Orlando Army Air Force Base

THE ORLANDO ARMY AIR FORCE BASE

September 1940

ABOVE: Orlando Morning Sentinel – Air Base Edition, August 31, 1940.
VIEW the 24-page Air Base Edition

Servicemen with photographs in the Air Base Edition: Captain Charles A. Bassett, Captain Dudley D. Hale, Captain Lester O. Crage, Mayor S. Y. Way, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas S. Voss, Major Phillips Melville, 1st Lt. George F. Pierce, 1st Lt. John M. Reynolds, 2nd Lt. Jean R. Byerly, 2nd Lt. Carrell T. Murrell, 2nd Lt. G. J. Schriever, Captain Joseph H. Atkinson, 2nd Lt. Walter J. Wagner, 2nd Lt. R. M. Winningham, 2nd Lt. John L. Zoeckler, 2nd Lt. Harry B. Pratt, 2nd Lt. Wm. H. Yaeger, Jr., Captain Lilburn D. Fater, Captain John H. Davies, 2nd Lt. S.E. Lawrence, Jr., 2nd Lt. W. P. Exum, Captain Winslow C. Morse, Captain John C. Crosthwaite, 2nd Lt. R. L. Morrissey, 2nd Lt. N. A. Newman, 2nd Lt. B. M. Sheldon, 2nd Lt. G. A. Waler, 2nd Lt. S. J. McKee, 2nd Lt. R. K. Ort, 2nd Lt. William Waller, III, 2nd Lt. G. R. McMillan, 2nd Lt. J. E. Haile, Jr., 2nd Lt. W. D. Gilchrist, 2nd Lt. E. L. Strickland, 1st Lt. D. R. Hutchison, 2nd Lt. H. B. Darling, Jr., 2nd Lt. H. W. Randall, Jr., 2nd Lt. T. W. Hornsby, 2nd Lt. W. E. Bieghtol, Jr., 1st Lt. Joseph D. Lee, Jr., 1st Lt. Ralph Kellogg, 2nd Lt. S. W. Westbrook, 1st Lt., James O. Guthrie, 2nd Lt. A. J. Wheeler, 2nd Lt. Howard F. Nichols, Captain Walter I. Wheeler, Captain Robert D. Johnson, Captain John W. Persons, 1st Lt. Dwight Divine, II, 2nd Lt. N. D. Baker, 2nd Lt. M.C. Brown, 2nd Lt. D. H. Carmines, Jr., 2nd Lt. L. L. Cannon, 2nd Lt. W. A. Anderson, 2nd Lt. W. W. Cross, 2nd Lt. C. S. Hall, 2nd Lt. H. J. Hawthorne, 2nd Lt. K. C. Kennington, 2nd Lt. J. B. Martin, 2nd Lt. E. F. Freeman, 2nd Lt. D. G. Hawes, 2nd Lt. J. R. Heron, 2nd Lt. W. M. Knowles, 2nd Lt. F. A. Holm, 2nd Lt. Donald W. Lang, 2nd Lt. J. F. Brannock, 2nd Lt. G. J. Aubert, 2nd Lt. J. A. Mahoney, Jr., 2nd Lt. T. F. McGehee, Captain George W. Munday, Captain Flint Garrison, Jr., Captain Delmar T. Spivey, Captain Davis D. Graves.

October 1940

ABOVE: Orlando Reporter Star, October 19, 1940, p. 10. Photographer Charles T. O’Rork, Jr.

This Is Orlando’s Army Air Base as seen from an airplane
Occupation of Buildings Starts Soon – Some To Be Used Next Week

The enormous scope of the Orlando Army Air Base is graphically portrayed in these two remarkable aerial photographs which not only take in the batteries of barracks and other buildings but show the air field and Lake Underhill in the distance.

Seventeen of the barracks have been completed except for paint to be applied later by WPA forces. A number of the mess halls also have been completed as well as several of the administration and storage buildings. Many of these buildings will be occupied next week for the first time.

Some idea of the size of the base may be gained by the fact 3,250,000 board-feet of lumber have been used in the construction. With each railroad car carrying 20,000 feet of lumber, it would take more than five trainloads of 30 cars each to transport the lumber use.

Eight hundred kegs of nails weighing 40 tons have been pounded into the wood and 4,000 rolls of roofing paper have been used. About 140,000 pounds of galvanized sheet metal has been consumed together with 3,000 pounds of copper and 2,000 pounds of solder. The utility outfit has used three carloads of six-inch water mains; two carloads of gas mains; one carload of two-inch pipe for house connections; five carloads of sewer pipes.

An average of 300 carpenters on a six months’ work basis are in operation as well as 150 laborers and hundreds of WPA workers, making the total something like 800 men.

One barracks building will house 63 men. A mess hall will accommodate 250 men at one time. One large mess hall will seat a thousand men.

ABOVE: Orlando Army Air Force Base with Lake Underhill in the distance.
Orlando Reporter Star, October 19, 1940, p. 10, by photographer Charles T. O’Rork, Jr.

1959

Historical Sketch from the 1959 Guide to the Orlando Air Force Base, Florida. Armed Forces Directory Service; Eugene, Oregon.

