Construction of Municipal Airport, Dover Airdrome began in March 1941 and the facility was opened on December 17, 1941. It was converted to a U.S. Army Air Corps airfield just weeks after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was renamed Dover Army Air Base on April 8, 1943; Dover Subbase on June 6, 1943, and Dover Army Airfield on February 2, 1944. With the establishment of the United States Air Force (USAF) on September 18, 1947, the facility was renamed Dover Air Force Base on January 13, 1948.

World War II

In March 1941, Dover Air Force Base was founded during World War II to meet the needs of the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) for an airfield that could be used as a training center. USAAC obtained jurisdiction over the municipal airport at Dover, Delaware.

Once the airport came under military control, an immediate construction program began to turn the civil airport into a military facility. Construction involved runways and airplane hangars, with three concrete runways, several taxiways, a large parking apron and a control tower. Several large hangars were also constructed. Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled. Most base buildings, not intended for long-term use, were constructed with temporary or semi-permanent materials. Although some hangars had steel frames, and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen, most support buildings sat on concrete foundations, but were of frame construction, and clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper. Initially under USAAC, the name of the facility was Municipal Airport, Dover Airdrome. The airfield was assigned to the First Air Force.

On December 20 the first military unit arrived at Dover's new airfield: the 112th Observation Squadron of the Ohio National Guard which flew anti-submarine patrols off the Delaware Coast. In early 1942, three B-25 Mitchell bomber squadrons arrived with the 45th Bombardment Group from I Bomber Command, later part of Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, assumed the anti-submarine mission.

On April 8, 1943, the name of the airfield was changed to Dover Army Air Base. The antisubmarine mission ended on June 6, and construction crews moved back to the base for a major upgrading project that lengthened the main runway to 7,000 feet. During the construction period and continuing into June 1944, Dover AAB became a sub-base of Camp Springs Army Airfield, Maryland.

Full operational capability was restored to Dover in September, and seven P-47 Thunderbolt squadrons arrived for training in preparation for eventual involvement in the European Theater, while the 83d Fighter Group was assigned to Dover as the Operational Training Unit, The 83rd was redesignated the 125th Base Unit on April 10, 1944, with very little change in its mission. It was further redesignated as the 125th Army Air Force base Unit on September 15, 1944.

In 1944, the Air Technical Service Command chose Dover as a site to engineer, develop, and conduct classified air-launched rocket tests. The information collected during these experiments resulted in the effective deployment of air-to-surface rockets in both the European and Pacific combat theaters.

On September 1, 1946, as a result of the drawdown of United States forces after the war, Dover Army Airfield was placed on temporary inactive status. A small housekeeping unit, the 4404th Base Standby Squadron, remained on the airfield for care and maintenance of the facility.

Cold War and Vietnam

Dover Airfield was reactivated on August 1, 1950 as a result of the Korean War and the expansion of the USAF in response to the Soviet threat in the Cold War. On February 1, 1951, the 148th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard arrived with P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft. During the 1950s problems developed with many of the facilities in Dover, which had been hastily constructed to support its World War II mission. As a result, a massive engineering project was undertaken to modernize the base.

On April 1, 1952, Dover was transferred to the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) and became home to 1607th Air Transport Wing (Heavy). A full function hospital was completed in 1958 and base housing was expanded to handle 1,200 families in 1961. On January 1, 1966, the Military Air Transport Service was redesignated the Military Airlift Command (MAC). Along with the reorganization, the 1607th was discontinued and the 436th Military Airlift Wing (436th MAW) activated and assumed the mission at Dover. The 436th MAW started replacing C-141 Starlifters and C-133 Cargomasters with the new C-5 Galaxy in 1971. Two years later Dover became the first all C-5 equipped wing in the USAF, trading the last of its C-141 to Charleston AFB, South Carolina.

During the Vietnam War, the bodies of more than 20,000 American soldiers were brought back to the United States via Dover.