Andrews is located just a few miles southeast of Washington, D.C..  It is to visitors ranging from the president of the United States to congressional delegations, foreign heads of state and other visiting dignitaries. It briefly as the first home of Strategic Air Command Headquarters.  It has long been the home of Force One>
    What became Andrews AFB began during the Civil War when Union troops occupied a small country church near Camp Springs, Md., as sleeping quarters. At present, the same church is used on the base and is known as Chapel Two.
      Established as Camp Springs Army Air Field on 25, 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a letter to the secretary of war directing the use of the land on which the base now stands.  The base was under construction during the remainder of 1942 and became operational May 2, 1943, with the arrival of the first Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
      The name of the base was formally changed to Andrews Field March 31, 1945, in honor of Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews. Gen. Andrews was commanding general of the United States Forces in the European Theater of Operations at the time of his death in an aircraft accident near Iceland in 1943. With the establishment of the Air Force as a separate military service on Sept. 18, 1947, the name was modified to its present form, Andrews AFB.
    1947 marked the arrival of the first permanently assigned jet-powered aircraft, the F-80 Shooting Star, at Andrews. The long-lived and versatile training version of the F-80, the T-33, still played an important role in proficiency flying programs at Andrews more than 30 years later.  With the onset of the Korean War in June 1950, Andrews rapidly became involved in combat readiness training for B-25 medium bomber crews. Combat readiness training and proficiency flying for military pilots assigned non-flying duties in the Washington area have remained two key elements in the local mission since the establishment of the base.  Andrews' air defense role was strengthened in the 1950s with the latest in fighter-interceptor hardware appearing on the flightline. F-94 Starfires, F-102 Delta Daggers and finally, F-106 Delta Darts formed the backbone of the three fighter interceptor squadrons which operated from the base until 1963.