Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base
Encyclopedia
- For the civilian airport use, see Laurinburg-Maxton AirportLaurinburg-Maxton AirportLaurinburg-Maxton Airport is a public airport located three miles north of the central business district of Maxton and east of Laurinburg. Maxton is located primarily in Robeson County, North Carolina, USA while Laurinburg is in Scotland County, North Carolina, USA as is the airport proper. This...
Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base is an inactive 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...
base, approximately 6 miles east-northeast of Laurinburg, North Carolina
Laurinburg, North Carolina
Laurinburg is a mid-sized city in Scotland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Scotland County. Located in southern North Carolina near the South Carolina state border, Laurinburg is southwest of Fayetteville and is home to St. Andrews Presbyterian College...
. It was active during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a I Troop Carrier Command
I Troop Carrier Command
The I Troop Carrier Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the First Air Force, based at Stout Army Air Field, Indiana.Its primary mission was theater troop and logistics transport training...
training airfield.
The Laurinburg-Maxton Airbase was the largest Waco CG-4A Glider Pilot training base in the world. It was closed on 30 October 1945
History
Local citizens in the Laurinburg and Maxton area of North Carolina learned in December 1941 that the Federal Government wanted to locate an Air Training School in the vicinity of Maxton. The local governments petitioned the War Department and Civil Aeronautics AdministrationCivil Aeronautics Administration
Civil Aeronautics Administration may refer to:*Civil Aeronautics Administration - a division of Ministry of Transportation and Communication, Executive Yuan, Republic of China...
(CAA) to have some type of airfield built in their area in early 1942 to help in the war effort. The plan was to build the airfield with local funds and money supplied by the CAA and the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA). The War Department would have control of the facility and use of it for the duration of the war, and afterwards the airfield would become a public airport. Eventually an agreement was made in May 1942, and a combination of four local purchased 583 acres to lease to the government to be used as a military reservation. However, the local governments had to acquire several parcels of land under private ownership, which were long held by the families which owned them for generations.
Construction was authorized on 20 April, 1942, and almost immediately, work on the airfield was begun. much of the labor was provided through the WPA. Engineers were surveying out the site, water wells were dug and preparations were underway to build a railroad spur to the facility. The base was planned to be a large, expansive facility designed to house 10,000 men. The cost was over ten million dollars and netted 20 miles of paved roads within the compound.
Over the next several months construction workers moved in from around the country. Grading for the runways and site preparation for the support station began in June and by the end of October 1942, most of the major construction was completed. Three long 6,500' runways were constructed in a triangle configuration, oriented N/S, NE/SW and SW/NE. Also four auxiliary airfields weer established for support airfields:
- Knolwood Airfield, 35°14′14"N 079°23′21"W (Now: Moore County Airpark)
- Lumberton Airfield, 34°36′38"N 079°03′34"W (Now: Lumberton Municipal Airport)
- North Pine Airfield (Location undetermined)
- Pinehurst Airfield (Location undetermined)
Construction of a station facility consisted of a large number of buildings based on standardized plans and architectural drawings, with the buildings designed to be the "cheapest, temporary character with structural stability only sufficient to meet the needs of the service which the structure is intended to fulfill during the period of its contemplated war use" was underway. To conserve critical materials, most facilities were constructed of wood, concrete, brick, gypsum board and concrete asbestos. Metal was sparsely used. The station was designed to be nearly self-sufficient, with not only hangars, but barracks, warehouses, hospitals, dental clinics, dining halls, and maintenance shops were needed. There were libraries, social clubs for officers, and enlisted men, and stores to buy living necessities.
The new Army Air Force base was opened in late October 1942 and was named Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base. It was placed under the jurisdiction of I Troop Carrier Command
I Troop Carrier Command
The I Troop Carrier Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the First Air Force, based at Stout Army Air Field, Indiana.Its primary mission was theater troop and logistics transport training...
with a mission to train and equip glider airborne units for coordinated training with Army paratroop, infantry, artillery, engineers and medical units.
C-47 and Glider Pilot Training
The first unit to train at Laurinburg-Maxton was the 317th Troop Carrier Group317th Troop Carrier Group
The 317th Troop Carrier Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 317th Tactical Airlift Wing, stationed at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina...
, which arrived in early November 1942. This was followed shortly by the Army 88th Airborne Infantry Regiment
88th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 88th Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment in the United States Army. It was created as the 88th Infantry Airbone Battalion on 10 October 1941 as the US Army's first glider glider infantry unit. Attached to the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, the unit was authorised a strength of...
, which later was re-designated as the 88th Glider Infantry Regiment. Known units which trained at the base are:
- 375th Troop Carrier Group (55th, 56th, 57th, 58th TCS), May-June 1943
- 38th Troop Carrier Squadron38th Troop Carrier SquadronThe 38h Troop Carrier Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 10th Troop Carrier Group, based at Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base, North Carolina...
