Spence Air Base
Encyclopedia
Spence Air Base was a United States Air Force
base that operated from 1941 to 1961. It was later reopened at Spence Airport
.
then took an option on a tract of land northeast of the city. When the committee members learned the Army planned on establishing additional training bases in the Southeast, they traveled to Maxwell AAF, Alabama
to secure an Air Corps airfield on the site. Air Corps engineers came to Moultrie in March 1941. After inspecting the first site, they selected a more desirable site five miles (8 km) southeast of the city. In June, after the War Department
approved the second site, Moultrie and Colquitt County purchased the 1600 acres (6.5 km²) involved.
It was named Spence Army Airfield after World War I hero Lt. Thomas Lewis Spence of Thomasville, Georgia
who died in a 1918 aircraft crash in France. When the attack on Pearl Harbor
came on 7 December 1941 a small military detachment of 27 officers and 39 enlisted men staffed the airfield
It was used by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command
, Southeast Training Center (later Eastern Flying Training Command) for advanced single-engine flying training. The Army Air Forces Pilot School (Advanced Single-Engine) activated on 15 November 1941. The North American AT-6 Texan
was the primary aircraft operated by the school.
During World War II, Spence AAF controlled three auxiliary airfields:
By September 1942, Spence AAF had 146 AT-6s. The peak of training took place in 1943. Instrument training took place at Moultrie Municipal (Aux No. 3). Typically, 37 instructors with 83 enlisted men in support conducted instrument training with 33 AT-6s from the Moultrie Municipal auxiliary base. One of Spence's shortcomings was the lack of a gunnery range. As a result, all classes deployed to Eglin AAF, Florida
for two weeks of gunnery training.
In early 1944, the first P-40 Warhawks arrived at Spence AAF. Initially, only the best students received P-40 training. Once sufficient numbers of P-40s were acquired, all students were given five hours of P-40 training. With the addition of P-40 training, the single-engine training syllabus was extended from 10 to 15 weeks. After cadets received 70 hrs. training in the AT-6 and five hours in the P-40, they were commissioned and given five more hours in the P-40.
Spence, as other Army Air Force installations in Georgia, had its contingent of Women Airforce Service Pilots
or WASPs. Their numbers were small, usually around four or five, but they performed utility flying that freed AAF pilots for more important duties. WASPs made engineering test flights after engine changes and broke in the engines of new aircraft. They ferried mail and personnel to the gunnery detachment at Eglin Field. WASPs rode with instructors and supervisory pilots during instrument proficiency fights and kept an eye out for conflicting air traffic. They also ferried aircraft and flew to Robins AAF near Macon
to pick up critically needed parts.
With the graduation of the class on 11 March 1945, Spence ended single-engine advanced training. The AAF also closed the basic flying school at Cochran AAF in Macon and moved basic flying instruction to Spence flying the AT-6 aircraft previously used for the advanced training. This was not without controversy, as it was felt that flying cadets who received their primary training in PT-17 Stearman biplanes were not ready to fly the AT-6. Flight training continued until the airfield was placed on temporary inactive status on 30 November 1945.
Spence AAF became a satellite of Tyndall Field, Florida
effective 15 December 1945, but remained inactive as a military airfield throughout the rest of the 1940s, returning to civil use as Spence Airport. Local industry, government, and civic organizations used Spence Field for a wide variety of purposes. A circus even used the base for its winter quarters one year housing its elephants in one of the hangars.
and the expansion of the United States Air Force
, Spence Air Base* was reopened and activated 16 April 1951 by the USAF Air Training Command
, as a contract flying training school. The base had deteriorated badly over its six idle years and a major renovation project was required to return it to acceptable standards. The 3302d Flying Training Squadron (Contract Flying) was the operational training unit at the base, with ground and flight training being supplied by the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics. Repair work was still underway when the first United States Air Force (USAF) class, Class 52-C, reported for training on 15 May 1951.
The base conducted flying training and contract flying training initially with T-6G Texans
and Piper PA-18 Super Cub trainers, later being upgraded to Beechcraft T-34 Mentor
and North American T-28 Trojan
s in early 1954.
For a brief period during 1956 United States Army
pilot trainees were trained in Cessna L-19 aircraft at Spence AB. Spence Instructor Pilots received training in army procedures and six army classes totaling 148 trainees graduated between 4 January and 29 June 1956. Training was conducted off of the sod area at Spence and the Sunset Auxiliary field nearby. This program was a precursor of the later Hawthorne School of Aeronautics contract Army Primary Flight Training Program at Lowe Field (now Lowe Army Heliport) at Fort Rucker
, Alabama
.
