the base supported the Berlin Airlift, until by 1949 the workforce had grown again to 11,000. When the Air Force closed down its maintenance depots at the former Brookley AFB in Mobile, Alabama and the former Olmsted AFB in Middleton Township, Pennsylvania, Robins AFB assumed the workload of these depots.

On 28 October 1949, Robins AFB became the headquarters of the 14th Air Force, the numbered air force responsible for administering the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard.

Some Robins AFB SAC units went to Guam or Vietnam during the Vietnam War and took part in many of the bombing missions. Maintenance teams from Robins frequently traveled to Southeast Asia to repair severely damaged aircraft. Robins AFB eventually managed the Lockheed C-141, C-7, and the F-15 Eagle as well as modifying the C-130s to the gunship configuration.

Robins played a key role in the Vietnam War (1964–73), supplying troops and materiel through the Southeast Asian Pipeline and modifying AC-119G/K and AC-130 gunships. Also playing a role were the C-141, the C-130, the C-123, and the C-124 cargo aircraft—all maintained at Robins. In 1973 these same C-141s supported the resupply of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. In October 1983, C-130s from Robins supported U.S. forces in the invasion of Grenada.

Between 1977 and 1981, Robins was the air base used by former President Jimmy Carter during his tenure on visits to his hometown of Plains. SAC’s B-52s left Robins in 1983 leaving the 19th Wing as the sole SAC unit on the base with its KC-135s.

Modern era

In 1990–91, during the Persian Gulf War, Robins provided record numbers of parts, repairs, and personnel to coalition forces in the Persian Gulf. Robins-maintained F-15 Eagles and the E-8 Joint STARS played key roles in defeating the Iraqi military powers. In March–June 1999, during Operation Allied Force, the same employees and weapon systems played a decisive role in defeating the forces of the Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic.

In 1996, the Georgia Air National Guard’s 116th Fighter Wing at Dobbins AFB relinquished their F-15 aircraft and moved to Robins, transitioning to B-1 Lancer bombers and being redesignated as the 116th Bomb Wing. That same year, the former 93rd Bomb Wing at Robins was reactivated as the 93rd Air Control Wing with the E-8 Joint STARS aircraft. In 2001, the B-1 bombers left Robins AFB and the Georgia Air National Guard entered into a merged Active-Guard “associate” wing arrangement in the Joint STARS mission with the active Air Force, with the Air National Guard holding lead responsibility as the 116th Air Control Wing.

The Warner Robins Air Logistic Complex and Robins AFB form the largest single industrial complex in the State of Georgia. The 23,000 civilian employees have an annual payroll over $1 billion. The Logistic Complex manages and overhauls the F-15, C-5 Galaxy, C-130 Hercules, and the AC-130 gunships—and all of the Air Force’s helicopters. In addition, the Complex also supports the C-17 Globemaster III and U-2 aircraft.

Until June 2008, Robins was also the home of the KC-135s of the 19th Air Refueling Group, when the unit was inactivated, then reactivated a month later as the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock AFB, Arkansas. The E-8s of the 116th Air Control Wing continues to operate at Robins as a combined Regular Air Force and Georgia Air National Guard air control wing, and the headquarters of the Air Force Reserve Command is also located on the base. The metropolis of Warner Robins, Georgia, has grown in proportion to become the sixth largest city in Georgia.

For a brief period, Robins AFB was the home of the C-27J Schoolhouse. The schoolhouse officially began classes at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia on 9 September 2009. L-3 Link (a subsidiary of the former L3 Technologies) operated the official C-27J schoolhouse at the Georgia Department of Defense’s Fixed Wing Flight Facility at Robins AFB. This flight facility included training classrooms, computer learning center, a 100-person auditorium, flight planning, and fight operations areas. The facility also housed the resident Government Flight Representative and Aviation Program Team assigned to the C-27J contract. Fixed Wing Flight Facility Robins AFB is also home of Hotel Company, 171st Aviation Regiment, Georgia Army National Guard, flying the cargo delivery Short C-23 Sherpa. The schoolhouse was deactivated when the Air Force divested its C-27J fleet as part of the 2014 National Defence Authorization Act.

On 1 April 2016, an EF-1 tornado ripped through the northeast corner of Centerville and continued over Robins Air Force Base, ripping off hangar roofs.

Robins was one of several filming locations used in the 2020 disaster film Greenland, with the protagonist and his family being sent to the base to be evacuated in advance of a catastrophic comet impact.

Major commands

• Air Service Command, 22 July 1942

• Air Force Materiel Command, 1 June 1992 – present
• Air Force Reserve Command, 17 February 1997–present

Major units assigned

Robins AFB Road Map

Robins AFB city Satellite Map

Geography

The base is located in northeastern Houston County, bordered to the west by the city of Warner Robins. The Ocmulgee River is to the east. It is 17 miles (27 km) south of Macon.

See also