(10th TCG), June-September 1943; January-April 1944 (Operational Training Unit) - 67th Troop Carrier Squadron67th Troop Carrier SquadronThe 67th Troop Carrier Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 433d Troop Carrier Group, based at Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany...
(433d TCG), June-August 1943 - 68th Troop Carrier Squadron (433d TCG), June-August 1943
- 69th Troop Carrier Squadron (433d TCG), June-August 1943
- 70th Troop Carrier Squadron70th Troop Carrier SquadronThe 70th Troop Carrier Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 433d Troop Carrier Group, based at Cleveland Municipal Airport, Ohio...
(433d TCG), June-August 1943 - 436th Troop Carrier Group (79th, 80th, 81st, 82d TCS), August-December 1943
- 438th Troop Carrier Group (87th, 88th, 89th TCS), October 1943-January 1944
- 439th Troop Carrier Group (91st, 92d, 93d, 94th TCS), December 1943-February 1944
On 1 May 1944 the 392d Army Air Force Base Unit took over the training mission at the base, and unit operational training was replaced by individual replaement training (RTU) by the AAF Glider Training School. Over 40 Army and Air Force units trained at the base by the end of the war in 1945, including both the 82d Airborne and 101st Airborne Divisions.
Visits by high-ranking Army and Air Force officers were common at the base, which meant parades and troops passing in review drills were frequent. Both General Eisenhower and Marshall
George Marshall
George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense...
visited Laurinburg-Maxton on several occasions during the war, to observe units performing parachute and glider training. Demonstrations were frequently made for the distinguished visitors. The demonstrations impressed the visitors and did much to give confidence to the Generals about the capability of the soldiers and airmen of the airborne forces. Units and personnel which trained at the base were deployed to North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
as part of the Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
landings in French West Africa
French West Africa
French West Africa was a federation of eight French colonial territories in Africa: Mauritania, Senegal, French Sudan , French Guinea , Côte d'Ivoire , Upper Volta , Dahomey and Niger...
in November 1942, as well as the invasions of Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in the summer of 1943.
In early 1944, the mission of Laurinburg-Maxton AAB was changed to train student officers in advanced glider techniques and ground fighting. Also the training of C-47 pilots in towing the CG-4A Waco gliders, which were developed for the planned Normandy invasion in June. Training in glider towing was previously conducted at Bowman Field
Bowman Field
Bowman Field is a minor league baseball stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is home to the Williamsport Crosscutters of the New York - Penn League. Official seating capacity is 4,200. Bowman Field is the second oldest ballpark in minor league baseball, behind Centennial...
, Kentucky, near Fort Campbell
Fort Campbell
Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astraddle the Kentucky-Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee...
; the proximity to Fort Bragg by Laurinburg-Maxton and the Army airborne school there added a second school. The first glider pilot training class began on 2 June 1944, just four days prior to the Normandy Invasion.
The CG-4A Waco glider, was by the standards of 1944, huge. It could carry 13 fully equipped soldiers; a jeep with a 4-man crew and equipment, or a 75mm howitzer plus supplies and ammunition. It had a wingspan of over eight feet and weighed over 4,000 pounds when empty. Manufactured primarily of wood, medal tubing and canvas, it was towed into the air by C-47s which connected to it by a tow rope that also carried basic communications between the glider and aircraft. Designed by Waco aircraft and some other companies, they were manufactured by Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
at their Kingsford, Michigan
Kingsford, Michigan
Kingsford is a city in Dickinson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,549 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Iron Mountain, MI–WI Micropolitan Statistical Area....
production plant in northwest Michigan by the thousands. It was a well-designed aircraft and had good aerodynamics.
The training course for Air Force Glider pilots was an eight-week program. Their primary instruction was to fly the glider behind the tow aircraft and successfully land the unpowered aircraft. However, were also trained as combat soldiers, as once the glider landed they were as vulnerable in combat as the airborne infantry they carried. In addition to the flying training glider pilots were trained in firing the M1 carbine
M1 Carbine
The M1 carbine is a lightweight, easy to use semi-automatic carbine that became a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and was produced in several variants. It was widely used by U.S...
; "Bazooka
Bazooka
Bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless rocket antitank weapon, widely fielded by the U.S. Army. Also referred to as the "Stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was amongst the first-generation of rocket propelled anti-tank weapons used in infantry combat...
" rocket launchers, various sub-machine guns (M3
M3 submachine gun
The M3 was an American .45-caliber submachine gun adopted for U.S. Army service on 12 December 1942, as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal. .45, M3. The M3 was designed as a more cost-effective alternative to the Thompson, optimized for mass production...
