Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) (IATA: FFO, ICAO: KFFO, FAA LID: FFO) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties.

The 88 ABW operates the airfield, maintains all infrastructure and provides security, communications, medical, legal, personnel, contracting, finance, transportation, air traffic control, weather forecasting, public affairs, recreation and chaplain services for more than 60 associate units.

[5] The Greene County portion of the base is a census-designated place (CDP), with a resident population of 1,821 at the 2010 census.

[10] World War I transfers of land that later became WPAFB include 2,075-acre (8.40 km2) (including the Huffman Prairie Flying Field) along the Mad River leased to the Army by the Miami Conservancy District, the adjacent 40 acres (160,000 m2) purchased by the Army from the District for the Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot, and a 254-acre (1.03 km2) complex for McCook Field just north of downtown Dayton between Keowee Street and the Great Miami River.

[11] After World War I, 347 German aircraft were brought to the United States—some were incorporated into the Army Aeronautical Museum[12] (in 1923 the Engineering Division at McCook Field "first collected technical artifacts for preservation").

[citation needed] Wright Field was "formally dedicated" on 12 October 1927 when "the Materiel Division moved from McCook Field to the new site"[16]: 352  At the time of the dedication expenditures of approximately $5 million had been involved in the new facility after 18 months work, with the total amount expected to rise to between $7 and $8 million.

Shortly before the end of WW1, 1Lt Patterson and observer 2Lt LeRoy Swan, both of the 137th Aero Squadron, were killed at Wright Field in the crash of their de Havilland DH.4 after its wings collapsed during a dive while firing at ground targets with a new synchronized-through–the–propeller machine gun.

Two densely populated housing and service areas across Highway 444, Wood City and Skyway Park, were geographically separated from the central core of Patterson Field and developed almost self-sufficient community status.

(Wood City was acquired in 1924 as part of the original donation of land to the government but was used primarily as just a radio range until World War II.

In the fall of 1942, the first twelve "Air Force" officers to receive ATI[specify] field collection training were assigned to Wright Field for training in the technical aspects of "crash" intelligence (RAF Squadron Leader Colley identified how to obtain information from equipment marking plates and squadron markings.

)[22] The first German and Japanese aircraft arrived in 1943, and captured equipment soon filled six buildings, a large outdoor storage area, and part of a flight-line hangar for Technical Data Lab study (TDL closed its Army Aeronautical Museum).

[citation needed] In 1951, the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) began analysis of crashed Soviet aircraft from the Korean war.

[23] In March 1952, ATIC established an Aerial Phenomena Group to study reported UFO sightings, including those in Washington, DC, in 1952.

By 1969, the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) and its predecessor organizations had studied 12,618 reported sightings: 701 remained unexplained when the Air Force closed its UFO investigations, and a 1968 report concluded that "there seems to be no reason to attribute [the unexplained sightings] to an extraterrestrial source without much more convincing evidence.

[20]: 141  The Jamestown Radar Annex became a leased installation of the Technical Base in 1946, and the "custodial units at Dayton and Clinton County AAFlds were discontinued in 1946".

The 1948 All-Altitude Speed Course, later the Missile Tracking Annex, at Sulphur Grove, Ohio became a detached installation of Wright-Patt.

[25] By 1952 the WPAFB headquarters of the Wright Air Development Center (WADC) included a Plans and Operations Department (WOO) and Divisions for Aeronautics (WCN), Flight Test (WCT), Research (WCR), Weapons Components (WCE), Weapons Systems (WCS).

In 1954, 188 hectares (465 acres) of land adjacent to the Mad River at the northeast boundary of the base, near the former location of the village of Osborn, were purchased for a Strategic Air Command dispersal site.

Following the July 1992 merging of WPAFB labs, the base's Wright Laboratory included a Flight Dynamics Directorate.

[33] Superfund sites (39 initial areas) of WPAFB were found to be contaminated with chlorinated volatile organic compounds and benzene compounds (soils and groundwater), and an EPA/USAF Federal Facilities Agreement was signed in 1981 for remediation and continued investigation (the Installation Restoration Program for WPAFB identified 65 areas, including 13 landfills, 12 earth fill disposal zones, 9 fuel or chemical spill sites, 6 coal storage piles, 5 fire-training areas, 4 chemical burial sites, and 2 underground storage tanks).

[citation needed] The permanent party work force at WPAFB as of 30 September 2005, numbered 5,517 military and 8,102 civilian.

[40] In addition to the command headquarters, major units formerly assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base include:

Located adjacent to the base proper is the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Wright-Patterson AFB is "one of the largest, most diverse, and organizationally complex bases in the Air Force"[42] with a long history of flight tests spanning from the Wright Brothers into the Space Age.

The 88th Air Base Wing consists of more than 5,000 officers, enlisted Air Force, civilian and contractor employees responsible for three primary mission areas: operating the installation; deploying expeditionary Airmen in support of the Global War on Terrorism; and defending the base and its people.

The USGS Geographic Names Information System separately designates the military installation, the airport, and the census-designated place (CDP).

[6] The southwest end of the base, now the National Museum of the United States Air Force, is within the city of Riverside in Montgomery County.

[84] Base officials stated in June 2020 that the on-base ground water tests confirmed that current PFOS contamination is below EPA required levels,[85] a claim the City of Dayton disputes.