Here is another version of the previous piece, this time is in the Kingman Army Airfield Auto and Air Show booklet... some very minor changes, mainly the last two paragraphs combined. This is the first year as an airshow... in 1996....
Airfield History…
Kingman Army Air Field
In the course of human progress it seems an almost
universal rule that, whenever someone states a need, someone comes along to
fill it. In 1934, with the clouds of war building in Europe and threatening to
drift westward, the Army Air Force stated a need for a heavy bomber. Boeing
Aircraft Company of Seattle obliged with its Project 299. After putting the
prototype through its paces in 1935, the Army ordered a fleet of the aircraft,
now dubbed the B-17, and popularly known as the Flying Fortress. And a fortress
it was. It bristled with armament fore and aft, port and starboard, above and
below.
Now the need was to recruit gunners and find a place to
train them in the use of the weapons aboard the Fortress. Each gunner would be
required to become proficient in all positions.
In 1941, Major John C. Horton of the West Coast Flying
Training Command Headquarters at Moffett Field, Ca., took a trip to Kingman,
Az., and found it the perfect location. The land was fairly level, the
population was sparse, and the land was
available at a fair price.
Now the pace quickened, for on December 7, 1941, the
Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. War was declared against Japanese Empire, and
shortly afterward, against Germany. The
B-17, along with the rest of the family of warplanes,
was needed immediately on both fronts.
During construction of the base, there were a few
problems among the workers. Food delivery was slow. Cafeterias were hurriedly
built to feed the hands. There was also a housing problem.
Eventually, the ease
of the emergency
construction of new units. Some of
the construction workers began agitating for Union representation. This problem
was solved by drafting the agitators.
Davis Dam was being built during this time. Work on the
dam was temporarily suspended, and the construction crews were sent to Kingman
to help with the new base.
They worked fast in those days. On August 4, 1942, under the command of Lt. Col. Harvey P. Huglin, the Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School was officially declared open for business only a couple of months after the project started.
But before the business of the base could be conducted,
the operation had to be organized. This was the job of 460th Base
Headquarters Squadron which moved on
December 1, 1942. Shortly afterward, a
new base commander was assigned this was Col. George E. Henry, who reported on
duty December 10.
Now came the first wave of people for whom the base was
built, the 1120th, 1121st, 1122nd, and 1123rd
Flexible Gunnery Training Squadrons. Also taking up residence at this time was the all black 334th Aviation
Squadron, and the 1100th Guard Squadron—otherwise known as the
Military Police.
The new gunners were put to work immediately, but not in
airplanes. The first part of their training was to assure their familiarity
with weaponry of any kind. They were introduced to the BB guns Range. Here they
used devices similar to the armament in the aircraft except their weapons fired
only BBs. Once proficient with their BB guns, they graduated to shotguns
(possibly to grow accustomed to the recoil). On completion of their preliminary
training, the gunners were finally allowed to enter the B-17 and fire the
actual weapons for which they had volunteered. This method of training paid
dividends, for later on, in competition with other gunnery schools, the Kingman
School often took top honors.
Morale was always an issue among a large group of young
men miles from home, many for the first time, and no place to go with their
weekend passes but the tiny desert town of Kingman. Enter Bob Hope, et. al. to
the rescue. Other big-name entertainers
came to the base, such as the Three Stooges with their zany tomfoolery and Kay
Kaiser with his orchestra and his fun and games. The USO organized other shows
to help keep the people happy and willing to work all out for the war effort.
Bugs Bunny was there, too. With sanction from Warner
Brothers, Bugs was adopted as the official base mascot The poster of Bugs with
a fierce countenance and armed to the
teeth for war, was displayed in a most prominent location on the base.
On May 7, 1943, the facility was officially named the
Kingman Army Air Field. The base continued to grow and change during 1943. Many
new squadrons were added to the base some of the existing ones were combined.
The 1120th and the 329th merged with 328th to
become the 328th Flexible Gunnery Training Group. The 1122nd,
537th and 538th were consolidated to form the 1123rd
Flexible Gunnery Training Group. The 536th and the 760th Flexible
Gunnery Training Group were added to the list. Also assigned to the B-17 flight
groups was the 31st Altitude Squadron, training for operation at
high altitudes.
Serving to augment the training groups were 1012th
Quartermaster Platoon, the 684th Army Band, the 1st
Weather, Detachment 25 of the 858th Signal Service Company,
Detachment 14 of the 909 Quartermasters and the 2053rd Ordnance
Company. In 1943 a detachment of Chinese gunners was sent to Kingman for
training.
There were aircraft other than the B-17 assigned to the
base. The AT-6, AT-11, and the AT-23 were used for flight training and target towing.
The BT-18 was used for flight training.
As often happens in massive programs employing large
numbers of people and machinery working to the limit of their endurance, sudden
tragedies will strike. The Kingman training school was no exception. On January
2, 1944, a B-17 flying near McClellan Field, Ca disintegrated in bad weather.
Of the thirteen men killed in the resulting crash, eleven were from Kingman.
Four days later, on January 6, a bus loaded with gunnery students bound for the
base, crossed the railroad tracks just north of the entrance. The driver did not see the oncoming train. Train and bus
collided, and 28 students died.
On April 22, 1944, the Kingman Army Air Field was
consolidated and redesignated the Army Air Force Unit 3018. Each of the units
on the base became subdivisions of the 3018th. On June 15 Col.
Donald P. Philips became the new base commander. During 1944 the 3018th
was one of the top training schools in the United States.
The war ended on both fronts in 1945. With peace in the
world, there was no further need for a gunnery school. Or for the airplanes
that carried the guns. The year saw the base gradually wind down to a stop.
Command of the base change again to Col. Walter L.
Wheeler, who became commander on April 1,
1945. Kingman Army Air Field was temporarily
inactivated on June 30. Col. Lance Call became the base commander to supervise
the deactivation. In the last quarter of 1945, the base designation changed
again, becoming the 4184th. Base commander changed twice more to Lt.
Col. James L. Meadows and John J. Ratigan. At midnight, February 25, 1946, the
gunnery training base became history.
On February 26, the training base became Storage Depot
41.
“Storage Depot” was a misnomer. The intent was to render
thousands of airplanes down to aluminum ingots. Kingman was one of five sites
chosen for the task. Never mind they were created for the purpose of mass
destruction, those airplanes represented some the finest and most complex
examples of mechanical art ever produced by the human race up to that time. In
addition to the B-17s, other airplanes brought into the base includes B-24s,
P-38s, B-26s, and A-26s. The job was finished
by the first quarter of 1948. Seventy million pounds of aluminum from 7000
airplanes were shipped out of Kingman.
A relatively few of the airplanes escaped by
destruction, and some are still flying today. Others rest in museums to be
viewed by people who do not remember, or who do not understand the meaning of
what they are seeing.
In July 1948, the military released the base for
civilian use, and it became the property of Mohave County. In 1979, Mohave
County Airport Authority was formed. This later became the Kingman Airport
Authority, the entity which currently controls the field now known as the
Kingman Airport and Industrial Park.
A National Emergency gave birth to a grand adventure.
Peacetime brought the adventure to an abrupt end. To the people who were there
and participated in the adventure, it was an unforgettable experience. Writers
of history books may grant it a line or two of text…. Or may not. But there is
a group of people in and around Kingman who refuse to let the memories die. The
result of their unflagging efforts in the annual Kingman Army Air Field
Reunion.
Copyright 1990-2018
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