, Thompson
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1919, that became infamous during the Prohibition era. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals...
), 60 and 80mm mortars, and the use of hand grenades. They took part in Army tactical exercises using maps, compass, setting booby-traps, camouflage and participated in extensive physical training. Over time, the course curriculum was changed to add tank hunting and jungle reconnaissance, and glider reorganization after landing in enemy territory. Also the study of weapons and battle habits of Japanese soldiers. Also, a water glider "ditching" facility was set up at a large pond near the base named Lee's Mill, where water ditchings were practiced.
In addition to the training of glider pilots, training was given to C-47 pilots, although most resources were allocated to tow training and glider pilots who often landed in the grass section of the airfield inside the three runways. The curriculum consisted of Ground and Flying Training, which included weight and balance instruction (the towing C-47 also carried airborne parachutists), meterology, boarding and cargo lashdown procedures, radio code, preflighting both the C-47 and the glider, flying the C-47 while towing the glider and lots of night flying practice.
One of the more interesting concepts taught at the base was the "snatch pick-up" which was used to retrieve gliders on the ground by C-47s flying over them. This technique was important as gliders (which were undamaged after landing) were loaded with wounded soldiers from an open field where a runway did not exist. The glider could be "snatched" and pulled into the air by the tow plane. This was often used in remote locations such as Burma and later after the Normandy landings in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
.
Besides the CG-4, a larger glider, the Waco CG-13 was manufactured in limited quantities. Four of them were based at the Lumberton, North Carolina auxiliary airfield for training use. Two of the C-13s were damaged and unusable, however beginning in June 1943, training with one was performed at the Army Airborne training school at Camp Mackall
Camp Mackall
Camp Mackall is an active U.S. Army training facility located in eastern Richmond County and northern Scotland County, North Carolina, south of the town of Southern Pines. The facility is in close proximity to and is a sub-installation of Fort Bragg Camp Mackall is an active U.S. Army training...
.
Closure
As the war began drawing to an end in Europe, and later in the summer of 1945 in the Pacific, the number of trainees and the level of activity at the base was reduced rapidly. With the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II most of the temporary training bases such as Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base were put on inactive status and eventually closed.Activity diminished over the summer of 1945 as people began being discharged or transferred to other bases, and the former thriving military complex began to take on the appearance of a ghost town. In early September, just after the Japanese surrender, the base population was just over 3,700 personnel, down from the 10,000 or so in April. By the end of the September, it was down to 914. In October the base received notice that it would be inactivated by the end of the month.
Laurinburg-Maxton Air Base today
When the base closed it was converted to civilian uses. The airfield was redeveloped into the civil Laurinburg-Maxton AirportLaurinburg-Maxton Airport
Laurinburg-Maxton Airport is a public airport located three miles north of the central business district of Maxton and east of Laurinburg. Maxton is located primarily in Robeson County, North Carolina, USA while Laurinburg is in Scotland County, North Carolina, USA as is the airport proper. This...
. From time to time, Army airborne units based at Fort Bragg use the airfield just like their predecessors did in the 1940s. Several wartime buildings remain at the airport, including the large hangars built in 1944. Lee Mills Pond remains, as many of the revetments around the airfield where C-47s were parked.
The airfield was regularly used as a pursuit driving track for the North Carolina Highway Patrol Basic school cadets from the 1960's through the early 1990's. As demand for the airport's usage for aviation increased, that coupled with the antiquated nature of the setting and increased training needs prompted the state to fund a new and certified pursuit driving track operated by the NC Highway Patrol but for use by all NC law enforcement agencies. The new facility is in southeast Raleigh, near the Highway Patrol Training Center in Garner. Local antipathy against the Highway Patrol by area Lumbee Indians from the riots in Robeson County in the 1960's was blamed for patrol cars being vandalized at the Maxton facility on numerous occasions over the decades.
The former base can be easily accessed from Interstate 74
Interstate 74
Interstate 74 is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an intersection with Interstate 80 in Davenport, Iowa; the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an intersection with Interstate 75 in Cincinnati, Ohio...
/U.S. Route 74
U.S. Route 74
U.S. Route 74 is an east–west United States highway that runs for from Cleveland, Tennessee to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.-Tennessee:Established in 1987, US-74 western terminus is exit 20 on I-75 in Cleveland...
exit 190 and turning north on "Airport Road". Part of the support station is used as a growing industrial park, with large manufacturing plants constructed, although many streets of the support station still remain in poor repair, half a century of vegetation brush and pine tree growth now covering the former facility. The base hospital became the Scotland Memorial Hospital, although today the hospital is in a new, modern facility about six miles southeast of the airport off I-74. Most of the other base buildings were torn down or sold off and moved over time. The base chapel remains on the former base and is still in use as the Skyway Baptist Church.