| Fairfax Field | |
|---|---|
| Part of 1951-4:  Air Defense Command1944-tbd:  AAF Technical Services Commandtbd:  Air Transport Command1935-1942: US Navy | |
| Located onGoose Island, Kansas, at the state line on theMissouri River west ofNorth Kansas City, Missouri | |
 Northward view of the air base in World War II after the modification center was built along the south taxiway. | |
| Site information | |
| Code | FUDS - WRD (WWII weather station)[1] |
| Location | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 39°09′10″N094°36′43″W / 39.15278°N 94.61194°W /39.15278; -94.61194 (Air Force Plant 02)[2] (1941-89 B-25/GM plant) |
Fairfax Field was a wartime (WWII) facility of the United States Army Air Forces and later, theUnited States Air Force. The installation was north ofKansas City, Kansas. Used as a pre-warNaval Air Station,[3] theUnited States Army Air Forces leased the municipal airfield and built anAir Force plant andmodification center forNorth American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber production. Military use of the site continued as late as 1957 by the Strategic Air Command's3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Group for bombing practice.
Kansas City, Missouri, had military activities beginning as early as 1919 when the city was part of a recruiting campaign in which "seventeen flying fields, one repair depot, and five balloon stations" took part.[4]: 7 In 1923 theAir Service's southern division of theModel Airway used an airfield in the city for an Army air route toKelly Field, Texas; and by the end of 1925, the "403th [sic]Pursuit Squadron" was assigned to a Kansas City facility (the Air Service leased the land for the airdrome in Kansas City, Missouri, with steel hangars for $1/year.)[4] In 1940, theUSGS mapped the "State Boundary" as a straight north-south line demarcating a small eastern portion of "Fairfax Airport" as being in Missouri.[5] By the end of 1942, Kansas City, Missouri, had a modification center--in addition to the Fairfax plant and modification center in Kansas.[6] On 2 March 1945, Military Air Transport moved an air freight terminal to Fairfax from Kansas City, Missouri.
The USAFCentral Air Defense Force (CADF) was activated with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri, on 1 March 1951; on 24 April the CentralArmy Antiaircraft Command was "established with HQ at Kansas City" (organized 1 May 1951); and on 1 July the USAF35th Air Division was activated at Kansas City (moved toDobbins Air Force Base in September). The 4602dAir Intelligence Service Squadron--after being assigned toPeterson Field on 1 March 1952[7]--had its Flight B assigned with "Defense Force Headquarters [at] Kansas City, Missouri".[8] WhileGrandview Air Force Base was being completed, on 1 October 1952 Kansas City, Missouri, had CADF'sTechnical and Ground Training Division,[9] and theNSA's Special Study Group met on 1 August 1953 at "Headquarters, Central Air Defense Force, Kansas City, Missouri".[10]
- Grandview Air Force Base
- On 24 February 1954, HQ CADF moved to Grandview Air Force Base[11] outside the city limits, but the land was owned by the Kansas City, Missouri government (from whom the USAF leased the airport on 1 January 1952--the "USAF accepted responsibility for [the base's] land and buildings" in January 1953.[7]
The airfield was first used in 1921 for an air meet and became the 1925Sweeney Airport and the 1928Fairfax Airport. A naval reserve air base was established at Fairfax Field in 1935[12]; a Navy squadron and aMarine squadron were established on 12 July.[13] In 1937 Fairfax acted as an "army reserve base" withDouglas O-46 observation planes,[14] and by 1938 the airport had four runways, including one 2,700 ft (820 m) long.[15] Fairfax's "U.S. Naval Reserve aviation base",[16] had a 30-day pre-flight training course in 1940.[17]
The "Marine Air Flight Program" established by 1 September 1940[3] at Fairfax's "Navy Elimination Air Base" (E-base) used "a physical and mental examination…ten hours of dual instruction…check rides and a fifteen-minute solo flight" for screening candidates[18] to become Naval Aviation Cadets.[19] A Fairfax "naval flying cadet… crashed into theMissouri River two miles northwest of the Fairfax air base" [sic] on 16 June 1942,[20] Fairfax's naval aviation training moved in July to the newUnited States Naval Aviation Reserve Base at Olathe about 20 miles away.[12] Fairfax still had "Barracks U.S. Navy" in 1946.[21]
