Post up your local forgotten Air Field photos.

[Willy McCoy]

The fuel dump at Sand Point Naval Air Station.

The outer perimeter road at Sand Point. You can see Flip dog likes it.

The foundation for the approach lights on the end of the small east/west runway.

The Officers beach. It still looks the same from when I was a kid. The trees are not much bigger.

Ammunition bunker behind the Officers beach. There are two others that are back towards the nature preserve. They are locked up tight. The City of Seattle Parks Dept. must keep their rakes in there.

The enlisted mens change/shower room, snack bar and Lifeguard station. I used to swim here a lot.

Building 2. The largest standing and earliest hangar at Sand Point Naval Air Station. Aside from the Zeppelin hangers it was the largest hangar on the West Coast in it's day. Boeing was quite friendly with the Air Base and would test it's Clippers at this facility. They had (and it's still there) a great ramp for amphibious aircraft that features a cobblestone transition ramp. This area is now known as Magnuson Park now and there is not much mention anywhere of it's former status as a BIG TIME Naval Station. The Worlds first around the World flight took off from here. A Seattle based Jacket maker was stationed here too I heard tell. There is a big Dog Park here so I walk Flip here everyday. It has a nice Lake Washington Dog Beach Feature and Flip likes to swim here EVERYDAY. Even in the middle of winter you can find him out distancing Labs & Retrievers. Not bad for a Jack Russell Terrier. We were walking through the nature preserve one day and struck up a conversation with an old guy. It turns out he was the base Commanding Officer at one time and the Squadron Leader for VA-63 "The Fighting Red-cocks" in the fifties. He didn't much care for the F9F's either. Yes, they were VA-63 before they became VA-22. He chuckled at the name a little. He is trying to get Building 2 (hangar) made into a hands on Naval Museum. It's not going over too well with the local tree hugging Californians that call North Seattle home. I told him that I have some old Naval garments I would love to put on semi-permanent display if it happens.
Here is a great link to towards the effort for a museum along with many photos, stories and memories. I wish Skeeter was still here to chime in. The "Old Guy" (Captain Ronald C. Miller) I ran into that turned out to be the former base Commander has some very funny stories in the links too.
http://www.sandptnavsta.org/

 

[Andrew]

Great topic Willy, I was thinking of starting something similar. I find these places fascinating, just imagining the long gone activity that took place at them. I'll post some of mine soon.

 

[Willy McCoy]

I bet the Great Down Under has a ton of old Air Strips. This Naval Air Station is right in the middle of North Seattle. Even though it had a very long runway it was deemed "too short" for jets. I was really hoping that the City of Seattle would make an Air Park out of it and use some of the land for a park. Now it's just a big park with a sports complex/nature reserve. NOAA uses up quite a bit of the area too. I grew up just a mile away and used to see the Neptunes and Orions take off all the time. I could hear them blow Taps in the evenings when the Vietnam War was going on.

 

[capt71]

Deleted

 

[sealbeachbum]

Manzanar Airport

A World War II-era airport was located just across U.S. Highway 395 from the Manzanar Relocation Center where we interned Japanese citizens during the war. Built for the Army in 1941 for bomber pilot training and testing experimental aircraft, and aircraft emergencies. All that is left are some grown over runways and ramp areas with an occasional cow wondering around.

I have this picture on one of my websites and one day recieved the following email,

Hi Bill,
I searched Google to see if the old Manzanar Airport
showed up. ...Lo and behold it did!

I soloed there Nov. 29, 1942 as a civilian, when I was only
16 years old! The Jap camp was in full operation then and we
flew over it on our base leg. I have some good friends today here in Visalia
that were in it then.
All the pilots I knew then are dead now.
I lived in Tulare, Calfornia at the time and we couldnt fly as a civilian within
150 miles of the coast line. But we could fly at Manazanar!
Enclosed is a link to a photo of my self on the left,
and Tex Rankin (world famous stunt pilot, shown on the right).
Tex soloed me himself as a favor to my dad and mom.
Tex was killed in Seebee crash in 1947.
During WWII Tex had Rankin Acadamy in Tulare, it was
a Army Air Corp Primary Flying School.
In 1944 I became a private pilot, and in 1948 I became a commercial pilot, and logged
3500 hours total time.

Richard H. Whiteside
Visalia, CA 93277

 

[Chris217]

We had two Army Air Corps airfields here in Augusta, Daniel Field and Bush Field.

The Doolittle raiders briefly trained at Daniel Field prior to their famous raid to practice on its short runway.Initially assigned to the Army Air Corps Southeast Air District, the first units at Daniel Army Airfield the 14th and 15th Transport Squadrons of the 61st Transport Group arrived on 12 July 1941 from Kelly Field, near San Antonio, Texas. The 61st's group headquarters was formed at Olmsted Field, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The squadrons flew C-47 Skytrains, as well as Douglas C-39s, which was the Air Corp's version of the Douglas DC-2. After organizational training and flying a few paratroop operations, the 61st and its squadrons were sent to Lubbock Field in Texas.

