Lockbourne OH History Question - 1943 Layout Archeology

Rauhbatz · **Posted:** Sat Oct 01, 2011 6:15 pm

Hi all...

As long as I have had a copy of the Air & Space mag Aug 2007 that featured the Gathering Of Mustangs there is a picture on page 46 that continues to vex me to this day. I grew up around this airport (during what is now known as Rickenbacker during the SAC days of 1960-1980).

The pic very clearly shows the ramp area (much bigger than today) as well as three runways, one of which appears to be huge.

When overflying this airport on the way back from Houston each week I try and determine the original location of the runways, especially the big one. In addition, I poke around the airnav sat photo of the base. You can see in this link the remnants of what appears to be taxiways and maybe one of the original runways.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?cp=39.813778| ... lvl=14&v=1

Any background or insights on the original placement of runways and other Lockbourne trivia would be welcome.

Its nice to fly in there in a 172 and be able to do three touch and goes on the same runway...those SAC folks built them big!

jmkendall · **Posted:** Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:06 pm

I'm not sure what help I can give, but I was stationed there 10 years ago with the Army.

Some general observations. The last building in the pic you have,on the extreme south is a Hangar, and it is one of the older ones on base. I think some of the commercial hangars on the northern end of the runway are fairly old as well.

The area to the south and east of the main runways are the old Ammo bunkers, no longer used and haven't been in over 20 years. Not sure why they still exist except as storage areas, maybe???

Write a letter to MSG MAY of AASF 2 at Rickenbacker. IF he has not retired he may be able to answer some of your questions. I remember him telling me that when he first came into the Ohio Guard that he had a couple of Pilots that had flown B-17s during the WW2.

Believe it or not a lot of construction was done AFTER the base was de-commisioned.

dc8jet · **Posted:** Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:42 pm

If you go to historicaerials.com you can get an aerial view of the base in 1971. They also have a view of the Columbus area in 1957 but the base is blacked out.

Mike Bates · **Posted:** Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:57 pm

From the book Crossroads of Liberty: A Pictorial Tribute To Lockbourn/Rickenbacker AFB ANGB IAP by Robert M. Stroup II.

From 1944.

Mike

Jerry O'Neill · **Posted:** Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:16 pm

Mike Bates wrote:

From 1944.

If you got to Google Earth, and rotate the image of the field so that East is now oriented at the top of your computer screen you will have it in the basic alignment of this photo. The main runways today are aligned with the photo image and are angled from top left to lower right. This way you can see the convergence of the runways in the right corner where they meet at a right angle and pick out the outline of the four sided ramps in the WWII photo on the left with the WWII air base auto road grid that still exists today. The three runways that meet on the upper right corner and form the triangle are all gone save for some outlines, which are still visible on Google Earth.

These images should help you with the alignment.

Today from Google Earth:

Hope this helps.
Jerry

Rauhbatz · **Posted:** Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:04 pm

Thanks all for the analysis on Lockbourne...I think what was throwing me off was the 1943 photo was taken at a fairly low altitude while the sat pics are from a much higher altitude. I was trying to place the big runway to the south much further than where it actually resided. That must have been some big runway...looks like it would be able to support B-29s taking off it pairs!

Mike B Fellow F-4 Resto Team member: that's the pic I was looking for...I need to get that Lockbourne book some day...saw it a few times in Barnes & Noble at Easton.

Jerry: thanks for the exhaustive analysis. I wondered if the arrow-like intersection was the same arrow in the 1943 pic....your steer confirmed that. Funny how what I thought was a monster runway is smaller than I expected....its still pretty wide; I glanced at it while departing 23L a number of months back.

I drove thru the base area last month while my wife and I had some time to kill...very strange to see the empty street areas and the few remaining buildings from what I remember as a bustling air force base back when I was growing up there...

Now if we could just bring back those B-47s...

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:32 pm

some guy told me when it was rickenbacker afb they were flying b - 36's or 47's out of their. i was at the mustang gathering, it was like being at the salt flats of nevada / utah except endless concrete as far as the eye could see.......

TonyM · **Posted:** Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:09 am

Lockbourne Army Air Field was a B-17 transition school during WWII.

Lou Thole's excellent book "Forgotten Fields of America" (Volume One I believe) has a substantial chapter treating this old field with tons of great photos.

TonyM.

Mike Bates · **Posted:** Tue Oct 04, 2011 2:54 pm

I know there was some RB-47's there also.

Mike

Rauhbatz · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:54 am

I was too young for the B-47s....no mention of B-36s when I was growing up but there is more than enough concrete to do a few touch & goes on the same approach!

I hazily recollect seeing some KC-97 tankers but most of the a/c there were F-101s, KC-135s, B-52s, A-7s. The alerts there had to be something where the whole base was woken out of their sleep to launch aircraft.

Met a guy on the plane to Midland to help ferry back the SBD that flew 101s at Lockbourne. Told me he used to give press rides where you could break the sound barrier; you received a card commemorating the event. Now that would be fun!

At the north side of the field there is the old alert hangar for the F-101s...it used to have a flight school but its now empty...if those walls could talk...

Thanks again! :drink3:

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Lockbourne OH History Question - 1943 Layout Archeology

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