From 1954 to 1959, Air Force One
, the Lockheed Constellation
Columbine, landed at Spence Air Base no less than six times. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
passed through Spence while en route to the plantation of the former United States Secretary of the Treasury
, George Humphreys
, in Thomasville. In 1957, Henry Cabot Lodge
and John Foster Dulles
also flew in to confer with Eisenhower in Thomasville.
The base received Cessna T-37 Tweet jet trainers starting in December 1959 as part of "Project All-Jet" in attempt to determine effectiveness of primary flight training in one type of aircraft.
In 1960, ATC began looking at a new training concept—combining preflight, primary, and basic instruction into consolidated pilot training (CPT), which evolved into the current undergraduate pilot training (UPT) format. Secretary of the Air Force Dudley C. Sharp approved the idea in March 1960, and Air Training Command intended to have the training program in operation by March 1961. At the same time, Secretary Sharp approved initiation of a consolidated pilot training program, ATC decided to replace all civilian flying instructors with military officers and to phase out all contract primary schools.
Spence AB ended contract primary training in early December, with the transfer of the T-37 aircraft being completed by 23 December 1960. The base was inactivated and returned to civilian control on 31 March 1961.
s, followed by its T-37 Tweets and T-38 Talon
s. The military use of Spence Airport continues into the current-day. Between 2000 and 2005, Spence served as an auxiliary field for the pilot training program at Moody, being used for take off and landing operations by their Raytheon T-6 Texan II
turbo-prop trainers. As of 2008, Spence Airport still averages over 20 military flight operations per day.
Part of the cantonment area eventually became the Moultrie Regional Industrial Park and a county correctional institution. In 1968, Maule Aircraft built a manufacturing plant at Spence where it remains to this day. In 1978, Spence first hosted the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition. In 2004, the Sunbelt Expo has grown into the world's largest farm show with over 1,000 exhibitors. Since many of the visitors fly to the show, Spence's former control tower is manned during the event to control air traffic. Sunbelt Expo maintains a year round administration center at Spence.
Today, three of Spence's wartime hangars are still in existence. Other buildings built by the Army Air Forces during the war also remain.
.* Note: Air Training Command applied the "Air Base" designator to private contractor-operated flying training bases in the 1950s
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
base that operated from 1941 to 1961. It was later reopened at Spence Airport
Spence Airport
Spence Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located four nautical miles southeast of the central business district of Moultrie, a city in Colquitt County, Georgia, United States...
.
History
The City of Moultrie gained its first official municipal airport, Clark Field, in the 1930s. In 1940, local leaders, aware of the Federal government's airport building program, formed a committee to represent the community. The committee then contacted the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) about the possibility of acquiring a modern CAA built airport at Moultrie. The CAA, receptive to the idea, informed the committee that once the local government provided the land the Federal government would fund the building of an airfield. Due to the impossibility of expanding Clark Field for a modern airport, Moultrie and Colquitt CountyColquitt County, Georgia
Colquitt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created on February 25, 1856. As of 2000, the population was 42,053. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 45,744. The county seat is Moultrie...
then took an option on a tract of land northeast of the city. When the committee members learned the Army planned on establishing additional training bases in the Southeast, they traveled to Maxwell AAF, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
to secure an Air Corps airfield on the site. Air Corps engineers came to Moultrie in March 1941. After inspecting the first site, they selected a more desirable site five miles (8 km) southeast of the city. In June, after the War Department
United States Department of War
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department , was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army...
approved the second site, Moultrie and Colquitt County purchased the 1600 acres (6.5 km²) involved.
World War II
Construction got underway on 15 July 1941 involving building airplane hangars, 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.It was named Spence Army Airfield after World War I hero Lt. Thomas Lewis Spence of Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The city is the second largest in Southwest Georgia after Albany.The city deems itself the City of Roses and holds an annual Rose Festival. The town features plantations open to the public, a historic downtown, a large...
who died in a 1918 aircraft crash in France. When the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
came on 7 December 1941 a small military detachment of 27 officers and 39 enlisted men staffed the airfield
It was used by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command
Air Training Command
Air Training Command is a former major command of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force. ATC came into being as a redesignation of the Army Air Forces Training Command on July 1, 1946...