ORLANDO Air Force Base has been an integral part of the Central Florida community since August, 1940, when the first troops rolled in by truck convoy. At that time the municipal airport was taken over by the Army Air Corps and vast construction programs were begun.

Officially opened on December 1, 1940, the base became the center of the Interceptor Command School. First base commander was Col. Thomas Voss, who is credited with the general layout and landscaping on the base. During the following two years, additional lands were obtained and auxiliary landing fields were built in the surrounding area.

Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics

Operations through the war years beginning in November 1942, were centered around the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, commanded by Brig. Gen. Hume Peabody. Selected air crews were given advanced training here in the latest bombardment methods and tactics. Also, an Air Defense Department was established to train fighter pilots in the techniques of defense against air bombardment attacks.

Following World War II, the base served as a separation center for thousands being returned to civilian life. The headquarters of the Provine Ground Command was centered here until July 1, 1946, when this unit moved to its present location at Eglin AFB, Florida.

The Flying Tigers

Reactivation of the 14th Air Force in 1946 brought the headquarters of the famous “Flying Tigers” to OAFB. A unit of the Continental Air Command, the 14th remained here until the base was deactivated on October 28, 1949.

After remaining on a standby basis for over two years, the base was reopened on January 1, 1951, as an aviation engineers training sight [sic] again under the direction of the 14th Air Force.

Air Photographic and Charting Service

Today’s [1959] face of the base began to take shape on November 5, 1952, when Headquarters of the Air Photographic and Charting Service was moved here from its previous home in Philadelphia, Pa. With the completion of the move, APCS was assigned to the Military Air Transport Service and occupied its new home under a joint agreement between MATS and ConAC.

Full jurisdiction of the base was given to MATS on July 1, 1953, and the 1360th Air Base Group was formed to provide logistical support and services to the many Air Force units that were to occupy OAFB.

Air Rescue Service and Flight Service

Additional MATS units were attached to the base when, in April, 1954, the headquarters of the Air Rescue Service and Flight Service were moved here. Flight Service was later moved when it was integrated with Air and Airways Communications Service in 1956.

Another MATS unit, the 1380th School Squadron operating the command’s Non-Commissioned Officer Academy, was organized in May, 1955, and assigned to APCS. The first class of NCOs was graduated on October 3, 1955.

Tactical Air Command

The first Tactical Air Command unit moved to the base in September 1954, putting OAFB into the missile age. It was the 11th Tactical Missile Squadron, formerly known as the Pilotless Bomber Squadron, which began the training of crews to operate the TM-61 Matador guided missile. Later integrated into the 701st Guided Missile Wing in Europe, the 11th was replaced by the 17th TMS on September 8, 1955. Since that time the missile activities have expanded into the present 4504th Missile Training Wing.

Other units located here recently for service, logistical and administrative support are the Orlando Air Procurement District of the Air Materiel Command; the 9186th Air Reserve Training Group; the 1278-2 AACS Detachment: .the 3415th Technical Training Group; OSI (IG) USAF, Detachment 703; area office for the USAF Auditor General; and the AF-CAP Liaison Office, Florida Wing.

1960’s

Joe Weber was stationed at the Orlando Air Base in the 1960’s where he completed Mace Missile Training. Joe shared the photos below with Orlando Memory.

ABOVE: Base entrance.

ABOVE: Base Exchange. Courtesy Joe Weber.

ABOVE: Base Exchange. Courtesy Joe Weber.

ABOVE: Base housing. Courtesy Joe Weber.

ABOVE: View across Lake Underhill. Courtesy Joe Weber.

ABOVE: Mace Missile Training facility. Courtesy Joe Weber.

2008

Photo courtesy of Warren French.

The City of Orlando Greater Aviation Authority sponsored the installation of an historical marker for the Orlando Army Air Base in 2008. The marker is located at at the intersection of Maguire Boulevard and East Livingston Street, on the right when traveling north on Maguire Boulevard at coordinates 28° 32.878′ N, 81° 20.72′ W. The marker reads:

THE ORLANDO ARMY AIR BASE

Orlando Municipal Airport opened in 1928 on 65 acres of land north of Lake Underhill. In 1940, with Europe at war, the United States Army took over the airport for defense purposes, activating it as the Orlando Army Air Base on September 1, 1940. The first Army Air Corps planes arrived on September 5, 1940. The Base provided a training center for pilots and fighter and bomber groups. The United States entered World War II on December 7, 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1942, B-17 bombers and their crews moved to the newly completed Pine Castle Air Force Base, now the Orlando International Airport, and the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics moved to the Orlando Army Air Base, by then grown to 1000 acres with 6 runways. The size and importance of the Orlando base, where pilots tested new aircraft, including P-26 and P-40 fighter planes, brought notable visitors such as Chief of the Army Air Force General Hap Arnold and entertainer Bob Hope. At the end of World War II, the base became a separation center for thousands of servicemen and women resuming civilian life. It was returned to the city of Orlando in 1946. Renamed Herndon Airport in 1961, it became the Orlando Executive Airport in 1982.

READ “Former Orlando Army Air Base honored with historical marker”, Orlando Sentinel, January 25, 2010.

More Information On Orlando’s Army Air Force Base

Learn more about the Orlando Army Air Force Base – Then and Now.

Read more about the Orlando Army Air Force Base.

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