WWII AAF U.S. Training Airfields

[tgycgijoes]

This started out as a place to showplace the beautiful new GAS PT-13/PT-17 Stearman I was privileged to be a part of testing before its release. Then like most of my projects it snowballed into a real project. I did a Google search for U.S. Eastcoast primary training airfields and this just captured my imagination. First, there isn't a single remnant of it anymore. It was not even a defunct default in FSX so the 4 letter ICAO code is fictional but it was necessary to be able to recreate it in ADEx. I have been working on it since my very first screenshots of it in the GAS thread but it was far from complete then with a lot of glitches I had to discover how to fix. It is an ALL GRASS field, aprons, taxiways and runways which i thought was unique not being a simple little farm strip. Also, it has unique buildings since I created the entire base not just the airfield. It was also originally an Aeronautical School contracted by the AAF to train pilots both American AND French. How is that!!! Finally it was owned by the famous aerobatic pilot Beverly "Bevo" Howard. Any aviation historians guess yet? Yep, Hawthorn Field.

I was able to get a wealth of information once I started looking online. I also did a lot in Sketchup. With the exception of the hangers and tower which are close representations of the real ones from the photos, all the barracks, headquarters and school buildings were built in Sketchup but with low poly so it is not a frame rate hog at all. I have been able to get between 20-30 fps even with ai aircraft.

When I did NAS Alameda a couple years ago I experimented with sound effects with a lot of success and though I had to learn how to do it all over again with the Effects SDK in FSX, starting at 0600 and ending at 2200 throughout the day, all of the Army bugle calls at the appropriate times are sounded loud and clear. Adds ambiance I think.

Here are 3 photos I took. Its pouring rain in Orangeburg SC so no flying today, all the students are inside in the "schoolhouse". You can see the GAS Stearman in Parking 4 all covered up. (Really cool Paul) If you look closely you can see some of the ai aircraft parked in the background. I will be sharing this field in the Warbird Library as well as the totally accurate repaint for the PT-13 from GAS. Look closely at the tail registration. Its not a mistake but accurately repainted from a real photo in the Hawthorne Aeronautical School PDF that is included in the download. The flag is also animated and follows the wind as does the tetrahedron.

[tgycgijoes]

I drove around the base this afternoon when I felt it was complete in the Jeep (Download at AVSIM) which I repainted with correct 2162 AAF markings. Here is what it looks like. I am waiting for a couple of permissions to include some work that's not mine for you in the download. Here are some shots I took with the "Kodak-35mm" this afternoon.

[tgycgijoes]

Dietmar Loleit has sent his permission for me to include his animated flag in each of my training airfields starting with Hawthorne Aeronautical School so now I am just waiting for one more permission to post the final version here online to download for all of you.

[p14u2nv]

This is an excellent project tgycgijoes. Too much is forgotten or dismissed as of late. It's amazing where some training bases were located versus what is there now. In my area where a mall is, the land was once a WWI flight school called Brindley Field, in use from June 1918 to May 1919. The field was surrounded by potato farms and very sparse and meager homes. In the middle part of the parking area is a small cemetery with family members of the original owner of the land who initially arrived in 1656. Sad considering so much past history remains unknown and in time, what little is known, simple fades away with time.

Thank you very much

[tgycgijoes]

There is a lot of history here in coastal Carolina where I live. Thank you for your encouragement. In our little town tucked behind the small Allstate insurance Agency is a small cemetery where some of the town's founders, Civil War veterans and other folks are buried. Up until a couple years ago it was all overgrown and unless you looked really hard you didn't even know it was there. When the town built a really nice new playground for the kids, it was resurrected, cleaned up and the sign refurbished. It is really nice now and not forgotten. I am enjoying doing that with these fields. Fortunately, the gentlemen who has the webpages LITTLE KNOWN OR FORGOTTEN AIRFIELDS is a true historian and keeper of these memories for all to learn from. Watch this thread for new progress and the download link to Hawthrone School Of Aeronautics, Orangeburg SC, the first of the airfields I have done.

Ya all come back now, hear?

Here is a really interesting photo from the Hawthorne collection

[p14u2nv]

What a small world. I lived in the coastal area of North Carolina for almost 30 years. I truly miss it but I hope one day I will return. I sure miss the fishing and the hunting.