, Southeast Training Center (later Eastern Flying Training Command) for advanced single-engine flying training. The Army Air Forces Pilot School (Advanced Single-Engine) activated on 15 November 1941. The North American AT-6 Texan
T-6 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...
was the primary aircraft operated by the school.
During World War II, Spence AAF controlled three auxiliary airfields:
- Spence AAF Aux No. 1 - Berlin, GeorgiaBerlin, GeorgiaBerlin is a town in Colquitt County, Georgia, United States. The population was 595 at the 2000 census. Berlin is also known as speedtrap.-Geography:Berlin is located at ....
31°02′50.124"N 83°34′46.31"W (no trace today) - Spence AAF Aux No. 2 - Norman Park, GeorgiaNorman Park, GeorgiaNorman Park is a city in Colquitt County, Georgia, United States. The population was 849 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Norman Park is located at ....
31°17′55"N 83°44′24"W (no trace today) - Spence AAF Aux No. 3 - Moultrie Municipal AirportMoultrie Municipal AirportMoultrie Municipal Airport is a public airport located 6 miles south of Moultrie, Georgia. The airport serves the general aviation community, with no scheduled commercial airline service.-History:...
, Moultrie, GeorgiaMoultrie, GeorgiaMoultrie is the county seat and largest city of Colquitt County and the third largest in Southwest Georgia behind Thomasville and Albany. As of 2009, Moultrie's population is 15,199 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of 6.07 percent....
By September 1942, Spence AAF had 146 AT-6s. The peak of training took place in 1943. Instrument training took place at Moultrie Municipal (Aux No. 3). Typically, 37 instructors with 83 enlisted men in support conducted instrument training with 33 AT-6s from the Moultrie Municipal auxiliary base. One of Spence's shortcomings was the lack of a gunnery range. As a result, all classes deployed to Eglin AAF, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
for two weeks of gunnery training.
In early 1944, the first P-40 Warhawks arrived at Spence AAF. Initially, only the best students received P-40 training. Once sufficient numbers of P-40s were acquired, all students were given five hours of P-40 training. With the addition of P-40 training, the single-engine training syllabus was extended from 10 to 15 weeks. After cadets received 70 hrs. training in the AT-6 and five hours in the P-40, they were commissioned and given five more hours in the P-40.
Spence, as other Army Air Force installations in Georgia, had its contingent of Women Airforce Service Pilots
Women Airforce Service Pilots
The Women Airforce Service Pilots and its predecessor groups the Women's Flying Training Detachment and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron were pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces...
or WASPs. Their numbers were small, usually around four or five, but they performed utility flying that freed AAF pilots for more important duties. WASPs made engineering test flights after engine changes and broke in the engines of new aircraft. They ferried mail and personnel to the gunnery detachment at Eglin Field. WASPs rode with instructors and supervisory pilots during instrument proficiency fights and kept an eye out for conflicting air traffic. They also ferried aircraft and flew to Robins AAF near Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
to pick up critically needed parts.
With the graduation of the class on 11 March 1945, Spence ended single-engine advanced training. The AAF also closed the basic flying school at Cochran AAF in Macon and moved basic flying instruction to Spence flying the AT-6 aircraft previously used for the advanced training. This was not without controversy, as it was felt that flying cadets who received their primary training in PT-17 Stearman biplanes were not ready to fly the AT-6. Flight training continued until the airfield was placed on temporary inactive status on 30 November 1945.
Spence AAF became a satellite of Tyndall Field, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
effective 15 December 1945, but remained inactive as a military airfield throughout the rest of the 1940s, returning to civil use as Spence Airport. Local industry, government, and civic organizations used Spence Field for a wide variety of purposes. A circus even used the base for its winter quarters one year housing its elephants in one of the hangars.
Spence Air Base
As a result of the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and the expansion of the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, Spence Air Base* was reopened and activated 16 April 1951 by the USAF Air Training Command
Air Training Command
Air Training Command is a former major command of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force. ATC came into being as a redesignation of the Army Air Forces Training Command on July 1, 1946...
, as a contract flying training school. The base had deteriorated badly over its six idle years and a major renovation project was required to return it to acceptable standards. The 3302d Flying Training Squadron (Contract Flying) was the operational training unit at the base, with ground and flight training being supplied by the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics. Repair work was still underway when the first United States Air Force (USAF) class, Class 52-C, reported for training on 15 May 1951.
