Marine Corps Air Facility Walnut Ridge
Encyclopedia
- See Also: Walnut Ridge Air Force StationWalnut Ridge Air Force StationWalnut Ridge Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located north-northeast of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. It was closed in 1963.-History:...
Marine Corps Air Facility Walnut Ridge is a former United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
airfield located in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas
Walnut Ridge, Arkansas
Walnut Ridge is a city in Lawrence County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 4,925 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Lawrence County. Walnut Ridge lies immediately north of Hoxie, Arkansas. The two towns form a contiguous urban area with approximately 8,000 residents...
. After it was closed, it was redeveloped into Walnut Ridge Regional Airport
Walnut Ridge Regional Airport
Walnut Ridge Regional Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located four nautical miles northeast of the central business district of Walnut Ridge, a city in Lawrence County, Arkansas, United States...
.
Army Airfield
In early April 1942, a board of three army air forces officers went in search of a new location for an army air forces basic flying school. The site originally planned—in Dyersburg, TennesseeDyersburg, Tennessee
Dyersburg is a city in and the county seat of Dyer County, Tennessee, United States, north-northeast of Memphis on the Forked Deer River. The population was 17,145 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Dyersburg is located at...
, but that site was deemed unacceptable because it would require moving five million cubic yards of dirt. The three men flew over an area just northeast of Walnut Ridge that looked promising. Returning by car the next day, they looked over the site and checked on public schools, housing, utilities, and transportation. On April 15, 1942, they recommended it for the flight school.
The U.S. government approved the recommendation, and paid $305,075 for 3,096 acres. The land housed private homes and the Moran School, a typical two-room rural public school. Forty-five families lived on the land and were forced to move out quickly; their homes were torn down. Landowners were paid an average of $110 an acre for their land, while the sharecroppers and tenant farmers who constituted most of those living on the land were reimbursed for a share of their crop.
Walnut Ridge AAF had three (3) 5,000-foot runways, a huge apron covering over 63 acres (254,952.2 m²), 4 large hangars, base engineering building, and fully equipped 203 bed hospital. It also included, 131151 sq ft (12,184.3 m²). of office space, 119613 sq ft (11,112.4 m²). of enclosed storage space, 49324 sq ft (4,582.3 m²). shop space, a water plant and sewer plant designed to serve 5,000 troops, and a 10,000-man laundry, 2 theaters, a swimming pool, gymnasium, WAC housing, eight mess halls, dozens of enlisted-men's barracks, parachute loft, gas chamber, 260 tile-block apartments, motor pool, control tower, officers' club, link-trainer buildings, fire station, several warehouses, crash station, and 9.64 miles (15.5 km) of streets. Construction and land cost was almost ten and one-half million dollars.
To serve the new airfield, five auxiliary airfields were constructed, at Biggers (Randolph County), Pocahontas (Randolph County), Beech Grove (Greene County), Walcott (Greene County), and Bono (Craighead County), taking 2,624 acres of prime farmland. These other airfields were used for safety reasons. There were approximately 250 airplanes based on the field, and students did extensive take-off and landing practice; it would have been risky and impractical for that many airplanes to be in a traffic pattern at one time.
Construction of the airfield brought in 1,500 workers. Walnut Ridge and Pocahontas residents opened their homes to the workers. The mayors and the Boy Scouts worked to find housing for them. Churches and civic groups provided recreational facilities. Residents rented out rooms, garages, and attics to accommodate workers.
The airfield was activated on August 15, 1942, with the arrival of the initial contingent of key military personnel. Ten days later, 100 troops arrived, but housing was not yet available at the airfield, so they were transported to and from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp at Five Mile Spring north of Pocahontas for the first thirty days.
Even though the airfield was planned and designed as an army air forces basic flying school, for some time it appeared it would become an advanced glider school. As late as September 1942, preparations were being made for gliders.
Because of the delay in changing sites and the confusion over the glider program, the first three classes of aviation cadets set for Walnut Ridge went to the army airfield in Blytheville, which was being built as an advanced twin engine school. Blytheville was scarcely better prepared than Walnut Ridge. Circus tents were used for operations headquarters and classrooms. The runways were not ready, so flying was done from oil-coated dirt strips.
