It also provides initial and recurrent training to all EC-130H Compass Call pilots, navigators, electronic warfare officers, and aircrew.

The 943 RQG is tasked to provide combat search and rescue (CSAR) and personnel recovery (PR) support worldwide.

The 924th Fighter Group, originally a classic associate unt to the 355 FW, now 355 WG, flies the A-10 Thunderbolt II and is now equipped with its own aircraft.

Perhaps the most prominent tenant is the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG) of the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC).

[2] The base was named in honor of World War I pilots Lieutenants Samuel H. Davis (1896–1921) and Chief Engineer Oscar Monthan (1885–1924), both Tucson natives.

[3] Monthan enlisted in the Army as a private in 1917, was commissioned as a ground officer in 1918, and later became a pilot; he was killed in the crash of a Martin B2 bomber in Hawaii on March 27, 1924.

[4] First Lieutenant Samuel Howard Davis (November 20, 1896 – December 28, 1921) was a pilot and United States Army Air Service officer.

[6] Davis enrolled at Texas A&M College in 1915 as a student of mechanical engineering,[12] having previously attended the University of Arizona in Tucson.

[10] After enlisting in the military in 1917, he was briefly assigned to Fort Hauchuca in Arizona before being transferred to College Station, Texas, to complete his academic studies.

[12][10] He died in a military aircraft accident completing a training mission on December 28, 1921, while a passenger in a Curtiss JN-6HG at Carlstrom Field, near Arcadia, Florida.

Military presence at the field began when Sergeant Simpson relocated his fuel and service operation to the site on 6 October 1927.

He kept a log containing names of the field's customers, including Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Foulois, and Jimmy Doolittle.

It was then that the base was selected as a storage site for hundreds of decommissioned aircraft, with the activation of the 4105th Army Air Force Unit.

Tucson's low humidity and alkali soil made it an ideal location for aircraft storage and preservation, awaiting cannibalization or possible reuse—a mission that has continued to this day.

The Cold War era was ushered in at Davis–Monthan on 21 March 1946, with the installation placed under the claimancy of the recently established Strategic Air Command (SAC).

On 2 March 1949, the Lucky Lady II, a B-50A of the 43d Bombardment Wing, completed the first nonstop round-the-world flight, having covered 23,452 miles (37,742 km) in 94 hours and 1 minute (249.45 mph).

The year 1964 brought back the combat crew training mission of the World War II years with the 4453d Combat Crew Training Wing of the Tactical Air Command equipped with the Air Force's newest and most sophisticated fighter, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

In July 1971, the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying the A-7 Corsair II aircraft, was activated at the base and the previously assigned F-4s were moved to Luke AFB, near Phoenix, Arizona.

The 41st Electronic Combat Squadron equipped with the EC-130H Compass Call aircraft, arrived on 1 July 1980, and reported to the 552d Airborne Warning and Control Wing.

In 1984, as a result of the first series of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties START I between the United States and the Soviet Union, SAC began to decommission its Titan II missile system.

During the operation, titled "Rivet Cap", the missiles were removed and shipped to Norton AFB, California for refurbishment and storage.

In 1987, the 71st Special Operations Squadron, an Air Force Reserve unit flying HH-3 Jolly Green Giants, was activated at the base.

Control of the 48th, 55th, and 79th Rescue Squadrons (RQS) was passed to the new group with the 23rd Wing (23 WG) at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia assuming operational command of the unit.

It includes the following squadrons: The 924 FG of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) was reactivated in 2011 and initially assigned to Davis–Monthan AFB as an "associate" unit to the 355 FW flying the A-10 aircraft.

As part of the Air Force Reserve Command, it is also a geographically separated unit (GSU) of AFRC's 944th Fighter Wing (944 FW) at Luke AFB, Arizona.

Like the 355 FW, the 924 FG currently flies the same Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft.

Between October 2013 and March 2014, the 924 FG transitioned from being a "classic" associate unit when it gained 28 A-10 aircraft of its own from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana.

55th Electronic Combat Group The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) is part of Air Force Materiel Command and is responsible for the base's aircraft "graveyard", the largest in terms of number of planes in the world,[33] where old military and other aircraft are stationed either to be stored indefinitely, demilitarized for museum or monument display, stripped and pulped/recycled, or restored for service.

The 214th Attack Group (214 RG) of the Arizona Air National Guard previously operated the MQ-1 Predator and currently flies the MQ-9 Reaper in a split operation, with remote piloting/command & control activities at Davis-Monthan AFB and aircraft launch, recovery and maintenance activities taking place at Libby Army Airfield.

The squadron produces forecasts for the Western United States and is part of the 1st Weather Group (1 WXG) headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.