Survey work forAir Force Plant NC had begun in December 1940, and the city ofKansas City, Kansas, purchased the airport in February 1941.[23] The USAAF leased the Fairfax Airport from the city and theWorks Projects Administration sponsored expansion of the four civilian runways. The government purchased a 75 acres (30 ha)alfalfa field[24] for the plant and for right-of-way to the airfield. B-25 production began in December 1941, and Fairfax's first B-25D was accepted in February 1942. The FairfaxModification Center was a dual hangar built May–October 1942 along the south taxiway for altering the new B-25s (a west extension and several outbuildings were added.)[25] The76th AAF Technical Training Detachment activated on 4 February 1943 (designated 5 October) and administered a 6 week hydraulics course for AAF mechanics under the direction of the Aircraft Accessories Corporation. About 300 students were admitted before the school was closed in October as a duplicate of aChanute Field course. The81st AAF Technical Training Detachment activated 22 February 1943 and designated, effective 30 August, to supervise apprentice crew chiefs at the Modification Center. January AAF policy was for each mechanic selected as a crew chief to be assigned an aircraft as it left the factory, review its modifications at the center, and deploy with it to the field unit. B-25 modifications only took a week until the B-25G gunship modifications forPacific War anti-shipping missions, which took 2–3 months.[citation needed] Peak enrollment was 296 mechanics on 27 June, and the apprenticeship program was abandoned (the detachment inactivated on 31 October 1943.)
Air Transport Command moved the2d Ferrying Squadron of the 5th Ferrying Group fromDallas Love Field to Fairfax on 15 April 1943, and the squadron ferried out 157 B-25s during May[26] Of 1,881 deliveries in 1943 by the Ground Ferrying Squadron all but 129 were B-25s, but at the end of that year Fairfax pilots began ferryingMartin B-26 Marauders from theOmaha modification center andConsolidated B-24 Liberators from aSt. Paul facility. From May-Sep 1944 a detachment ofWomen Airforce Service Pilots was at Fairfax.[27] The33d Ferrying Group was designated on 1 April 1944 from the 2d Ferrying Squadron, which had been separated from the 5th Group on 1 January 1944 (393 officers and 578 enlisted men at the end of 1944).[28]Womens Air Service Pilots were organized at Fairfax on 1 May 1944,[29] and from Fairfax the 33d delivered 6,202 aircraft to CONUS bases and 251 abroad. On 22 September 1944 the 33d Ferrying Group began daily scheduled Military Air Transport (MAT) flights with military cargo/passengers toMinneapolis andOmaha (2 more daily flights were later added.) In October 1944, the modification center became an adjunct[clarification needed] to the final assembly line. On 9 November 1944 the 33d Group furnished plane and crew to fly SenatorHarry S. Truman from Fairfax to Washington for ceremonies following his election as Vice-President, and in early 1945 the 33d controlled ten operating locations.[where?]. During the Fairfax transition to P-80 production, the 33d Ferrying Group was discontinued.[when?]
On 2 March 1945, Military Air Transport moved an air freight terminal to Fairfax fromKansas City, Missouri, and had 362 personnel in June, the largest operating location in the division. For ferrying, Fairfax became an operating location ofRosecrans Army Airfield on 15 April 1945 with its pilots traveling to Fairfax for sorties. In 1945, 1,044 military transports used the field in July (e.g., PresidentTruman for visits toIndependence, Missouri). Plans for B-29 and F-80 aircraft production at Fairfax were never implemented, and B-25J production was terminated on 15 August 1945, after a total of 2,290 B-25Ds (152 Navy PBJ-1D variants) and 4,318 B-25Js had been built by the plant. The federalReconstruction Finance Corporation set up a depot in the Fairfax district to liquidate war surplus not sent to depots or elsewhere for government use (reusable materials like aluminum and steel were reclaimed.) Seventy-two incomplete but flyable B-25Js were sold to the public. A USAAFC-47 crashed on 15 September 1945 on take off into the north bank of the Missouri River's curve, killing all 24 aboard.[30][31] The Air Transport Command operating location at Fairfax was discontinued by 6 December 1945 (9 C-47s and 80 pilots/co-pilots transferred west toTopeka Army Airfield which had been chosen for a central MAT flight facility by November 1945.) The4101st Army Air Force Base Unit (Reserve Training) was activated at Fairfax on 12 July 1946 (redesignated 2472d AF Reserve Training Center on 28 August 1948)[32] and at the beginning ofUSAF planning, Fairfax activated the Reserve's564th Bombardment Squadron[specify] on 6 January 1947 which sent 127 pilots to 1948 summer camp.
