Donaldson Air Force Base
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2013) |
Donaldson Air Force Base Greenville Army Air Base | |
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Greenville County, near Greenville, South Carolina | |
Coordinates | 34°45′30″N 82°22′35″W / 34.75833°N 82.37639°W |
Type | Air Force Base |
Site information | |
Owner | Greenville, South Carolina Greenville County, South Carolina |
Controlled by | United States Air Force |
Site history | |
Built | 1942 |
In use | 1942–1963 |
Donaldson Air Force Base is a former facility of the United States Air Force located south of Greenville, South Carolina. It was founded in 1942 as Greenville Army Air Base; it was deactivated in 1963 and converted into a civilian airport. It is currently an active airfield known as Donaldson Center Airport.
It was used by the
History
Originally named Greenville Army Air Base when opened in 1942, and later Greenville Air Force Base in 1948,
World War II
In the early 1940s, the War Department selected Greenville, South Carolina as the site for a new Army airfield to support the buildup for World War II. The airfield was completed in May 1942, and in June, Greenville Army Air Base was officially activated as a B-25 Mitchell medium twin-engine bomber training base.
Greenville AAB was assigned to the
The operational training unit (OTU) at Greenville AAB was the 334th Bombardment Group, being assigned on 16 July 1942. Its flying squadrons were the 470th, 471st, 472nd, and 473rd Bombardment squadrons, flying B-25 Mitchell medium bombers. The 334th's mission was to provide flying training to personnel and bomber crews.
The 334th was inactivated on 1 May 1944 with personnel and equipment being reassigned to the 330th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit/Medium Bombardment). On 1 January 1945, the 330th was redesignated as the 128th Army Air Force Base Unit in conjunction with the base's reassignment to the First Air Force.
The 56th Combat Training Wing became the overall commanding unit at Greenville AAB on 1 May 1945, being reassigned from
90th Bombardment Group
The first combat unit assigned to Greenville for training was the
With its training completed, the group transferred to
310th Bombardment Group
The
With its training completed, the group went overseas, transferring to
With the departure of the 310th, the 334th began training personnel for assignment as replacements, rather than complete bomb groups. After training was completed, the personnel would be assigned overseas to existing units in the wartime theaters.
Photographs
Photographs of the WWII base and soldiers can be viewed in the Greenville County Library System digital collections.[5]
Postwar era
In the summer of 1945, with the war coming to an end, a number of training bases were slated for closure. This included Greenville Army Air Base, which was placed on standby status in November 1945. However, there were plans made by the Army Air Force for its continuing use. One of the lessons of World War II was that the airplane was invaluable in the support of ground forces, both in the close air support and transport role.
At Greenville, the Third Air Force was assigned a mixture of
The Third Air Force was inactivated on 1 November 1946, being replaced by the
During the
In 1949, a 0.5-mile dirt car racing track was built just south of the base. The track took the name "Air Base Speedway", as a nod to the nearby airfield. The track held a NASCAR Grand National race on August 25, 1951. Noted race driver Bob Flock won the race in an Oldsmobile. The track closed down in 1952.
Korean War
The theater troop carrier mission was expanded rapidly during the Korean War when many of these reserve units were elevated to active service and assigned directly to HQ TAC.
HQ TAC ordered the 315th Troop Carrier Group to deploy from Greenville AFB to Brady Air Base, Japan with C-46 Commando transports. Also the 314th Troop Carrier Group was ordered to Japan with the new C-119 Flying Boxcar to support the United Nations forces in the conflict. The 314th was ordered to Japan primarily to support the 187th Regimental Combat Team, a United States Army airborne unit that was on its way to Japan by ship, but when the aircrews arrived, they found themselves heavily involved in logistical support operations between Japan and South Korea as well as performing combat cargo airdrops and the occasional airborne parachute operation.
On 16 October 1950, the
Also on 16 October 1950, the
The 57th Troop Carrier Squadron flew the C-82 Packet and C-45 cargo planes. Between 20 February and 11 April 1952, the unit operated on temporary duty from Brownwood Municipal Airport, performing paratroop drops and other exercises in support of Army maneuvers.
Eighteenth Air Force operations
In March 1951 the base was renamed 'Donaldson Air Force Base' and on 26 June, the Eighteenth Air Force was activated in 1951 to discharge Tactical Air Command's troop carrier responsibilities. Its mission was to organize, administer, equip, train, and prepare for combat troop carrier missions.
The Eighteenth Air Force inherited nine continental "medium" troop carrier wings (314th, 375th, 403d, 433d, 434th, 435th, 443d, 514th and 515th), seven of which were Air Force Reserve wings called to active duty during the Korean War. The command added a "heavy" (C-124) wing (62d) in the fall of 1951 and another in early 1953 (463d).
One of those reserve wings, the 443d Troop Carrier, was deployed for active duty at Donaldson on 9 August 1951 as a training wing. For almost two years, the 443d participated in tactical exercises in operations, training troop carrier aircrews using C-46 Commandoes for assignment to the Far East and worked closely with other troop carrier groups to test and evaluate new troop carrier doctrine and procedures. With the end of the Korean War, the 443d was inactivated on 8 June 1953.