The base conducted flying training and contract flying training initially with T-6G Texans
T-6 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...
and Piper PA-18 Super Cub trainers, later being upgraded to Beechcraft T-34 Mentor
T-34 Mentor
The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is a propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston-engined. These were eventually succeeded by the upgraded T-34C...
and North American T-28 Trojan
T-28 Trojan
The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a piston-engined military trainer aircraft used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s...
s in early 1954.
For a brief period during 1956 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...
pilot trainees were trained in Cessna L-19 aircraft at Spence AB. Spence Instructor Pilots received training in army procedures and six army classes totaling 148 trainees graduated between 4 January and 29 June 1956. Training was conducted off of the sod area at Spence and the Sunset Auxiliary field nearby. This program was a precursor of the later Hawthorne School of Aeronautics contract Army Primary Flight Training Program at Lowe Field (now Lowe Army Heliport) at Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence and...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
.
From 1954 to 1959, Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
, the Lockheed Constellation
Lockheed Constellation
The Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...
Columbine, landed at Spence Air Base no less than six times. President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
passed through Spence while en route to the plantation of the former United States Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
, George Humphreys
George Humphreys
Sir George William Humphreys KBE was a British civil engineer.Humohreys was born in London in 1863. He became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 7 March 1908. He became a member of the council of that institution on November 1917 and served as vice-president from November 1927...
, in Thomasville. In 1957, Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot "Slim" Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts. He had the role of Senate Majority leader. He is best known for his positions on Meek policy, especially his battle with President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles...
and John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...
also flew in to confer with Eisenhower in Thomasville.
The base received Cessna T-37 Tweet jet trainers starting in December 1959 as part of "Project All-Jet" in attempt to determine effectiveness of primary flight training in one type of aircraft.
In 1960, ATC began looking at a new training concept—combining preflight, primary, and basic instruction into consolidated pilot training (CPT), which evolved into the current undergraduate pilot training (UPT) format. Secretary of the Air Force Dudley C. Sharp approved the idea in March 1960, and Air Training Command intended to have the training program in operation by March 1961. At the same time, Secretary Sharp approved initiation of a consolidated pilot training program, ATC decided to replace all civilian flying instructors with military officers and to phase out all contract primary schools.
Spence AB ended contract primary training in early December, with the transfer of the T-37 aircraft being completed by 23 December 1960. The base was inactivated and returned to civilian control on 31 March 1961.
Civil use
However, the USAF was still a presence at the civilian airport after its formal inactivation. Moody AFB in Valdosta made an agreement with the City of Moultrie to use the airfield for an Air Force auxiliary field. The Air Force extended the north¬west/southeast runway to 8000 ft (2,438.4 m) for use by Moody's T-33 Shooting StarT-33 Shooting Star
The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star is an American-built jet trainer aircraft. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948, piloted by Tony LeVier. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. It was used by the...
s, followed by its T-37 Tweets and T-38 Talon
T-38 Talon
The Northrop T-38 Talon is a twin-engine supersonic jet trainer. It was the world's first supersonic trainer and is also the most produced. The T-38 remains in service as of 2011 in air forces throughout the world....
s. The military use of Spence Airport continues into the current-day. Between 2000 and 2005, Spence served as an auxiliary field for the pilot training program at Moody, being used for take off and landing operations by their Raytheon T-6 Texan II
T-6 Texan II
The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engined turboprop aircraft built by the Raytheon Aircraft Company . Based on the Pilatus PC-9, the T-6 is used by the United States Air Force for basic pilot training and by the United States Navy for Primary and Intermediate Joint Naval Flight Officer and...
turbo-prop trainers. As of 2008, Spence Airport still averages over 20 military flight operations per day.
Part of the cantonment area eventually became the Moultrie Regional Industrial Park and a county correctional institution. In 1968, Maule Aircraft built a manufacturing plant at Spence where it remains to this day. In 1978, Spence first hosted the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition. In 2004, the Sunbelt Expo has grown into the world's largest farm show with over 1,000 exhibitors. Since many of the visitors fly to the show, Spence's former control tower is manned during the event to control air traffic. Sunbelt Expo maintains a year round administration center at Spence.
Today, three of Spence's wartime hangars are still in existence. Other buildings built by the Army Air Forces during the war also remain.
.* Note: Air Training Command applied the "Air Base" designator to private contractor-operated flying training bases in the 1950s
See also
- Georgia World War II Army AirfieldsGeorgia World War II Army AirfieldsDuring World War II, the United States Army Air Force established numerous airfields in Georgia for antisubmarine defense in the Gulf of Mexico and for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers....