Photo Caption: Airman First Class Carlos Quintanilla, left, and Staff Sgt. Tayrell Washington, 74th Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons load team members, secure a Mark 82 general purpose bomb to the bottom of an A-10C Thunderbolt II during Green Flag-West 17-03, Jan. 24, 2017, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Callaghan)

In 1940, when a group of Valdosta and Lowndes County business leaders and residents began looking for a way to help in the growing war efforts, no one could have imagined the tremendous impact of their efforts 75 years later.

Local leaders secured a 9,300-acre tract of land and construction began on what was then called Moody Field in September 1941. On Nov. 25, just days before the attacks on Pearl Harbor, 140 military personnel arrived at what is now Moody Air Force Base.

Today, Moody is comprised of more than 5,500 active duty and reservists and civilian employees assigned to 30 squadrons. The airmen of Team Moody fly and maintain the HC-130J Combat King II, the HH-60G Pave Hawk, and the A-10C Thunderbolt II, which had a combined total of approximately 40,000 flying hours and 14,500 sorties in 2015.

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