During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Mississippi for antisubmarine defense in the Gulf of Mexico and for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers.
Mississippi World War II Army Airfields | |
|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |
     Map Of Major Mississippi World War II Army Airfields  Third Air Force  AAF Training Command  AAF Contract Flying Schools Troop Carrier Command | |
| Type | Army Airfields |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1940-1944 |
| In use | 1940-present |
Most of these airfields were under the command of Third Air Force or the Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC) (A predecessor of the current-day United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command). However the other USAAF support commands (Air Technical Service Command (ATSC); Air Transport Command (ATC) or Troop Carrier Command operated a significant number of airfields in support roles.
It is still possible to find remnants of these wartime airfields. Many were converted into municipal airports, some were returned to agriculture and several were retained as United States Air Force installations and were front-line bases during the Cold War. Hundreds of the temporary buildings that were used survive today, and are being used for other purposes.
Major Airfields
editThird Air Force
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- 473d Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron
- Assigned to Air Technical Service Command, (1944-1946)
- Now: Hesler-Noble Field
- 39th Army Air Force Base Unit
- Assigned to Air Technical Service Command, (1942-1945)
- Now: Hattiesburg Bobby L. Chain Municipal Airport
AAF Training Command
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.* Greenville was designated as an "Air Base" by Air Training Command while operated as private contractor-operated training facilities in the 1950s.
AAF Contract Flying Schools
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Troop Carrier Command
editReferences
edit- Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
- Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
- Thole, Lou (1999), Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol. 2. Pictorial Histories Pub . ISBN 1-57510-051-7
- Military Airfields in World War II - Mississippi