Williams Air Force Base

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Williams Air Force Base was the leading pilot training facility of the United States Air Force for many years, supplying 25% of all pilots. The base, now defunct, was located ten miles east of Chandler, Arizona on land that has since been annexed as part of Mesa, Arizona.

The United States Army Air Forces broke ground for its Advance Flying School there on July 16, 1941. During the fifty-two years it was operational, the base graduated more pilots and instructors than any other base in the country and supplied twenty-five percent of the Air Force's pilots annually. The base was closed in September, 1993. Some property was retained by the US government while other portions were conveyed and converted into the civilian Williams Gateway Airport and a educational campus anchored by Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus and Chandler-Gilbert Community College.