Names for Air Force bases

[Misterg97]

On my return from Korea, I was assigned to Great Falls AFB, Great Falls, Montana. While there the base was changed to Malmstrom AFB in honor of Col. Einar Malmstrom who was killed while stationed at the base when his T-33 crashed in the area.

We had quite a ceremony out on the flight line ..

[WallyB]

WALLY,
Link appears to be, as my kid used to say, is 'busticated'

Looks like the WIX software abbreviated it, there ain't no dots supposed to be there.

Try this :http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Magazine%20Documents/2011/May%202011/0511bases.pdf

[Pogmusic]

Prior to WWII, the USAAC/USAAF would name a base after the nearest Post Office location; or, if there was a local hero (i.e. Luke, Langley, etc). However, with the advent of and the build up to WWII, they allowed the bases to be named after air heroes.

An example was Wellston Air Depot. Named after the local town of Wellston, GA. The commander was enamored by his mentor, Augstin Warner Robins. He lobbied the Dept of War to change the name. They wouldn't. So, he approached the city council and showed them the economic impact the WAAD would bring the town and convinced them to change the name of the town to Warner Robins. When that happened, he again lobbied the War Department and won. Just a few years later, the War Dept. had no objections to naming bases after people.

[67N20]

Ellington Field-Houston from Wikipedia

History

In 1917, the U.S. government purchased 1,280 acres (5.2 km²) of land from Dr. R. W. Knox and the Wright Land Company to establish an airbase in Houston. The location, near Genoa Township in southeast Houston, was selected because the weather conditions were ideal for flight training. Soldiers from nearby Camp Logan briefly assisted with the construction of the airfield when civilian workers went on strike.[4] Soon after construction began on the airfield, the base was named after Lt. Eric Lamar Ellington, an Army pilot killed four years earlier in a plane crash in San Diego, California.[5]

The base, which consisted of a few hangars and some wooden headquarters buildings, was completed in a matter of months. By the end of 1917, the field was ready to receive its first squadron — the 120th Aero Squadron, which was transferred from Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas, along with its Curtiss JN4 Jenny biplanes, which were shipped in wooden crates via railroad.[4]
World War I

During World War I, Ellington served as an advanced flight training base. As of 1918, Ellington had its own gunnery and bombing range on a small peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico near San Leon, Texas. Ellington became well-known in military circles, and had a series of "firsts", including the first camp newspaper, the first American aerial gunnery and bombing range, the first "canteen girls", and the first aerial ambulance in American military history.[4] Before the end of the war, approximately 5,000 men and 250 aircraft were assigned to the base.[6]

Ellington was considered surplus to requirements after World War I and the base was deactivated as an active duty airfield in 1920. A small caretaker unit was kept at the airfield for administrative reasons, but generally, the only flight activity during this time was from Army pilots stationed at Kelly Field who flew down to practice landings on Ellington's runways.[4]

By 1923, Ellington had been ordered to be completely dismantled, but that plan was halted when the Texas National Guard established an aviation squadron at the field.[4] Soon after, the 111th Observation Squadron (known colloquially as "Houston's Own" and later the 147th Fighter Wing) was born, also stationed at Ellington Field.[4] The squadron, which flew Curtiss JN6Hs and De Havilland DH.4s, provided mapping, photography, and reconnaissance support for the 36th Infantry Division.[4]

Several years later in 1927, Ellington's status was again threatened as local city leaders began to discuss the construction of a municipal airport. That airport, the present day William P. Hobby Airport, confirmed the squadron's fears that Ellington's aging facilities were obsolete; as a result the Texas National Guard decided to move the 111th to new facilities at the municipal airport instead.[4] The Texas National Guard and 36th Infantry Division bought most of the airfield's buildings, but the field remained unused; by 1928 Ellington was again overtaken by tall prairie grass. That same year, a fire engulfed what was left of the airfield, consuming its remaining structures, except for the concrete foundations and a metal water tower. For the next 12 years, the U.S. military leased the land to local ranchers for use as pasture.


World War II: with its increasing need for trained pilots, helped to reestablish Ellington Field as an active facility. Rep. Albert Thomas, one of Houston's representatives in the United States House of Representatives, pushed for rebuilding Ellington as a pilot training center. Beyond the area's excellent weather for flying, Thomas argued that the Houston area's petroleum refineries, upon which the war effort depended, would need military protection in the region.[4]

In 1940, construction began on a much-expanded Ellington Field, which eventually included five control towers, two 46,000-square-foot (4,300 m2) hangars, the most modern medical complex in south Texas and 74 barracks. Ellington became the home of the 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd, 74th, 75th and 76th Fighter Squadrons.[7] The base was one of the sites where bomber pilots received their advanced training and also housed the United States Army Air Corps' bombardier school, known as "the Bombardment Academy of the Air."[4] In 1943, the bombardier school was replaced with a school for navigators. By the end of 1943, more than 65 women who served in the Women's Army Corps were also stationed at Ellington. The WACs worked in noncombat Army jobs in order to free men for combat duty. "By taking over an Army job behind the lines, she frees a fighting man to join his fellow soldiers on the road to Victory," stated WAC director Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby.[8] Ellington served primarily as a reserve airbase from the end of the war in 1945 until 1948.[4]

[APG85]

Prior to WWII, the USAAC/USAAF would name a base after the nearest Post Office location; or, if there was a local hero (i.e. Luke, Langley, etc). However, with the advent of and the build up to WWII, they allowed the bases to be named after air heroes.

