Naming of military air bases

"Air Force Base" ("AFB") is part of the name of military airbases of the United States Air Force (USAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF), with the USAF using it at the end of the name of the base (e.g. "Dover AFB"),[1] and the SAAF using it at the start (e.g. "AFB Hoedspruit").

[2] They are generally named after the closest railway station as rail travel was the main means of transport for service personnel in the early days of the RAF.

The aviation division of the Royal Navy, the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) generally follow the same principles of naming as the RAF, but are instead prefixed with Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS), such as RNAS Yeovilton.

The British Army Air Corps uses a variety of terms due to the very mixed nature of its bases, sharing facilities with the RAF (at RAF Odiham), the Royal Navy (at RNAS Yeovilton), the tri-service Joint Aviation Command (at Aldergrove Flying Station), and the SAS (at Stirling Lines, Hereford).

[3][4] United States Air Force bases are often but not always named after a person of military or governmental significance.

Air Force Station is usually used in the name of those with very little or no flight activity, although there are cases where installations with no flight activity use the term Base instead of Station (e.g., Bolling Air Force Base).