In late September, the Southeast Training Command, headquartered at Maxwell Field, Alabama, clarified the situation by announcing that twenty cadets from Camden and 102 cadets and three student officers from Decatur, Alabama, would be sent to Walnut Ridge for basic flight training, and the glider program was established at Stuttgart. The airfield was opened in October 1943 as Walnut Ridge Army Airfield and was used by the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The 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....
as a training base during World War II
World War II
World 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...
. Walnut Ridge was commanded by the 324th Army Air Force Base Unit, being assiged to the AAF Southeast Training Center.
Training at Walnut Ridge AAF began on October 12, 1942, and students began training on the BT-13. During the eleven month period from November 1, 1942, thru September 30, 1943, the training hours flown at Walnut Ridge were 160,648. The average for all Basic Flying Schools in the Southeast Training Command was 129,474. Walnut Ridge had .49 accidents per 1000 hours versus .57 accidents per 1000 hours average for all schools; however, the fatal accident rate at Walnut Ridge was higher, .087 per 1000 hours versus a .052 average. The hours flown at Walnut Ridge through June 30, 1944, totaled 414,429.
Walnut Ridge was also a major maintenance facility, servicing C-47s, P-40s, P-51s, B-17s and B-29s. In less than two years, 5,310 students entered training, and 4,641 graduated. Forty-two students and instructors died in training. The last class graduated on June 27, 1944.
Marine Corps Air Facility
On September 1, 1944, Walnut Ridge AAF was transferred to the Department of the Navy and was known as the Marine Corps Air Facility Walnut Ridge. The Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
trained for only a brief time, using SBD-5’s
SBD Dauntless
The Douglas SBD Dauntless was a naval dive bomber made by Douglas during World War II. The SBD was the United States Navy's main dive bomber from mid-1940 until late 1943, when it was largely replaced by the SB2C Helldiver...
and FG-1D Corsair’s
F4U Corsair
The Vought F4U Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and...
. VMF-513 transferred to MCAF Walnut Ridge on September 14, 1944, and then moved to MCAS Mojave, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, on December 4, 1944. MCAF Walnut Ridge was decommissioned March 15, 1945.
RFC Walnut Ridge
In 1945 the Reconstruction Finance CorporationReconstruction Finance Corporation
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was an independent agency of the United States government, established and chartered by the US Congress in 1932, Act of January 22, 1932, c. 8, 47 Stat. 5, during the administration of President Herbert Hoover. It was modeled after the War Finance Corporation...
(RFC) established five large storage, sales and scrapping centers for Army Air Forces aircraft. These were located at: Albuquerque, NM; Altus, OK; Kingman, AZ; Ontario, CA; and Walnut Ridge, AR. A sixth facility for storing, selling and scrapping Navy and Marine aircraft was located at Clinton, OK.
It is estimated that approximately 10,000 warbirds were flown to Walnut Ridge in 1945 and 1946 for storage and sale. Some sources report the number to be over 11,000. It is reported that at least 67 of the 118 B-32 Heavy Bombers built were flown to Walnut Ridge, many straight from the assembly line. Of the remaining B-32’s, at least 37, perhaps more, were flown to Kingman.
Four thousand, eight hundred and seventy-one (4,871) of the aircraft stored at Walnut Ridge, primarily fighters and bombers, were sold to Texas Railway Equipment Company in September 1946, to be scrapped. The bid price was $1,838,798.19. On the southwest corner of the ramp, two giant smelters were constructed to melt the scrap aluminum, which was formed into huge ingots for shipping.
The aircraft at Altus were put up for scrap bid in 1947, and sold on May 12, 1947, to Esperado Mining Company of Walnut Ridge. (Probably owned in whole or part by Texas Railway Equipment Company, the company that scrapped the warbirds at Walnut Ridge.)
By late 1947 scrapping had been completed at Clinton and the big five scrapping facilities, except Altus, which finished by mid 1948.
The tens of thousands of proud warbirds that had survived the enemy fighter planes and fierce anti-aircraft fire could not escape the smelters at Albuquerque, Altus, Kingman, Ontario, Walnut Ridge and Clinton.
At Walnut Ridge, the two smelters used to turn the proud Warbirds into aluminum ingots were torn down about 1951. In 1952 the City of Walnut Ridge used the firebricks from the smelters to construct an administration/terminal building on the site of the World War II Base Operations building.
See also
- Arkansas World War II Army AirfieldsArkansas World War II Army AirfieldsDuring World War II, the United States Army Air Force established numerous airfields in Arkansas for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers....
- List of United States Marine Corps installations