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.
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63848&stc=1
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63849&stc=1

[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.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63872&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63873&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63874&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63875&stc=1

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63876&stc=1

[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. :applause:

[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.

:wavey: Ya all come back now, hear?

Here is a really interesting photo from the Hawthorne collection

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63964&stc=1

[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.

[tgycgijoes]

I'll bet you didn't miss not being in the wake of Hurricane Florence though I pray you were safe were you are now. We were truly blessed by the Lord. We were the ONLY house on both sides of our street with no damage or downed trees whatsoever. Truly a testimony that we serve a BIG GOD to all of our neighbors.

Richard

[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. :applause:

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

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/v2hgdpn9664jexo/Hawthorne%20Aeronautical%20School.zip?dl=0

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63993&stc=1

[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 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Air_Force), the first units at Daniel Army Airfield the 14th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Airlift_Squadron) and 15th Transport Squadrons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_Airlift_Squadron) of the 61st Transport Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/61st_Air_Base_Wing) arrived on July 12, 1941 from Kelly Field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Field), near San Antonio, Texas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio,_Texas). The 61st's group headquarters was formed at Olmsted Field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmsted_Field), near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrisburg,_Pennsylvania). The squadrons flew C-47 Skytrains (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-47_Skytrain), as well as Douglas C-39s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_C-39), which was the Air Corp's version of the Douglas DC-2 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-2). After organizational training and flying a few paratroop operations, the 61st and its squadrons were sent to Lubbock Field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reese_Air_Force_Base) in Texas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas).
During the week of October 20, Daniel Field hosted the 40th Pursuit Squadron (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40th_Flight_Test_Squadron) which came to Daniel Field from Selfridge Field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfridge_Field), Michigan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan)which took part in III Interceptor Command (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/III_Fighter_Command) exercises, flying P-39 Airacobras (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-39_Airacobra)
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 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/89th_Airlift_Wing), the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th were activated at Daniel AAF. These squadrons were equipped with C-47s and Douglas DC-3s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-3) 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 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Technical_Service_Command) depot at Harding AAF (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harding_Army_Airfield), near Baton Rouge, Louisiana (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baton_Rouge,_Louisiana).
Also during February, three observation squadrons, the 16th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Reconnaissance_Squadron), 111th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_Reconnaissance_Squadron), 122nd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/122nd_Fighter_Squadron), and 154th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/154th_Training_Squadron), arrived from various other bases and forming the Third Air Force 68th Observation Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68th_Observation_Group). Pilots trained on Douglas O-43 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_O-43)A, Vultee/Stinson O-49/L-1 Vigilant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinson_Vigilant) and Douglas A-20B Havoc (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DB-7)aircraft performing antisubmarine patrols along the South Carolina (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina) and Georgia coast.
On March 2, 1942, the III Air Support Command (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/III_Air_Support_Command) 313th Transport Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/313th_Tactical_Airlift_Wing) TG and the 29th Transport Squadron (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29th_Troop_Carrier_Squadron) were activated at Daniel Field with C-47s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-47). In May, the first tenants of Daniel, the 14th and 15th Transport Squadrons were reassigned to Pope Field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Air_Force_Base), North Carolina (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina) to support the 82d Airborne Division (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/82d_Airborne_Division) at Fort Bragg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bragg_(North_Carolina)). On June 15, the 313th Transport Group, activated three additional squadrons, the 47th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47th_Troop_Carrier_Squadron), 48th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/48th_Airlift_Squadron), and 49th (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/49th_Troop_Carrier_Squadron), out of the 29th TS. One week later, the 313th and its squadrons moved to Bowman Field (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowman_Field_(airport)), near Louisville, Kentucky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville,_Kentucky) to support the 101st Airborne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101st_Airborne) at Fort Campbell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Campbell). During July the observation squadrons all transferred to Smith Reynolds Airport (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Reynolds_Airport), near Winston-Salem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston-Salem), North Carolina (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Technical_Service_Command), being under the control of the Warner-Robins Air Depot Control Area (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robins_AFB). 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 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=63994&stc=1

[tgycgijoes]

Dietmar is working with me ironing out a few bugs since I lost my beta tester for awhile so don't download the Dropbox link yet. I will post a new one later this week or beginning of next week when they're fixed. :banghead:

[p14u2nv]

I'll bet you didn't miss not being in the wake of Hurricane Florence though I pray you were safe were you are now. We were truly blessed by the Lord. We were the ONLY house on both sides of our street with no damage or downed trees whatsoever. Truly a testimony that we serve a BIG GOD to all of our neighbors.

