 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Waller Air Force Base | |
|---|---|
| Part ofSixth Air Force | |
| Arima,Trinidad and Tobago | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Military airfield |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
| Location | |
  Waller AFB | |
| Coordinates | 10°36′48.87″N061°12′48.30″W / 10.6135750°N 61.2134167°W /10.6135750; -61.2134167 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1941-1949 |
Waller Air Force Base is a formerUnited States Air ForceWorld War II air base located in northeasternTrinidad. It is located about 7 km southeast ofDowntown Arima south of theChurchill-Roosevelt Highway and roughly 32 km from the capital cityPort of Spain.
The American rights to the airfield were obtained via theDestroyers for Bases Agreement in September 1940, when the United States transferred fifty destroyers toGreat Britain in exchange for Army and Navy base rights onBritish possessions in the Americas.
In 1941, Trinidad was alarmed by a large number ofNaziU-boats prowling off its coastline, intent on disrupting British shipping in theCaribbean Sea, and using theVichy French controlled island ofMartinique as a possible supply facility. Although the firstUnited States Army personnel arrived on Trinidad on 24 April 1941, it was only after the United States' entry into the war, that Allied planners, in early 1942, decided to counter the Nazi threat by establishing major air and naval facilities on Trinidad,Naval Base Trinidad.
Waller Army Airfield was activated on 1 September 1941 with the assignment of the 92d Service Group. The unit's mission was to establish a flying facility within theUnited States ArmyFort Read post. The unit consisted of the group's Headquarters, and the 92d Air Base and 309th Material Squadrons. The group was assigned to theCaribbean Air Force.
Waller Field was named after United States Army Air Corps Major Alfred J. Waller, a distinguishedWorld War I combat pilot, killed in the crash of a ConsolidatedPB-2A atLangley Field on 11 December 1937. The airfield was intended to have four runways, but the two southern ones were cancelled due to the nature of the ground.
Waller was built to be the premier US combat airbase in Trinidad, but events overtook the plan. The South Atlantic Air Route to Europe quickly developed and became the most often used method of getting aircraft to the African and European theaters of war.Air Transport Command flew aircraft to Waller fromSouth Florida airfields, then from Waller, aircraft were flown toBelem Airfield,Brazil, then across theSouth Atlantic Ocean toFreetown Airport,Sierra Leone and then toNorth Africa orEngland. Airfield congestion at Waller became so acute that the combat aircraft, the bombers actually confronting the U-boats, had to be moved out toEdinburgh (Carlsen) Airfield when it was completed.
With the establishment of United States bases on Trinidad and other Caribbean islands, the Nazi menace was eliminated by the action of numerous air and naval patrols. In 1943, President Roosevelt visited Waller Field on his way to theCasablanca Conference in North Africa.
|
|
*Reassigned fromFifteenth Air Force inItaly and usedB-24 Liberator aircraft as transports moving personnel fromMediterranean Theater to the United States
In addition to the combat and transport flying units, Waller Field was also used as an aircraft maintenance and supply facility by the 24th Air Depot (Air Technical Service Command) which was deployed fromKelly Field,Texas on 20 January 1942. It was also used as a long-range reconnaissance base by several photo-recon squadrons.
With the end of World War II Waller Airfield was reduced in scope to a skeleton staff. It was redesignated Waller Air Force Base on 26 March 1948, by the Department of the Air Force General Order Number 10.
Its primary use was byMilitary Air Transport Service (MATS) as a transit facility under the24th Composite Wing based atBorinquen AFB,Puerto Rico and by the MATS 6th Weather Squadron (Regional), which provided meteorological reports for aviation in the South Caribbean as well as tropical storm and hurricane reporting.President Harry S. Truman stopped at Waller Field on 31 August 1947 on his way to Brazil during a South American visit.
Waller AFB was closed on 28 May 1949 due to budgetary cutbacks and MATS operations were shifted to bases in thePanama Canal Zone.
After the base's closure, it became the informal home of various types of racing (using former airstrips) for over 40 years. Today construction progresses on the former airfield site of the Tamana InTech Park, a science and technology park for industries, several housing developments, and the newUniversity of Trinidad and Tobago campus complex.[1]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Previously: Panama Canal Air Force (1940-1941); Caribbean Air Force (1941-1942) | |||||||||||||||
| Airfields |
| .jpg) | |||||||||||||
| Units |
| ||||||||||||||
