Tag Archives: Georgia Aviation History

63rd AAF Flying Training Detachment Airbase, 1941, Douglas

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Administration Building

Through the efforts of Wesley Newman Raymond and Robert Richardson, the Raymond-Richardson Aviation School was established at this site in 1939, to teach basic flight skills to college students.

WWII Flight Training Museum [Barracks 7]

With America’s entrance into World War II in 1941, the school became the 63rd Flight Training Detachment Airbase.

Barracks

During the war, several thousand men learned to fly here and went on to serve all over the world.

Barracks

Many local women provided support as clerical and food service employees, as well as civilian dispatchers and aircraft mechanics.

Classroom

The base was decommissioned in 1944 and the hangers have been incorporated into the old airfield, now known as Douglas Municipal Airport (KDHQ).

Hospital

The property, now owned by the city of Douglas, has been used for numerous purposes since the end of the war.

Gatehouse

Through the efforts of local enthusiasts, Barracks 7 is now home to the WWII Flight Training Museum, which has limited hours. The property can be accessed at any time.

63rd Army Air Forces Contract Pilot School (1943), Douglas

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Airman 1st Class John Hancock, Douglas Municipal Airport, 1943. Collection of Brian Brown.

I recently inherited a large group of historic photographs, from which this treasure from World War II came to me. I do not know any personal information about the pilot seen here, Airman 1st Class John S. Hancock, except that he was a cousin of one of my cousins (Frances Trammell McCormick) and was trained by Bill Dillard.

From the World War II Flight Training Museum brochure: Originally a part of South Georgia College’s pilot training program, the 63rd Army Air Forces Contract Pilot Training School (Primary) was established in response to the urgent demand for pilots during World War II (1941-1945). The school was run during the war by the Raymond-Richardson Aviation Company, which was under the supervision of the U. S. Army Air Forces. Over 5,000 aviation cadets learned to fly their first plane here. The Stearman PT-17 biplane was the training plane used. Many cadets “washed out”, as it was tough training.

Today, many of the structures associated with the Pilot School remain at the Douglas Municipal Airport and the World War II Flight Training Museum is located in the old instructors’ barracks and open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays. Of about 55 such flight training schools open during World War II, this location is the most intact. Great job, Douglas 63rd Preservation Society and Coffee County, for recognizing its importance.

 

Strobel Air Ship Visits Savannah, Circa 1909

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A vintage black and white photograph of the Strobel Air Ship flying over Savannah, Georgia, with a pilot named Fred Owens standing on a cantilever platform beneath the airship.
Strobel Air Ship Visits Savannah, Real Photo Postcard by Foltz, 1909. Courtesy Mike McCall.

This vintage postcard promoted “driver” Fred Owens’s visit to Savannah with the Strobel Air Ship, an early dirigible. Another Strobel airship was in town, driven by Stanley Vaughn, to coincide with the visit of President William Howard Taft, on 5 November 1909. Fred Owens’s ship was nearly lost when engine trouble caused it to drift out toward the ocean, but the driver’s skill helped guide it safely back toward the east side of the city.

Sapelo Airstrip Hangar, 1935, Sapelo Island

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Richard Reynolds built an airstrip on Sapelo for easy access to the island.

Lindbergh Memorial, 1992, Americus

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Souther Field, now known as Jimmy Carter Regional Airport, is one of the oldest airports in the United States, and was instrumental as a flight training school in both world wars.  In 1917, Sumter County purchased what was dubbed the world’s largest peach orchard and deeded it to the United States government. The site was named Souther Field, for army aviation pioneer Maj. Henry Souther (1865-1917).  A surplus sale brought a young and unknown Charles Lindbergh to Americus, where he bought his first plane, a Curtis JN4 “Jenny” for $500. Not yet a pilot when he came to Americus in May 1923, Lindbergh had performed wing-walking stunts and parachuting in an aerial circus. In the three weeks he spent here, he learned to fly and made his first solo flight; a lone African-American man was the only witness. Former U. S. Attorney General Griffin B. Bell led the effort to erect this monument to Georgia’s most important moment in aviation history. Nationally respected sculptor and UGA professor William J. Thompson was commissioned to create the monument.