Lowcountry Regional Airport is a public airport located 2 miles northeast of
Walterboro, South CarolinaWalterboro is a city in Colleton County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,153 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Colleton County.-History:...
. The airport serves the
general aviationGeneral aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
community, with no scheduled commercial airline service.
History
The airport was opened in October 1937. In 1942 the
United States Army Air ForcesThe United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
indicated a need for the airfield as a training airfield and control was turned over to the USAAF in February 1942. An immediate construction program began to turn the civil airport into a military airfield. Construction involved runways and airplane hangars, with three concrete runways, several taxiways and a large parking apron and a control tower. Several large hangars were also constructed. Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled. Most base buildings, not meant for long-term use, were constructed of temporary or semi-permanent materials. Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen, most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper.
Walterboro Army Airfield was assigned to
Third Air ForceThe Third Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe . It is headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany....
III Air Support CommandThe III Air Support Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Third Air Force stationed at Drew Field, Florida. It was inactivated on 16 March 1942.-Lineage:...
, and activated on 15 August 1942. The 305th Air Base Group was the station host unit.
Initially Walterboro AAF was used primarily for training of
B-25 MitchellThe North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...
medium bomber pilots and aircrews, acting a sub-base of
Columbia Army AirfieldColumbia Metropolitan Airport is the main airport for Columbia, South Carolina. The airport lies five miles southwest of Columbia's central business district, in Lexington County.-Airlines and destinations:...
for follow-on training prior to the units being deployed to overseas combat theaters. Units assigned to the airfield during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were:
- 310th Bombardment Group
The 310th Space Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command Tenth Air Force. It is a tenant unit at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo....
(Medium), 11 August-18 September 1942
- 321st Bombardment Group (Medium), September 1942-18 December 1942
- 340th Bombardment Group (Medium), 30 November 1942-30 January 1943
- 345th Bombardment Group (Medium), 6 March-16 April 1943
- 405th Fighter-Bomber Group
The 405th Air Expeditionary Wing is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to Air Combat Command. It may be activated or inactivated at any time.Currently, it is believed that the 405 AEW is stationed at Thumrait AB, Oman...
, 14 September 1943-14 September 1944, (A-24 Dauntless A-25 Shrike)
Walterboro AAF also hosted the largest camouflage school in the United States, as well as a 250 person Prisoner of War Camp. In 1944 it was reassigned to
First Air ForceThe First Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida....
and became an advanced combat training base for individual fighters, primarily the black trainees graduating from Tuskegee Army Air Field in
Tuskegee, AlabamaTuskegee is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 11,846 and is designated a Micropolitan Statistical Area. Tuskegee has been an important site in various stages of African American history....
. Over 500 of the famed Tuskegee Airmen trained at Walterboro Army Air Field between April 1944 and October 1945 including individuals training as replacement pilots for the
332nd Fighter SquadronThe 332d Fighter-Interceptor Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 4683rd Air Defense Wing, stationed at Thule AB, Greenland. It was inactivated on May 31, 1965.-History:...
and the entire
447th Bombardment GroupThe 447th Air Expeditionary Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command United States Air Forces Central.The unit presently is stationed at Sather Air Base on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq....
.
The base closed on 31 October 1945 and returned to its origins as a local airfield.
See also
- South Carolina World War II Army Airfields
During World War II, the United States Army Air Force established numerous airfields in South Carolina for antisubmarine defense in the Gulf of Mexico and for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers....