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Hotainjrtoii residents, through its ttMMtractlon, use, and abandonment by the government.for many residents, the account of the base's history Hill recall memories of employment, or services rendered to the Army during those days. For a few, it will recall memories of their days stationed in the base as airmen. And for newcomers, it will explain, in the sometimesstilled language of official government documents, just what people are talking about when they speak of the Army Airbase (hat now is Westport subdivisionof the city of Great Bend.*Junction of processing heavy bom-; It came to be common procedurebardment groups, Great Bend Ar- for the maintenance echelon of a I my Air Field was assigned to the group to move to Great Bend w hile 21st Bombardment Wing on Jan. another group was being trained 18, 1943. If was the function of the there This was done in order 21st to operate processing bases, that these men could receive * on-but, besides processing it did some the-iob training which would en training also. For instance, it pro- able them to maintain the aircraf vided certain types of navigational of their own group when it arrived flights in those instances in which For instance, an advanced detach these had not been accomplished ment of the 19th JBombardmen in third-phase training of the group Group lt;VH were given Jobs along In addition, the wing provided side the men of the 498th training in “Priaoner of War Behavior and EscapeSsvlin♦»ni!Hie*the form of a telegram from Sen. Arthur Capper of Kansas to theion*forNor was all the Initiative left to theA committeeArmy.Beginning with the winter of 1945, part of the flying training was As early as March 1943 it was conducted at Borinquen Army Air known that the Second Air Force Field. Puerto Rico The primary was to be charged with the re- prupose of this program, termed public announcement sponsibiiity of training personnel| the “Gypsy Task Force,’* was to ns to build an airfield Hot the new B-29 very heavy bomb- take advantage of the good flyingBend, on the Arkansas er. And the first tangible step tp- weather in Puerto Rico during theriver in Barton County, came in ward executing this mission was winter months, enabling theitivation of the 58th Combard- to complete their training much iOperational Training Wing at quicker than would otherwise have Bend Cham- Smoky Hill Army Air Field at Sa- been the case With their phase bar**of Commerce on Sept. 30, Tina, on May 1, 1943. But before of training over, the crews would 1942. But, of course, by then all much in the way of implementa- return to Great Bend to prepare the preliminary work had been tion could be done, the 58th was for departure to a staging area, done In July of that year the site withdrawn from Second Air Force The program was discontinued in at Great Bend had been chosen, jurisdiction on June 8, 1943. April 1945, after only one season.Knowing this delay to be purely If the operations of the base were pjet oi leading a temporary one, July 1, 1943, | not crippled, they were certainly at j citizens from Great Bend and Hois- second Air Force chose as the in- impeded by the critical manpower ington had made the original strument to achieve this objective shortage resulting primarily from den proposal. Originally, pians called the 5th Heavy Bombardment Pro- heavy transfers to the Army Q{ ,lor the Civil Aeronautics Adminis- cessing Unit, stationed at Saiina. Ground Forces during the autumn ean tration to supply the funds, and, since Great Bend Army Air Field and winter of 1944-1945 By Jan. ea,.. with war’s end. Barton County and had been designated as one of the'31, 1945, Great Bend had furnished g . Great Bend would acquire owner- oases to participate in the B-29 the Army Ground Forces with 244 ,However, this tentative ar- program, it was transferred to the enlisted men. The reciprocal ar- . rangement was subsequently sth Heavy Bombardment Proces- rangement with the Ground Forces| did not solve the problem, sincet Bend was to assume a by Jan. 31, 1945, the field had re-. ° * and greatly enlarged mis- ceived only 90 enlisted men re- \Originally intended to serve sion, physical expansion of neces- placements from the Ground Fore- ** **“ *-— -* *—■— sity became the order of the day. es. pOriginal plans were altered, pro- With the arrival of the „____t_..„____ Bend was viding for considerable additions echelon of the 489th Bombardmentinitially decidedly limited -in its to the runway and taxiway systems. Group in February 1945 from the u functional utility and in size. Most Additional troop housing was built, European theater. Great Bend be- lomr of the construction work was done and new hangars were constructed came one of the first redeploy- dies bv Patti McDonald Construction especially designed to accommo- rnent installations in the country. thedate the B-29. I At that time the 333d Bombard- tectchanged so that the field w^as built sing unit on theunder the auspices of the Air u Great Bend Force. _ differentScgroundfootbring its nomenclature more ment Group lt;VH) was receiving Porl larmonv with its function, the 'its regular training, but the ground Papwere followed in time by facilitiesr r^rrration and services. Dur-Acompany of Kansas City, but the concrete work on runways and taxi-ways was undertaken by the W. L.Johnson Construction company. Es-ijth Heavy Bombardment^ntiais were completed first. These mg unit was redesignated the 73d on B-29 maintenanceBombardment Operational Train- men of the 333d. After a relatively ing Wing on Aug. 17, 1943. But the short transition course in the B- ab*f ing the summer and fall of 1943 new organization endured for 29 (they were already experienced a service club, theater, and bowl- scarcely four months before it was maintenance men) the 489th left the ing alley were completed. disbanded on Oct. 22, 1943, subse-;in March to join the air echelon mcoCant Theodore C. Reid, post en- quent to the reassignment of the of the group, which had received lt;was the first office- to re- *8th Bombardment Operational Transition training at several dif- a rlt;was the first office, to re ^-lt;ii|iiy wlQ( tQ (he g,c(,nd Alr ferent b„„. , flt;rived or Jan. 18. 