Coolidge Air Force Base

Coolidge Air Force Base was an American military air base on the island of Antigua that operated from 1941 until 1948. It later reopened as Coolidge International Airport and is now known as V. C. Bird International Airport.

The airport was built as a United States Army Air Forces base during World War II and named Coolidge Airfield after Capt. Hamilton Coolidge (1895–1918), a United States Army Air Service pilot killed in World War I.

Flying units assigned to the airfield were:


 * 35th Bombardment Squadron (25th Bombardment Group) 11 November 1941 until November 1942
 * 12th Bombardment Squadron (25th Bombardment Group) 23 November 1943 until 24 March 1944
 * 4th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (Antilles Air Command) 21 May until 5 October 1945

Renamed Coolidge Air Force Base in 1948, it was closed as a result of budgetary cutbacks in 1949, with right of re-entry retained by the United States.

Antigua tracking station
Agreements were subsequently reached with the United Kingdom and, later, the Antigua government upon independence, for the establishment and maintenance of missile tracking facilities. Antigua Air Station was established on a portion of the former Coolidge AFB. , NASA continues to utilize the Antigua facility for launch tracking services on an as-needed basis; and did so for the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on 26 November 2011.