The airfield is located 3.5 miles (3.0 nmi; 5.6 km) south of Interstate 8 and the central business district of Gila Bend, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States.

[3] The facility was opened in July 1942 when it was part of the Gila Bend Gunnery Range.

During World War II it was under the command of the 492d (Reduced) Army Air Force Base Unit, AAF West Coast Training Center.

It remained an active Air Force facility staffed by USAF personnel until approximately 1995.

[4] Auxiliary fields to Gila Bend AFAF (all on the Goldwater Range) are: Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field has one runway designated Rwy 17/35 with an asphalt surface measuring 8,500 ft × 150 ft (2,591 m × 46 m).