This US Air Force Base Has The Most Fighter Jets In The Country
Between the United States Air Force, Space Force, and Air National Guard, the U.S. military flies a lot of planes: 5,003 of them to be exact, according to a survey by Air and Space Forces Magazine. 2,027 of those aircraft are fighter jets or jets with a direct attack role. This number doesn't even include the thousands of jets used by the United States Navy.
That inventory of Air Force jets is stored on air bases around the world. It's worth asking the question, which air base has the largest inventory? Now, for obvious reasons, most military bases aren't just going to list the entire inventory of jets online for everyone with an internet connection to see.
Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, however, is a little bit different. It's the de facto home of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the most iconic fighter jets to ever fly and serves as the training base for the jet with the 56th Fighter Wing. As such, it has 138 F-16s on base and ready to go, making it the "the largest fighter wing in the U.S. Air Force," according to the Air Education and Training Command. If you are assigned to fly an F-16 with the United States Air Force, Luke Air Force Base will probably be your home for a while as you learn the ropes.
The home of fighter pilot training
Luke Air Force Base is named after Lieutenant Frank Luke Jr., a World War I fighter triple ace and Medal of Honor recipient. In 1918, Luke scored 18 air "kills" with his French SPAD biplane.
The base itself started operations in 1940 in the opening years of World War II and was part of an initiative by then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to train fighter pilots. Over the course of the war, 17,321 pilots earned their wings at the base. A total of 61,178 pilots have graduated from the base according to fiscal year 2019 numbers, the most recent year that numbers were published. With so many pilots learning on base, it's no wonder it's home to so many F-16s.
Today, the base covers millions of acres in the Sonoran desert and is home to the Barry M. Goldwater test range where pilots from allied countries can learn how to fly and fight. In addition to the F-16, Luke Air Force Base trains F-35 Lightning II pilots.