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THE BUILDING OF TURNER FIELD - A GIFT FROM ALBANY, GA TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT (Adapted from an article in The Albany Herald, Sunday, April 26, 1992 and written by Janet Bean, then curator of Thronateeska Heritage Foundation of Albany, Georgia Our thanks to The Albany Herald.) In the summer of 1940, Major Peacock of the United States Army Air Corps approached the Albany Chamber of Commerce about the possibility of locating a new Army Air Corps training facility in Albany. Albany's terrain, sparseness of population and weather made it ideal for the training of pilots. The Chamber investigated several sites, looking for proximity to rivers, railroads and utilities. The Army initially liked a site in Lee County and the city of Albany took out options to buy the land. Further investigation and deliberation by the Army, however, resulted in the choice of a site east of the Flint River in Dougherty County, four miles from Albany. The city canceled its options on the Lee County land and purchased options on the new site. The Industrial Committee of the Chamber consisting of John Davis, E.H. Kalmon, C.M Herrick, J.T. Phillips, W.B. Haley, A.C. Gortatowsky, C.Q. Wright and A.E. Runnels, began a drive to raise the money necessary to purchase the land for the base. The committee raised $50,000 by subscription - A mean sum for an area hard hit by the Depression and still reeling from the tornado that had devastated downtown Albany in February of that year. The city added a further $30,000. The land was purchased from the R.L. Jones estate and presented to the city by the Chamber and an additional 200 acres were bought by the city for $15,000. Further purchases of land were made in Lee County for four auxiliary fields. A total of 4,753,817.5 acres were purchased for the main base and other fields. The city leased the property to the United States government for $1 per year on lease with a 99 year option, renewable each year. The city also leased an office at 113 1/2 Pine Street from the Smith Lumber Company as a WAC enrollment center. Housing for WAC recruits was acquired at the Henry Binns Hotel at $1.50 per person per day. Hygiene stations for soldiers were leased in town at 226 Highland Avenue for black troops and at 2421/2 Broad Avenue for white troops Each station cost the government $25 per month. The Army contracted with the Holloway Construction for the building of the base. Civilian workers came from all over the South to work on the construction job. Local contractors were hired to fill smaller jobs such as erecting steel fences around the bases and building the base chapel. Construction under the supervision of the Army Engineers began on March 25, 1941. All water for the base was purchased from the Albany Water, Gas and Light Commission. Georgia Northern was engaged to build a railway spur to Turner Field at a cost of $20,475.
(Photo Above - click on photo for enlarged view
Did you ever hear of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker? That's Cap'n Eddie, third from the left. The World War I flying ace (26 kills) was an inspirational leader in World War II, and at one time was lost at sea for 24 days following an airplane crash. He was later president of Eastern Airlines. This picture shows him at Turner Field during the war, with Base Commander Colonel John B. Patrick, (left) and two other unidentified leaders. (Photo courtesy of the Army Air Corps) THE MILITARY AT TURNER FIELD (Adapted in part from the 31st Wing Air Force Year Book -
Turner Air Base, Albany, GA 1957 and in part from - BUT RETURNED: After the end of hostilities, Turner Air Base was deactivated from 15 August 1946 until 1 September 1947. The 2621st AAF Base Unit arrived from Barksdale Field, Lousianna and acted as caretakers. During these months of inactive status, Turner was a part of the Air Training Command. 1947-1965 THE KOREAN WAR ERA, OPERATION FOX PETER ONE,
1958 - WELCOME TO THE B-52 BOMBERS & THE RETURN OF TURNER FIELD to STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND: With reactivation, Turner Air Base was transferred to the Tactical Air Command’s Ninth Air Force. On 20 November 1947, the 31st Fighter Group, a veteran unit that had served in Europe and the Mediterranean theaters in World War II and had only recently returned from a tour of duty in Germany, was stationed at Turner and became its principal operational component. Through the following years, this unit remained in assignment at Turner. During this time, both Turner and the 31st wing were placed under different major air commands. In December 1948, they became associated with Continental Air Command and Fourteenth Air Force, remaining under this jurisdiction until July 1950. They then became under the Strategic Air Command’s Second Air Force. On 1 April 1957, Turner and the 31st Wing were reunited with the Tactical Air Command’s Ninth Air Force. Almost simultaneously the Wing’s tactical vehicle, the Republic F-84F "Thunderstreak" was changed to the North American F-100 "Super Sabre". Aerial refueling capability for the Wing was increased as the KB-50 refueling aircraft replaced the KB-29. Prior to April 1, the Wing was rated as the foremost Strategic Fighter Wing in the SAC. The adoption of the new tactical and refueling aircraft immediately caused the wing to become non-combat ready. It began a long struggle to regain and maintain its high degree of readiness in the new and complex equipment. Many other Air Force units were from time to time assigned to Turner, some temporarily and others for their life span. Foremost of these units was SAC’s 40th Air Force Division which was activated in March 1951 and inactivated on 1 April 1957. The 508th Strategic Fighter Wing lived its life span at Turner from July 1952 until May 1956. The 408th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, formed of personnel of the 508th and the 4025th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, which moved to Turner from a base in Ohio in May 1956 stayed until 1 April 1957. Upon the transfer of the 31st to the Ninth Air Force on that date, the 408th was transferred to Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio Texas. From its reactivation in 1947, the principal mission of Turner Air Force Base was operation of tactical air wings for Combat Readiness. Air base groups were used in support of this mission. In 1947, the 357th AAF unit was followed by the 31st Air Base Group in March 1951 and the 811th Air Base Group in July 1951. (The latter was transferred to the 31st Air Base Group on 25th September 1957 and contributed immensely to its accomplishments.) The base became the installation of the strategic Air Command, with the 484th Bombardment Wing and the 1370th Photo Mapping Wing assigned as tenant commands. 1967 - WELCOME TO THE NAVY: On July 1, 1967, the Base was commissioned by the Navy as the Naval Air Station, Albany. (see Naval Air Station). July, 1974 - TURNER AIR.....
The base, then known as the Naval Air Station in Albany, closed for good in 1974. For Albany, it meant a loss of at least 3,000 jobs and sent the unemployment rate of the city soaring to 11 percent according to Lamar Clifton, then Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce. 1974-1979 DIFFICULT YEARS AT TURNER:
Community leaders accepted the major challenge for redevelopment of Turner Field, and by 1976, the first new industry (Kroger/Tara Foods) was acquired for one of the buildings, with major reconstruction and 80+ new jobs. This was very important, as Albany went to school on how to deal with "Uncle Sam" in such a major redevelopment effort. This was critical to further dealings concerning Miller Brewing and eight or ten other transactions that led to a textbook redevelopment effort, referred to by officials of the General Services Administration as a classic. Many former military installations, once closed by the Federal government have been fallow for years, and in some cases decades. But for Albany, Miller was a major segment of the three year period 1978-1980 that saw a virtual $3/4 billion capital expenditure for Albany, including Miller, Delco-Remy, Procter & Gamble expansion and several service and complimentary industries. (Lamar Clifton, A First State Legacy, page 17.) 1979 - ALBANY WELCOMES MILLER TO TURNER FIELD:
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