Fairfax[33] in 1945 had an early2AFRadar Bomb Scoring (RBS) site[34] which used anSCR-584 radar for evaluating bomber training The Kansas City RBS unit became a detachmentof Colorado Springs's206 AAFBU in July 1945,[35] and in 1954 was Det 5 of the10th RBSS.[36] The detachment scoredConvair B-36 Peacemaker runs during 1953,[37] the 1955SAC Bombing and Navigation Competition,[38] and the 1957 "Operation Longshot".[39][40][41] The Kansas City aiming point for the 1957 operation was "the base of the northeast corner of the Columbian Steel Tank Company"[42][41]: 1 at the corner of 12th/Liberty streets.[33][43] in theWest Bottoms.[44] In 1959, SAC's simulated bomb runs on Kansas City were scored usinga longer range radar at Missouri'sJoplin Radar Bomb Scoring Site (10RBSS Det 2) to the south which had moved from Oklahoma'sHollis Radar Bomb Scoring Site in July.
In October 1948, 37Air Force Reserve planes at Fairfax flew 1,844 hours and in 1949, the 564th was replaced by the442d Troop Carrier Wing (activated 27 June).[citation needed] Despite a 1948 plan for Fairfax to "be withdrawn fromsurplus",[45] in "October 1949 the U.S. Air Force terminated its lease on Fairfax Airport, and the city of Kansas City, Kansas, regained control of the facility".[46]: 260 On 22 May 1950, Fairfax's2472d AF Reserve Training Center and442d Troop Carrier Wing moved toNaval Air Technical Training Center Olathe.
Fairfax's4610th Air Base Squadron temporarily evacuatedFairfax Municipal Airport due to a fire during theGreat Flood of 1951[47] and on 1 October 1952, the squadron "opened" the nearbyGrandview Air Force Base in Missouri (Grandview's beneficial occupancy began 2 years later.)[48]: 88 In 1952 the squadron was renamed the4676th Air Defense Group[49] which began flyingF-86 Sabres from Fairfax at the end of 1953.
In 1953,an F-94 crashed on attempting a return, killing the pilot and radar operator. From 18 December 1953 – 1 March 1954, the326th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was assigned to Fairfax, andan F-84 crashed near the city's business district killing the pilot and three residents.[50]
On 1 September 1954,Air Defense Command (ADC) was placed underContinental Air Defense Command and all Fairfax ADC units moved nearby to the newGrandview Air Force Base nearKansas City, Missouri.[48]
Daggett, Calif.; Tucson, Ariz.; Love Field, Dallas, Tex.;Fairfax Airport, Kansas City, Kans.; Buffalo, N. Y..; Evansville, Ind.; Niagara Falls, N. Y.; Offutt Field, Omaha, Neb.; Standiford Field, Louisville, Ky.; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Vandalia, Ohio; St. Paul, Minn.; Denver, Colo.; Birmingham Ala.; Memphis, Tenn .; Tulsa, Okla.; andKansas City, Mo.
The 4602d Air Intelligence Service Squadron was activated and organized under authority of Air Defense Command General Order Number 20, dated 28 February 1952, at Peterson field [sic] [a sub-base of] Ent Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado with an authorized strength of thirty-four (34) officers and ninety-seven (97) airmen. Under this General Order, three flights, designated as Flights A, B and C were organized to be located at the three Defense Force Headquarters at Hamilton Air Force Base, California, at Kansas City, Missouri, and at Stewart Air Force Base, new York, respectively.
HQ, Central Air Defense Force was established [at Grandview Air Force Base] on 2/24/54NOTE:biographical webpage distinguished the 2 different Missouri sites for HQ CADF.