Richard

You are right about not missing Florence in NC Richard. I have family in New Bern which is wiped out. A few years ago I had to relocate to NY to take care of my ailing parents. Then Sandy arrived. We, like you, were lucky and survived and with minimal damages however all around us was devastation and fires and the terrible flooding everywhere. Mass transit was basically stopped in it's tracks. Power was out for almost a week here however I did just fine. I participated in the 'canes for years in eastern NC, rough training on what not to do etc so I was prepared when Sandy hit and made use of my learned skills. In fact the last boat I owned we retrieved from the woods far inland from one of those hurricanes. Apparently the previous owner put the boat on the trailer and left it in the parking area at the marina. He figured if he put out both anchors it would stay safe when the storm surge arrived. Well it floated across the yard, still on the trailer, across a highway and deep into the woods, all the while dragging both danforth anchors with it...lol

All in all though I miss NC and swear to return one day. If I survive that is!

Pat

[simondix]

My Dad learnt to fly in Georgia under the Arnold Scheme in WW2. He survived a crash on takeoff which killed some people when they landed on a car parked at the end of the runway who were watching night flying. They obviously made a good job of training him as they retained him over there to train American Pilots on twins. When he got back to this side of the pond he taught Pilot Instructors.I know one of his airfields was Moody I will have to look through his photo album for others. I know he flew quite a few twins but the main one seemed to be the AT-9 and the Oxford when he got back to the UK. He always talked fondly of his time over there.

[dhasdell]

There's an interesting account of learning to fly in Georgia here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wings-Over-Georgia-Jack-Currie/dp/0907579116

From memory, Moody Field is mentioned.

[simondix]

I read his two other books from when he was on ops. Who knows perhaps my Dad met him. Thanks for the link.

[dhasdell]

Good, aren't they? A YouTube search on Jack Currie will get several results.

[tgycgijoes]

I am really enjoying creating the scenery that was so important that has been left out. Ian has done tremendous work of the fields in the UK. I don't even hold a candle to his work but I try to do the best I can and if there is enough information with photos of Moody Field, I can see what I can do with it in memory of your Dad. My Dad who was in Navy Aviation in WWII was stationed at NAF Fort Lauderdale Florida but except for a small museum there now it is covered with luxury homes and hotels. That is where the fated Bermuda Triangle lost Avengers flew from. Wednesday and Thursday I took an airfield break and worked on another tribute A-26 over in that thread. Also Dietmar has finished fixing the flag file for me so I will putting the corrected one into the Hawthorne Aero School download and putting a new dropbox link to it later today here in this thread. :wavey:

[simondix]

Thanks for that as that will benice. He always told me about his crash and how the Instructor saved their lives with quick thinking. It was night on take off and they had engine failure as they left the ground. The instructor put it straight down and they would probably have been alright except for that car at the end of the runway. The first they knew about it was a horrendous bang and the aircraft flipped on to its back. My Dad always remembers skidding along upside down and watching the fuel switch turn from On to the off position. Instructor earned his wages that night. I think they killed 3+ in the car. That is why my Dad preferred twins after that.

[simondix]

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=64068&stc=1



I don't know if my Dad was flying this or took the shot. However over Georgia I presume.

[tgycgijoes]

Here is the new link to the fixed Hawthorne Aeronautical School 2162 AAFBU in Orangeburg SC. I have deleted the one above so that if someone doesn't read all the way down the post they will get an airfield with glitches. All fixed now. Here is the Dropbox link. I hope that you all enjoy it as much as i did creating it. If YOU find anything needs fixing expecially the P3D guys/girls please let me know. I am now going to go to France and create an airfield for the 416th BG for the A-26s to fly to/from and then back here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qjm1zb7lid0ydr6/Hawthorne%20Aeronautical%20School%20Dropbox.zip?dl =0

:biggrin-new: Catch ya'all later.