With the departure of the 443d, it was decided to bring Donaldson up to being an operational transport base. On 15 October 1953 the
- Groups
- 61st Troop Carrier (25 August 1954 − 8 October 1959)
- 63d Troop Carrier(15 October 1953 − 18 January 1963)
- 64th Troop Carrier (15 October 1953 − 15 February 1954)
- Squadrons
- 9th Troop Carrier (1953–1957)
- 15th Troop Carrier (1954–1963)
- 52d Troop Carrier (1953–1957)
- 309th Troop Carrier (1954–1956)
The 63d TCW participated in maneuvers, exercises and the airlift of personnel and cargo to many points throughout the world, it helped evacuate Hungarian refugees, supported the construction of the eastern mission test range, and the Distant Early Warning Line sites in the Arctic.
The next year, the
Throughout the mid-1950s, Donaldson Air Force Base supported USAF troop carrier participation in joint operations training. Eighteenth Air Force squadrons took part in joint exercises and provided support for airborne paratroop training. Additional endeavors were implemented to improve communications capabilities and to include AF medical air evacuation in joint exercises. Airlift support was provided to other USAF major commands and to other Tactical Air Command (TAC) organizations.
Two helicopter squadrons, the 21st and 54th, flying the
Military Air Transport Service
A realignment of Troop Carrier forces in 1957 led to the Eighteenth Air Force's C-124 wings being reassigned to the
MATS C-124s from Donaldson flew the large aircraft all over the globe. Large hangars and expansive ramps were constructed to support these sizeable machines; the base became known as the "Troop Carrier Capital of the World".
1958 Lebanon crisis
In 1958 the Eisenhower Administration received an urgent call for assistance from the Middle East. The government of Lebanon was being threatened with attack. Sorely needed troops and supplies had to be airlifted to Lebanon as soon as possible, and it also had to be done without public knowledge, so as not to inform a possible enemy of the deployment of US troops. A task force of 36 MATS C-124s, with a significant number from the 63d TCW based at Donaldson were dispatched from the United States to Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany to assist in the airlift, deploying Army and Marine units along with their weapons and equipment to Beirut.
1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis
Also in 1958 the
Congo Crisis
During the Congo Crisis in 1962, the 63d TCW deployed C-124s to fly United Nations troops and their equipment to central Africa. In addition to the troops, the aircraft also airlifted badly needed food to the
Laotian Civil War
In 1962,
This was the first large-scale landing of US combat troops and the first in Southeast Asia since the Korean War, and foreshadowed the large United States presence in Southeast Asia in the coming years during the Vietnam War.
Closure
In December 1962, the Air Force announced plans to close the base permanently due to budget reductions. Donaldson AFB was declared surplus in 1963 and steps were taken to deed the property back to the City and County of Greenville. In January 1963, the 63d Troop Carrier Wing was transferred to Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia and Donaldson AFB was deactivated for the last time. Under the terms of an earlier reversionary clause, the entire 2,600 acres (11 km2) were offered "as is". The City and County accepted the offer, and took title of the facilities on 25 January 1963.
Legacy
The facilities and land of the former Donaldson AFB were returned to the City and County of Greenville and were renamed
Donaldson's presence also led to the establishment of Greenville's first restaurant serving pizza.[7] Julius N. Capri of Altoona, Pennsylvania was stationed at Greenville Army Air Base in 1944, and placed in charge of its civilian mechanics. After World War II, Capri's family opened the first of what later became several Italian restaurants near the base on Augusta Road.
See also
References
Notes
- Explanatory notes
- ^ Greenville Air Force Base, South Carolina should not be confused with Greenville Air Force Base, Mississippi. That base opened as Greenville Army Air Field in 1941 as a gunnery training field. It closed after the end of World War II, but was reactivated in February 1951 as Greenville Air Force Base, closing in October 1966.
- Citations
- ^ Historic plaque, Donaldson Center, Greenville, South Carolina, erected by the Donaldson Development Commission, 2004
- ^ The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, vol. XXIV, p. 226.
- ^ a b "Issaqueena Bombing Range – ClemsonWiki". Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ISBN 978-1855327818. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ^ Greenville County Library System. "Greenville Army Air Base Digital Collection". Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "Stevens Aviation". Stevens Aerospace. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008.
- ^ James M. Spurck. "The Story Behind Capri's of Easley". caprisitalian.com. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- General references
- Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas
- Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. LCCN 61060979. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
- Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. OCLC 72556. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
- Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
- Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC. OCLC 57007862, 1050653629
- Ulanoff, Stanley M. (1964), MATS: The Story of the Military Air Transport Service. New York, Franklin Watts. OCLC 1213440.
External links
- Resources for this U.S. military airport:
- FAA airport information for GYH
- AirNav airport information for KGYH
- ASN accident history for GDC
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KGYH