An example was Wellston Air Depot. Named after the local town of Wellston, GA. The commander was enamored by his mentor, Augstin Warner Robins. He lobbied the Dept of War to change the name. They wouldn't. So, he approached the city council and showed them the economic impact the WAAD would bring the town and convinced them to change the name of the town to Warner Robins. When that happened, he again lobbied the War Department and won. Just a few years later, the War Dept. had no objections to naming bases after people.

Great story!

[RickH]

Ellington is one of the oldest airports in the country. Not too many years ago we participated in a two fold event, the 90th Anniversary of the 147th as well as the 90th Anniversary of EFD. For the 147th it was bittersweet as they were losing their F-16s and switching to Predators. It also marked the demise of the of the Fighter Squadron and the return of the Observation ( Reconnaissance ) designation.

[CraigQ]

Yet a few bases are not named after anyone and simple have the name of the nearest city i.e. Little Rock AFB and Grand Forks AFB. Why they were never named for a person is a mystery to me...

Oddly Little Rock AFB is located at Jacksonville Ar several miles , (about 15-17 ) North and across the Arkansas River from LR. As for naming it after a person, naming it after Pierce McKinnon (Ft,Smith Ar native) would have made sense.

[John Dupre]

Pease AFB is now a civilian airport with an ANG component. It was named for Harl Pease of New Hampshire who might have been the pilot to fly MacArthur and party out of Mindanao except his plane was in such bad shape that Mac wouldn't get in. Some months later Pease and his crew worked all night to have thier plane up for a raid in New Guinea and were shot down. Pease stayed at the controls so his crew could bail out. He was awarded the Medal of Honor. This is all from memory so I stand by to be Wikied.

[TonyM]

Freeman Army Air Field, Indiana, is named after Capt. R.S. Freeman, Winnamac, Indiana.

Capt. Freeman was killed in a B-17 accident at Lovelock, Nevada, on 6 Feb 1941.

TM

[APG85]

Unfortunately, Richard Bong never got his base...

[RickH]

Ellington was killed when he fell out of the aircraft he was instructing in. He had his wings for less than a year. If I remember correctly, the circumstances of his death prompted the installation of seat belts ! Lt Ellington and his student were the 14th and 15th fatalities in the Army attributed to flight.

[ktst97]

Wikipedia:
In September, 1959, Kinross AFB was officially renamed Kincheloe Air Force Base in honor of the late Captain Iven Carl Kincheloe, Jr. , a native of Cassopolis, Michigan. On 07 September 1956, Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe became the first pilot to climb above 100,000 ft as he rocketed to a peak altitude of 126,200 ft in the Bell X-2 rocket-powered research airplane. . For this spectacular flight, he was awarded the Mackay Trophy and nicknamed "America's No. 1 Spaceman". Kincheloe was killed in the crash of an F-104 Starfighter on 26 July 1958 at Edwards AFB, California.

I was stationed at Kincheloe from December 1960 to June 1962. Due to the timing of the name change, I had a hard time finding a map which showed the location of a "Kincheloe" AFB. I about crapped when I finally learned that it was in the UP, where the summers are nice, all three days.

[17f]

Rickenbacker AFB (SE of Columbus, OH) was named for Columbus native Eddie Rickenbacker. The base was originally named Lockbourne after the neighboring town and trained B-17 and CG-4 pilots. Changed to Rickenbacker after the war and then played host to all kinds of SAC goodies (B-36, B-45, B-47, to name a few). LAter it bacame an ANG base.

With base closures in the 90`s it became Rickenbacker International an now only has (i believe) a wing of KC-135`s

[Punisher05]

Concerning Little Rock...I have no clue why LRAFB hasn't been named after anyone.

However, LIT is actually known as Adams Field after a Major George Adams. LIT had been an Army Air Corps training base since the 1920s. Adams was a WWI veteran and member of the City Council that was killed in a propeller accident on the ground.

Unlike most former military airfields, LIT was turned over to the city pre-WWII, then handed back to them for the duration of hostilities. Through all that and even today, it is still known as Adams Field.

When I call ATC for the runway inspections tonight, they always call themselves "Adams Tower/Ground."

-Brandon