[simondix]

I looked at one of his albums just now. The actual album was a Turner Field Photo Album and he appears to have done his basic flying training at Souther.

[tgycgijoes]

Turner AAF has a couple of oblique aerial photos of the field. There IS a site that I can find a lot of different Classbooks from different AAF Primary and Basic Training Classes with airfield and aircraft photos. Will check this out. I DID find information about Turner Field, GA and it had a lot of interesting aircraft based there from 1942-1945 including TB-25 Bomber Trainers with WASPS and UK Pilots stationed there. It WAS a twin engine training field and navigation training field according to the information I found Googling it on the Little Known and Abandoned airfields site.

[dhasdell]

I'm away from home, as Richard knows, so I can't check right now. Souther is definitely mentioned in Currie's book, but I'm not sure about Turner.

[simondix]

Thanks again. I know there were AT-7s at Souther if that is any use.

[tgycgijoes]

I did a search of all Georgia AAF's and I found Souther shown. Turner was a big field and then a USAF base unlike a lot of them that were just shut down or converted into small local GA airfields. On a different subject there is an issue with the animated flag at Hawthorne that Dietmar is fixing so you can use the rest of Hawthorne but wait for the updated animated flag. Don't install the one from the above Dropbox link. I believe I fixed it but he is testing it to be sure. If any of you guys have P3D would you download and install the Airfield itself and let me know here or by PM how it works or what issue you are having on your system and what version of P3D that is?

[tgycgijoes]

After spending the last 6 hours working on this...implementing suggestions...instead of better it gets worse. For now I am just stepping back and stopping working on this. Maybe I will take it up again. I apologize to both Falcon409 and Dietmar Loleit who both took a lot of time to try and help me get this to a realeaseable state. Now with all the changes I made I can't get back to any previous version. Very frustrated :banghead:

[tgycgijoes]

With Dietmar's and Falcon409's help on this I believe that I will finally have a releasable working version of this by the end of the weekend and will post a link to download it here. I really appreciate both of them taking the time to help us get this working and looking good. :untroubled:

[tgycgijoes]

Well, it seems that a final version with no bugs was not to be. Dietmar just sent me screen shots from his computer by PM with problems but my computer it looks and performs perfectly. Go figure! With that in mind though, I am not going to release it here to the general membership but just keep it for myself. If anyone wants a copy of MY final version, there is nothing in it to the best of my knowledge to do any harm to your computer, but ground poly on Dietmar's computer doesn't mesh together but as i said mine is perfect. That is the issue, autogen come through his field. There is no charge, just PM me if you want a copy. BTW. It did not harm Falcon409's at all either. In my opinion and I don't know why it seems to be a computer compatibility issue. What one computer sees is different on another's computer. In any case I am through fooling with it and going back to flying and having fun not frustration. The airfield and base, the ai flight plans and the sound effects all work perfectly on my FSX Acceleration Box with Windows 7 64 bit on a midgrade 2 years old Acer laptop with an Intel graphics card. No high end anything and I get 20-25 fps and no VASI issues at all. My post is now closed.

:pop4:

[tgycgijoes]

I got a PM last week after my offer above from one of our members who asked for this AAF which I sent him the complete download with sounds, animated flag AND ai traffic. He was thrilled with it and sent me photos I am posting below. It works in ALL sim versions he tested it in including P3DV4.3 but the ai doesn't work in V4 because the aircraft is an FS9 portover not 64 bit. Even ai works in V3 though. I am posting a few of his shots below. After seeing it in V4 I wish I had the horsepower to run it because its beautiful.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=64235&stc=1 this is Haygood Aux Field P3DV4

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=64236&stc=1 This is Hawthorne Aero School P3DV4\

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=64237&stc=1 This is Hawthorne Aero School in FSX