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Chapter 3
ATTERBURY ARMY AIR BASE
(1)
Basing his judgment on the meager information available, a non-military
observer might well conclude that the Atterbury airfield was a case of
inept planning. The apparent uncertainty as to its use, frequent changes
of status, and lengthy periods of idleness prior to 1944 create this
unhappy impression. Full atonement was made, however, when the field
became a terminal for the transportation of battle casualties to Wakeman
Hospital. In performing this noble service, it fully justified its
existence.
It was during the summer of 1942, as Camp Atterbury was nearing
completion, that the announcement was made that an air base would be built
near the camp so that ground and air troops might learn to work together
as a combat team.
Approximately 2,000 acres, located northeast of Columbus, were selected
for the site and condemnation proceedings started for acquiring possession
of the land by September 1. Sixteen farm families were affected by this
new Army project. The grave of Joseph Cox, Bartholomew County's first
settler, at the edge of the condemned area, was not disturbed.
Capt. Stratton O. Hammon of the U. S. Army Engineering Corps was placed in
charge of the construction. Plans called for the building of concrete
runways and for the erection of over a hundred buildings of a temporary
nature. Kramp & Krock Construction Company, of Milwaukee, received the
contract for grading the- site and for building roads and runways. A
railroad spur was run into the area from the Shelbyville-Cambridge City
branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Electricity, water, gas, and sewage
systems were
installed. The buildings included barracks, mess halls, bath houses,
warehouses, a post exchange, fire station, infirmary, hangar, repair shop,
recreation and administration buildings. Practically all of these were
one-story temporary structures built of fiberboard over a wooden frame.
They were heated with stoves. The Pearson Construction Company of Benton
Harbor, Michigan, received the contract for construction of the buildings.
Approximately 900 men were at work on the project in September, 1942.
Three concrete runways, 150 feet wide and 1,500 feet long, were built.
Taxi strips connecting the runways were 80 feet wide, and additional
concrete was poured for the parking ramps. The cost of the field,
including the purchase of the land, amounted to between four and five
million dollars.
On December 21, 1942, Maj. R. N. Fawcett arrived to take charge of the
field for the Third Air Force. It was officially turned over to the Air
Force by the construction engineer at midnight, the last day of the year.
By this time the original plans for its use as an air support command base
for Camp Atterbury had been shelved and it was not known what use would be
made of the field. Here was an unusual situation of an airfield being
ready for training and no one to occupy it. Major Fawcett and Capt.
Augustus P. Cooper, the post engineer, were the only two Army officers at
the field; a small guard unit came in to take over the protection and
security of the field after it was turned over to the Air Forces.
In the absence of any official information about the use of the field,
there were a number of rumors in circulation. One was that it would be
converted into an advance training school for pilots of pursuit planes,
and another that a school for Ferry Command pilots would be established.
Headquarters of the Third Air Force said that plans were still in the
offing for an observation squadron at the field to work with ground troops
in the area. Contracts were let in January for construction of a
combination theater-chapel and a Link trainer building. Indiana was
suffering from sub-zero temperatures at this time and perhaps it was not a
very promising atmosphere for the establishment of any kind of a flying
school.
Finally, on February 3, the first large contingent of Air Force personnel
arrived at the base from Wheeler-Sack Field near Pine Camp, New York. This
included a base squadron, medical unit, guard unit, and quartermaster
detachment. The guard troops that had been taking care of the field
returned to Godman Field, Fort Knox, Kentucky. It was decided about this
time that the runways would need to be lengthened to 5,000 feet, that
another hangar should be built, and also a sub-depot for servicing planes.
In March, 1943, instructors and trainees from near-by Freeman Field began
using the runways as an auxiliary landing field pending completion of
auxiliary fields that were being built as a part of the Freeman Field. In
April the airfield received its third official designation. At first it
had been known as the Columbus Air Support Command Base, then as the
Columbus Army Air Base; and now in April it was designated the Atterbury
Army Air Field. The significance of the change was not disclosed. Later,
it became the Atterbury Army Air Base.
Finally in June, 1943, officers and enlisted men began arriving to make up
new units of a reconnaissance group that was to be activated at the field.
Their stay was apparently short. In September a Medium Bombardment Group
arrived for training; they, too, remained only a brief time. In January,
1944, a similar group arrived for routine training. The squadrons used the
B-26 bombing planes. During this time the airfield was operated as a
sub-base of Godman Field, Fort Knox.
In May, 1944, jurisdiction of the field was transferred from the Third Air
Force to the Troop Carrier Command, and it became a sub-base of Bowman
Field, Louisville. Troop Carrier personnel had been using the field since
the first of March to train glider pilots. Not having gliders on which to
practice, the trainees used a small liaison-type plane. Landing one of
these was similar to landing a glider. Reconnaissance planes of the 106th
Division in training at Camp Atterbury were also using the field during
this period and planes on cross-country flights frequently stopped there.
With the transfer of the field from the Third Air Force to the Troop
Carrier Command, the 374th AAF Base Unit was redesignated Section A, 808th
AAF Base Unit. Beginning in August, the C-47 transport planes bringing
wounded to Wakeman General Hospital at Camp
Atterbury landed at the Atterbury airfield. Patients were transferred to
ambulances for the remainder of the journey.
That same month the Troop Carrier Command relinquished the field to the
First Air Force. The 618th and 619th squadrons of the 477th Medium
Bombardment Group, composed of Negro fliers, moved in with their B-25s to
continue their training. In January, 1945, the 619th Squadron returned to
Godman Field and in its place came the 602d Engineering Squadron of the
387th Air Service Group. This unit had charge of 3d echelon maintenance
and servicing of combat aircraft. A month later it was announced that all
the training activities at the Atterbury field would be transferred about
March 1 to Freeman Field. This was a larger field with better facilities.
It had become temporarily inactive with the completion of its training of
two-engine bomber pilots.
This time there was no period of watchful waiting to see what would happen
next at the field. The day following the announcement of the transfer of
activities to Freeman, the word came that the Troop Carrier Command would
again take over Atterbury airfield for the training of glider pilots, this
time as a sub-base of George Field, Illinois, across the Wabash from
Vincennes. Activity at the field was considerably stepped up; in one day
as many as 745 take-offs and landings were made. By this time the trainees
had both the gliders and the planes to tow them. The countryside round
about the field became fairly well acquainted with this new type of
motorless plane for it was a frequent occurrence for one of them to break
loose from its tow plane and have to make a forced landing. On those
occasions a special transport plane would fly in from George Field and
pick up the glider. The field continued under the Troop Carrier Command
through V-E Day and V-J Day and on to the end of the year. Sometimes there
was more activity than at other times, depending upon the units stationed
at George Field. With the absorption of the I Troop Carrier Command into
the IX Troop Carrier Command, the training program virtually came to an
end and Troop Carrier bases were inactivated. Atterbury airfield was
placed on a stand-by basis as of February 1, 1946. Some 25 civilians and
one or two officers remained at the field to take care of the permanent
installations, buildings, and grounds. The flying field was closed to
transient aircraft but it continued to be open to the transport planes
used to transfer wounded men to and from Wakeman General Hospital until
the hospital was closed. After being placed on a stand-by basis, the field
was seemingly forgotten by the War Department. A year later its fate still
remained undecided. Finally, it was reactivated as a training field for
Air Corps Reserve personnel and was being used for that purpose in 1951.
(1)
The files of the Columbus Evening Republican have been used in tracing the
construction of the field and the training carried on there. |
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last revised 10/18/2020