The Americans named the airfield after Captain Michael Scott Speicher, a United States Navy pilot who was killed in action in Iraq during the Gulf War.

The base was one of several Iraqi Air Force airfields in the mid-1970s which were re-built under project "Super-Base" in response to the experiences from Arab–Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973.

The base had a large Post Exchange (PX), as well as several American fast food restaurants, including Subway, Burger King, and Pizza Hut.

2010 2011 The US Army left COB Speicher and handed it over to the Government of Iraq on 20 October 2011 as part of the general withdrawal of US Forces.

By mid June 2014, Tikrit was overrun by the militant group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

A video released by ISIL in July showed the executions done in several locations including shooting the cadets in trenches and then throwing the bodies in the River Tigris.

[13] The assault included snipers and suicide bombers and the militants quickly managed to reach the runway, at which point Iraqi special forces joined the battle.