Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort was established in 1943 by the Civil Aeronautics Authority as Naval Air Station Beaufort for advanced anti-submarine training squadrons on what was formerly prominent Lowcountry plantation lands. Beaufort was also a staging area for both sides of the Civil War and the site of British troops landing in 1779 during the Revolutionary War.

In 1960, Beaufort was redesignated as Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and to this day is the host of all active duty Marine Corps F/A-18 operations on the East Coast and is home to 7 of its squadrons under the Marine Air Group, or MAG-31. In 2000, two Navy F/A-18's also joined in being stationed at Beaufort.

Beaufort has 6,900 acres southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, and employs 700 active duty Marines and Sailors, and 600 civilians who make up what is affectionately called "Fightertown". Fightertown squadrons are routinely serving overseas and on Naval aircraft carriers, most recently in Iraq and Serbia.