Carlsen Air Force Base is a former

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

airbase An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, consisting of two landing strips, "Edinburgh" and "Xeres". The airbase also included an emergency landing strip, "Tobago".

History

Completed interiour view of 80th CB's LTA

African American Seabees of the 80th CB erecting an Airship Hangar at Carlsen Field Trinidad

The American rights to the airfield and

Naval Base Trinidad Naval Base Trinidad, also called NAS Trinidad, NAS Port-of-Spain, was a large United States Navy Naval base built during World War II to support the many naval ships fighting and patrolling the Battle of the Atlantic. The fighting in the area bec ...

were obtained via the

Destroyers for Bases Agreement The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, according to which 50 , , and US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rig ...

in September 1940 when the United States transferred fifty destroyers to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

in exchange for Army and Navy base rights on British possessions in the Americas. Opened in 1942, Edinburgh Field had been intended solely as an overflow facility for

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies ...

transport aircraft headed for nearby

Waller Field Waller Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force World War II air base located in northeastern Trinidad. It is located about 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Valencia south of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and roughly 32 km from t ...

, but eventually, it grew into an enormous sprawling complex with three parallel paved runways – 5000 x 150 ft / 5000 x 150 ft / 2000 x 300 ft and an Airship operating area that made it physically larger than all the other airbases in Trinidad, being used by both Army and Navy aircraft. Edinburgh Field became the principal combat base for USAAF bombers and Naval airships on Trinidad as well as Navy fighters with a complex of runways and taxiways that surpassed even Waller Field. This lasted until 3 November 1943, when it was renamed Carlsen Field. It was also used by the Royal Air Force and was defended by US Army infantry and AA units. When the Navy began lighter-than-air operations in the Caribbean in the fall of 1943, the 80th Seabees were brought in to build a station at Carlsen Field. To supplement the eight Army-owned buildings taken over by the Navy, the 80th Battalion built a large, steel blimp hangar, a mooring circle, paved runways, a helium-purification plant, and other operational appurtenances.

Major units assigned

25th Bombardment Group Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

(Headquarters), 1 November 1942 – 1 August 1943 :

10th Bombardment Squadron 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...

, 1 November 1942-1 October 1943, (

B-18 Bolo The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American heavy bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force (as the Digby) during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company f ...

) :

35th Bombardment Squadron The 35th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was activated in January 1940 as the United States built up its armed forces prior to World War II. In the fall of 1941, it deployed to the Caribbean and, following ...

, 7 February-24 March 1944, (

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

) :

59th Bombardment Squadron The 59th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was first activated in Panama in 1941 during the expansion of the United States Army Air Corps before World War II. Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor the squadron ...

, 12 July–October 1943, (B-18 Bolo) :

835th Bombardment Squadron The 835th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. It was activated in January 1941 as the 80th Bombardment Squadron and equipped with Douglas A-20 Havoc light bombers. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor the s ...

, (Attached from 26th Antisubmarine Wing) November 1942 - March 1943 (B-18 Bolo) :: Deployed from Miami AAF,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

839th Bombardment Squadron The 839th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Army Air Forces unit. It was activated in January 1941 as the 79th Bombardment Squadron and equipped with Douglas A-20 Havoc light bombers. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor the ...

, (Attached from 26th Antisubmarine Wing) July–August 1942 (B-18 Bolo) :: Deployed from Miami AAF,

: 851st Bombardment Squadron, (Attached from 26th Antisubmarine Wing) 20 April-20 July 1943 (B-18 Bolo) :: Deployed from Imeson Field,

1st Bombardment Squadron 001, O01, or OO1 may refer to: *1 (number), a number, a numeral *001, fictional British agent, see 00 Agent *001, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian fire brigade (until 1986) *AM-RB 001, the code-name for the Aston Martin Valkyrie ...

(

9th Bombardment Group 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

), 23 August 1942 – 31 October 1942 (B-18 Bolo) *

2d Search Attack Squadron 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to: Airports *0O2, Baker Airport *O02, Nervino Airport Astronomy *1996 OO2, the minor planet 7499 L'Aquila *1990 OO2, the asteroid 9175 Graun Fiction *002, fictional British 00 Agent *''002 Operazione Luna'' ...

(1st Sea-Search Attack Group), 20 September-21 October 1942 (B-18 Bolo) : (Army Air Force Antisubmarine Command) *

4th Antisubmarine Squadron Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

(Caribbean Sea Frontier), 6–9 October 1942 (B-18 Bolo) : (USAAF unit assigned to

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

) *

23d Antisubmarine Squadron 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

(Trinidad Department,

Antilles Air Command The Antilles Air Command is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Sixth Air Force, based at Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico, where it was inactivated on 25 August 1946. Engaged in antisubmarine operations, 1941� ...

), 5 August-24 December 1943 (

A-29 Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...

) : Detachment operated from:

Zandery Field Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport , also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, and locally referred to simply as JAP, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij and hub for airline carrier Surinam Airways, south of Param ...

, Surinam, 15 August-24 December 1943

Postwar use

With the end of World War II Carlsen Airfield was reduced in scope to a skeleton staff. It was placed under the command of the 24th Composite Wing based at Borinquen AFB,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. In 1947 Navy C-47 operations at nearby

Waller Air Force Base Waller Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force World War II air base located in northeastern Trinidad. It is located about 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Valencia south of the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and roughly 32 km from t ...

were moved to Carlsen. The airfield was redesignated Carlsen Air Force Base on March 26, 1948, by the Department of the Air Force General Order Number 10. Carlsen AFB was turned over to the United States Navy on 28 May 1949 and was renamed NAF (LTA) Carlsen Field. Naval units used the facility until it was formally disestablished on 10 January 1950. Today the former air and naval airship base has been turned into a dairy and agricultural area south of

Chaguanas The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest municipality (83,489 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing
– Afra ...

and is all but unrecognizable. Much of the former airfield area is owned by National Flour Mills and the only remnants of the base are the name of the area in south Chaguanas, along with streets named "Edinburgh" and "Xeres". The area known as Edinburgh which the runways for the base were located is now the site of a major housing development called Edinburgh 500 . Additional areas in Carlsen field were developed into residential housing developments but the area remains as a site of agricultural activity since the closure of the base.

References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . *

External links

{{Airports in Trinidad and Tobago * http://caribbeanrollofhonour-ww1-ww2.yolasite.com/caribbean-world-war-2-airfields.php Defunct airports Destroyers for Bases Agreement airfields Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the Caribbean, Central, and South America Geography of Trinidad and Tobago