[Dietmar]

Dietmar Loleit has sent his permission for me to include his animated flag in each of my training airfields starting with Hawthorne Aeronautical School so now I am just waiting for one more permission to post the final version here online to download for all of you.

Richard,
I will be happy to see the flag wave in the wind in your airfields scenery .

Best
Dietmar

[tgycgijoes]

I was waiting for a reply to an email and even resent it but I want you guys to have this. So without further ado here is the dropbox link to Hawthorne School Of Aeronautics AAF Base Unit 2162 Contract School in 1943. It includes the 3 auxiliary fields. They are part of the ai traffic plan so please be sure to activate and install in your Addon Scenery or you won't fly all the traffic. I am the only one to have tested this so please upload and post here any problems. I am really anxious to know how it works in P3D all versions.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v2hgdpn966...chool.zip?dl=0

[tgycgijoes]

Here is the second AAF that I created. Daniel Municipal Airport still exists in Georgia. I thought that Daniel was a Primary Training Field but actually is quite more interesting especially for those downloaders of MJ's (Not Michael Jordan LOL) C-47. You can also fly P-39 Aerocobras, A-20 Havocs, and more interesting aircraft. Here is a capsule history:

Initially assigned to the Army Air Corps Southeast Air District, the first units at Daniel Army Airfield the 14th and 15th Transport Squadrons of the 61st Transport Group arrived on July 12, 1941 from Kelly Field, near San Antonio, Texas. The 61st's group headquarters was formed at Olmsted Field, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The squadrons flew C-47 Skytrains, as well as Douglas C-39s, which was the Air Corp's version of the Douglas DC-2. After organizational training and flying a few paratroop operations, the 61st and its squadrons were sent to Lubbock Field in Texas.
During the week of October 20, Daniel Field hosted the 40th Pursuit Squadron which came to Daniel Field from Selfridge Field, Michiganwhich took part in III Interceptor Command exercises, flying P-39 Airacobras
With the United States at war in 1942, activity at the airfield expanded dramatically. In early February. Five transport squadrons of the Air Force Combat Command 89th Transport Group, the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th were activated at Daniel AAF. These squadrons were equipped with C-47s and Douglas DC-3s pressed into military service from the airlines. The 89th stay at Daniel was a short one. Only five weeks later the group moved on to Air Technical Service Command depot at Harding AAF, near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Also during February, three observation squadrons, the 16th, 111th, 122nd, and 154th, arrived from various other bases and forming the Third Air Force 68th Observation Group. Pilots trained on Douglas O-43A, Vultee/Stinson O-49/L-1 Vigilant and Douglas A-20B Havocaircraft performing antisubmarine patrols along the South Carolina and Georgia coast.
On March 2, 1942, the III Air Support Command 313th Transport Group TG and the 29th Transport Squadron were activated at Daniel Field with C-47s. In May, the first tenants of Daniel, the 14th and 15th Transport Squadrons were reassigned to Pope Field, North Carolina to support the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. On June 15, the 313th Transport Group, activated three additional squadrons, the 47th, 48th, and 49th, out of the 29th TS. One week later, the 313th and its squadrons moved to Bowman Field, near Louisville, Kentucky to support the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell. During July the observation squadrons all transferred to Smith Reynolds Airport, near Winston-Salem, North Carolina for antisubmarine duty.
In 1942, newly built Army Airfields were becoming available in the southeast and the Air Force no longer had the need for Daniel Field and its short runways. No other operational units were stationed at Daniel after August 1942. In February 1943, Daniel was reassigned to the Air Technical Service Command, being under the control of the Warner-Robins Air Depot Control Area. The facilities became a repair and replacement depot for Third Air Force aircraft. Most of the military flying at Daniel was by transient aircraft undergoing 3d and 4th echelon heavy maintenance work.
Daniel also activated and trained 32 chemical warfare companies. Chemical companies were equipped and taught to use smoke pots, tear gas, chemical trailers, trucks, blasting caps, and how to fill aircraft spray tanks. During the last part of the war, Daniel was used to prepare vehicles for use in the planned Invasion of Japan. In addition, the field had a branch prisoner of war camp with about 1200 POWs working on the field and in the nearby forests.
By war's end, the Army's air operations at Daniel were discontinued, with the airfield being returned to full civil control on October 31, 1945. Going to use the MAIW C-47 AI and do some flight plans for Daniel AAF to include to make it interesting.