During the week of 20 October, Daniel Field hosted the 40th Pursuit Squadron which came to Daniel Field from Selfridge Field, Michigan which took part in III Interceptor Command exercises, flying P-39 Aircobras

With the United States at war in 1942, activity at the airfield expanded dramatically. In early February. Five transport squadrons of the Air Force Combat Command 89th Transport Group, the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th were activated at Daniel AAF. These squadrons were equipped with C-47s and Douglas DC-3s pressed into military service from the airlines. The 89th stay at Daniel was a short one. Only five weeks later the group moved on to Air Technical Service Command depot at Harding AAF, near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Also during February, three observation squadrons, the 16th, 111th, 122nd, and 154th, arrived from various other bases and forming the Third Air Froce 68th Observation Group. Pilots trained on Douglas O-43A, Vultee/Stinson O-49/L-1 Vigilant and Douglas A-20B Havoc aircraft performing antisubmarine patrols along the South Carolina and Georgia coast.

On 2 March 1942, the III Air Support Command 313th Transport Group TG and the 29th Transport Squadron were activated at Daniel Field with C-47s. In May, the first tenants of Daniel, the 14th and 15th Transport Squadrons were reassigned to Pope Field, North Carolina to support the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. On June 15, the 313th Transport Group, activated three additional squadrons, the 47th, 48th, and 49th, out of the 29th TS. One week later, the 313th and its squadrons moved to Bowman Field, near Louisville, Kentucky to support the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell. During July the observation squadrons all transferred to Smith Reynolds Airport, near Winston-Salem, North Carolina for antisubmarine duty.

In 1942, newly-built Army Airfields were becoming available in the southeast and the Air Force no longer had the need for Daniel Field and its short runways. No other operational units were stationed at Daniel after August 1942. In February 1943, Daniel was reassigned to the Air Technical Service Command, being under the control of the Warner-Robins Air Depot Control Area. The facilities became a repair and replacement depot for Third Air Force aircraft. Most of the military flying at Daniel was by transient aircraft undergoing 3d and 4th echelon heavy maintenance work.

The airport is still in use today, but only one of the wartime hangers remains on the field today.

Daniel Field circa 1944

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Love the photos. I think it's great to capture all this in photos.

 

[Chris217]

At Bush Field training began on 10 June, with flying cadets arriving from the Air Corps primary schools at Albany and Americus, Georgia, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Camden, South Carolina, and Arcadia and Lakeland, Florida. The initial aircraft complement numbered 24 Vultee BT-13 Valiant and BT-15 aircraft. The ten-week course consisted of 70 hours of flight training and 150 hours of ground training. Harold Darr named the school Georgia Acro Tech; however, the Army designated it the 72nd Army Air Force Flight Training Detachment. The school was one of only three contract pilot schools conducting basic training. Shortly after flight training commenced in June 1941, Don C. Bush, a civilian flight instructor lost his life in an aircraft crash. The airfield was named Bush Field in his memory.

In January 1942, the Defense Plant Corporation, a corporation entity of the Federal government, bought the school from Harold Darr. With the United States now in the war, the size of the classes increased, requiring an expansion of the school's facilities. Construction began on a ground training building in May and an additional barracks in June. The number of aircraft assigned to the school grew from 24 to around 100 BT-13s and BT-15s. Additional paved runways were eventually added.

During all 1943, the school operated at its maximum capacity with classes averaging around 160 students. By early 1944, training requirements began to decrease, and with the possibility at that time of closing nearby Camp Gordon, the Army suddenly had no use for the field. In September 1944, the Air Force closed the facility after training over 5,000 students.

Following the war, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation used Bush Field until 1948 for the disposal and sale of surplus military aircraft. The surplus aircraft at Bush ran the gauntlet of practically every model operated by the Army and the Navy, from primary trainers and drones to B-24s and large transports. Several of these were purchased by the upstart Flying Tiger Airline.

Robert Morgan, pilot of the Memphis Belle trained at Bush Field. The airport is still in use but none of the WW2 era buildings remain.

Control Tower 1943

Flight line

 

[Atticus]

Oak Grove MCAF...located next door to my property. During WWII, VMF-513 was formed here. The field has been abandoned since the early seventies...except for occasional T&G by USMC rotary aircraft from New River and Cherry Point.

But sometimes, late at night, when I'm on my porch with an old guitar and a stiff bourbon, I could swear that I can hear the off-beat rumble of radial engines coming from the dark, lonely tarmac just across our beanfield...

AF

 

[Anonymous]

Great idea for a thread and great input so far.

I'll have to dig into my archives and post some of the many 8th Air force airfields that I have visited where I live.

Dave

 

[airfrogusmc]

Oak Grove MCAF...located next door to my property. During WWII, VMF-513 was formed here. The field has been abandoned since the early seventies...except for occasional T&G by USMC rotary aircraft from New River and Cherry Point.

But sometimes, late at night, when I'm on my porch with an old guitar and a stiff bourbon, I could swear that I can hear the off-beat rumble of radial engines coming from the dark, lonely tarmac just across our beanfield...

AF

You have several around you Geoff IIRC. Theres was also Holly Ridge I think is the name and I seem to remember Bogue(SP) Field.

 

[navvet]

Great photos, Airfrog. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Peter Graham]

Great thread indeed. I'll also have to dig out my photos. Northern Ireland was one big floating airbase in WW2 so I've had plenty to photograph.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Great photos, Airfrog. Thanks for sharing.

Sorry, can't take the credit here I think Geoff posted these but agree these are really cool.

 

[Willy McCoy]

I was at the ex Naval Air Station yesterday when this B-17 flew right over me at high altitude.