1943. -me first en- Force on Oct. IS. Both the person- victory over Japan had a directlisted men to arrive, detachments nel *nd thf s*'*r*1,.b “L A,!.! j effect on the mission and activity i 'of the 501st Base Headquarters *'h,^j !EUr ,, ‘ of the base. The 333d Bombard- iend Air Base Squadron, the 1159th Bend Army Air Reid, were rellnGuard Squadron, and the 902d'QUI?hed 50 the 58Ulgiseer,.port foQuartermaster company, were necessarily housed in Great Bend for a time, there being no facilitiesment Group (ViJh having com- *npleted its training, left Great Bend guctFortunately, despite the some- during July and August 1945. No devehat impermanent organizational other groups were assigned for a js fj.....~ “ full schedule of training, but the I***,on the base. On Feb. 13. 1943 the training program did get under 44th Bombardment Group «VH» and 501st was transferred to Great way at the bases which were as- the 405th Service Group used Great!litremission oi uir OBSf ofi'sme uiai oi jqJJqBend to become the headquarters signed the task. Great Bend receiv- Bend as an assembly point, Insquadron of the new field. Capping the 444th Bombardment Group deed, in this period the primarjthe inchoate organizational struc- lt;VH) and by April 1944. itsture, Li, Col. Glenn M. Pike as- training completed, the 444th departed for overseas service. Dur- rather of transferring- I **lt;«»♦ i *-* ♦ 4% •* »thanOct. 25, 1945 the base was of- fjCedischarging qualified menon1.TheifSlim-Line StylePrinted PatternGreat Bend was destined to tram three more very heavy bombardment groups, the 498th, the 19th. land the 333d, and in addition, itretrained the ground echelon officialiy informed by Second Air ati0rForce that the installation would oom put on a standby basis on Dec. oxl%1945. Following this announce- grea the 489th back from Europe for ment. activities on the base (ex- 0^e;redeployment to the Pacific. The cept that of shipping men to sep- crui,extreme dearth of B-29 aircraft,| aration centers slowed up consid-! clscchowever, hampered the training erably. During December the 44th York efforts for some time. Consequent- Bombardment Group lt;VH and the 2. ly, for several months the group in 405th Air Service Group w ere transtraining at Great Bend perforce ferred to Saiina Second Air Force nove used B-17’s and B-26’s for the most nad placed Great Bend in the cate- throi part, with a sprinkling of B-29 s gory of those fields whose reten- gcsto leaven the loaf. tion was desirable for standby, m 1Great Bend Army Air Field was with a possibility of being reopen- ^esU fortunate tn the calibre of coopera- ed on 30 days* notice. Conse-tion received from surrounding quentl. one of the principal acti-1 3 * communities. The neighboring mu- vities of December consisted of in* inicipalities. such as Great Bend activating buildings.Sources are lacking by w’hich tois “1and Hoisington. were particularlyievecrecoiorizewillactive in promoting recreational trace me suosequeni sirps leaamg Q{ uopportunities for the troops. to complete inactivation and trans-. «haftOn Mar. 25, 1944 the unit* per- *lt;*** to the District Engineers As whicmanentlv assigned to Great Bend as March 1946 Gieat Bend was Army Air Field were reorganized, »UU In the category of temporarily in the 243d AAF Base Unit lt;OTU! inactive or standby under the Sec-(VH) Thereafter, Great Bend wasiond Air Force. However, the fieldorganized under the standard plan was never subsequently activated.for OTU .Operational Training* For a short time, during 1950 lt;and ^Uniti bases This plan consisted |Possibly 1949% the field was host of three major sections: adminis- to an Air Force reserve unit. How-trative and services section, sup- ever, by March 1951 no unit wasply and maintenance section, and stationed there, nor has the Airthe training section. In addition, the air inspector and the hospitalwere referred to as sections The Planning Another Ope office of the director of trainingForce made use of the»as sc up m Apm 1944. with the House During Foir Weekresponsibility of providing flyingTOPEKA (Apt — For the third*school training to allj consecutive year the state's firstflying personnelopenbombardment groups successively the executive mansion during *■*“stationed at Great Bend. In addition. the directorate■ ■ -Docking9328 14VV-26VSky'TlT.UksiiStep into this slimming nd off you goalmost anywhere.Proportioned to fit and flatter insilky faille, casual cotton, sheerwool. Tomorrow’s pattern: HalfSizer.with the training of ground crew : visitors and other interested per-personnel. However, sinew the new sons will have an opportunity directorate was not prepared im- Sept 15 to tour the home of Kan- ( mediately to take up its burden, $as governors. Hours are 9:30 to in group in training at t h a ti 11:30 a m and 1 to 5 p m.time, the 498th continued to train; |itself as the 444th had done be- Today two-fifths of Minnesota, or fore it. Consequently, it was on- nearly 20 million acres, is In for-with the 19th BombardmentM■Printed Pattern 9328: Half Sizes1#.4 16!2, 18*,, 20*,, 22*a, 24*,,28J*. Size 16*2 requires 4*4 yards 39-mch fabric.WATCHPrinted directions on each pattern part. Easier, accurate.Bend Thirty-five cents (coins) for ms pattern — add 10 cents for ?ach pattern for first-class mail-ng. Send to Marian Martin, Great Bend Daily Tribune, Pattern Dept.!38 West 18th St., New York 11, 4* V. Print plainly NAME. AD-)flESS with ZONE. SIZEExpertWork OnEveryTypeWatchBy SptciolisfsZONE, NUMBER.andO M A R EJEWELS!'DuchessEve. AfOpportusa Beautyprices oiFall Stylof our lcDurheMBirat hint
Newspaper Details
Great Bend Sunday Tribune
Great Bend, Kansas, US
Sun, Sep 13, 1959
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
KS, USA 20 Sep 2020
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