Sentimental Journey to Kingman

This is the transcript of my documentary Sentimental Journey to Kingman... This was written in 1990 and the title was Sentimental Journey to Kingman 1991... As you can see come changes. I do have another version that I submitted to a publication in 1991 or 92. I will look for and post it soon. As for this version, it was transcribed by Loren Wilson... Loren was part of the early museum effort at the Kingman Airport and Kingman Army Air Field Reunions. I met Loren in the late 1980s and got to know him more when he was a volunteer at the Mohave Museum in the 1990s. He did most their photography work. Loren served in the Navy during the war... After the war, he became a teacher and he taught history at Kingman High School until he retired. (this was the original campus in downtown Kingman) I never really talked to him about his time during the war. But now I wish I did... He did give some hints on what he did. Loren passed away quite sometime ago. So this is dedicated to him... One more thing, this version was used in the first program of the first reunion in 1991. 

The year was 1942, America was at war. The U. S. Army Air Force needed a new bae to train gunners for the B-17 Flying Fortress. This would be the sixth gunnery school set up in the United States. This new base was necessary to support all future missions of the B-17 for the European and Pacific theaters. This was referred to as a flexible school, as the B-17 had gun turrets mounted on the top, bottom, sided, nose and tail of the aircraft. An effective gunner on this aircraft needs to be proficient in all of these positions.

The search for a location for this school began in April 1941. Kingman was seen as one of the prime locations for this training site. When John C. Horton, from the West Coast Flying Training Command, Headquarters at Moffit Field, California, made the trip to Kingman, he found that the area was the perfect place. The population was low, the valley floor was level and land acquisition was easy and available at a reasonable price. This would enable the school to be in operation quickly.

In April 1942, the Army Air Force gave the preliminary OK and began the construction of the school in Kingman. The cost was more than $9 million. Final approval for the construction was received on May 27, 1942, and Lt. Col. Harvey P. Huglin was selected as the first base commander. He came to Kingman during construction and set up his temporary headquarters at the old Harvey House in downtown Kingman. Construction of the school went quickly, and a little over two months later, August 4, 1942, the Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School at Kingman was officially activated. The first occupants of the initial key base organization were the 460^th Base Headquarters, an air base squadron, which took up shop on December 1, 1942. On the 10^th of December, Col. George E. Henry was the new base commander. At the same time, other units were added – the 1120^th, the 1121^st, 1122^nd and 1123^rd Flexible Gunnery Training Squadrons. The 334^th Aviation Squadron was segregated black squadron and the 1100^th Guard Squadron were also added.

The training of these new gunners was very intense. Each potential gunner worked his way up from shooting the BB guns to shotguns and finally to the actual guns of the B-17. On May 7, 1943, the decision was made to change the name of the facility to the Kingman Army Air Field. The base continues to grow and changes during 1943. Many new squadrons were added to the base and some of the existing ones were combined. The 1120^th and 329^th were combined with the 328^th and became known as the 329^th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron. The 1122^nd, 537^th, 538^th were combined into the 1123^rd FGTS. The 1121^st took advantage of the newly vacated number and became the 329^th FGTS and the 536^th FGTS was formed to take the overflow from the other filled groups. New additions were the 760^th FGTS and the 1012 Quartermaster Platoon and the 31^st Altitude Squadron training for high altitude in the B-17, the 684^th Army Band and the 1^st Weather, Detachment 25 of the 858^th Signal Service Company, Detachment 14 of the 909^th Quartermaster and the 2053^rd Ordinance Company.

Other planes on the base were the AT-6, AT-11, and the AT-23, which were strictly used for flight training and target towing. The BT-18 was used for flight training, the P-36 and the P-39 came in for maintenance and the great B-17 was also flown out of this base. In 1943, the base was also used to train Chinese gunners for the Chinese military.

After the opening of the base, Bugs Bunny became the mascot with the cooperation of Warner Brothers. Bugs helped in the war by becoming a morale booster for the troops training at the Kingman field. Bob Hope and the Three Stooges, and numerous USO shows came to the base to raise the troop's morale. They also made trips to the Grand Canyon for R and R. Another thing they held on the base and in Kingman were bond drives for the war effort. A little side note – Site Six was an emergency landing strip, now known as Lake Havasu City Airport.

1944 was another year of great changes at the base. On April 22, 1944, the Kingman Army Air Field was consolidated and re-designated as the Army Air Force Unit 3018. Each of the units on the base became a subdivision of the 3018^th. On June 15, Col. Donald P. Phillips became the new base commander. During 1944, the 3018^th was one of the top training schools in the United States. The gunners would complete in shoot-outs with other schools and most often took top honors. This tough training, both mental and physical, gave the gunners their best chance to survive in air combat over Europe and the Pacific.

With the war ending in 1945, it was the base’s final year of operation as a gunnery school. The command of the base changed again to Col. Walter L. Wheeler, who became commander on April 1. Kingman Army Air Field was temporarily inactivated on June 30. Col Lance Call became the base commander to deactivate the base. In the last quarter of 1945, the base designation changed again as the 3018^th became the 4184^th. The base command changes twice more, with Lt. Cols. James L. Meadows and John J. Ratigan taking the helm at different times during the rest of the year. At midnight of February 25, 1946, the gunnery training base, which had undergone so many changes through the years, was officially deactivated. As the sun came up on February 26, the base had a new purpose and had become Storage Depot 41.

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