Graham Air Base was a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

base located in Marianna, Florida. After it was closed in 1960, it was reused as

Marianna Municipal Airport Marianna Municipal Airport is an airport in Marianna, Jackson County, Florida, northeast of Downtown Marianna. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013 categorized it as a general ...

History

Marianna Army Airfield

The federal government acquired the airport at the city of Marianna in 1942 and added additional in order to construct the Marianna Army Air Field for the

U.S. 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 ...

. The airfield opened on 8 August 1942 and eventually had six hard surface runways averaging in length and was a training base for the Southeast Army Air Force Training Command. In addition to the main airfield, Marianna AAF also had the following known sub-bases and auxiliaries * Ellis Auxiliary Field * Malone Auxiliary Field *

Bascom Auxiliary Field North American Farms Airport is a private airport, located 5.6 miles east of Malone, Florida. Overview Opened in March 1992, the airport is used for crop dusting operations and the owner's private use. History Originally constructed by the Un ...

* Alliance Auxiliary Field The Army Air Forces Pilot School (Advanced-Single Engine) was activated on 1 September 1942, with the 17th Single Engine Flying Training Group being the Operational Training Unit. Aircraft used during training were

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

s and

AT-6 Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

s. Marianna AAF was transferred from the jurisdiction of Eastern Flying Training Command to

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in E ...

on 12 October 1944. The station came under the command of the 137th Army Air Forces Base Unit. With the reassignment to Third Air Force, the mission of the base was changed from the training of pilots for single-engine pursuit fighter aircraft to training of combat crews for the

A-26 Invader The Douglas A-26 Invader (designated B-26 between 1948 and 1965) is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader also saw service during several major Col ...

light bomber aircraft. After the war ended, the airfield was closed on 15 February 1946 and the Federal Government returned control of to the City of Marianna in 1947.

Graham Air Base

In 1953, the old Marianna Army Air Field was reactivated as a

installation under the

Air Training Command Air Training Command (ATC) is a former United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command designation. It was headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, but was initially formed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It was re-designated as Ai ...

(ATC) in response to increased demands for pilots as a result of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

and the associated increase in number of Air Force combat flying wings, especially within the

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

. The facility was activated on 27 January 1953 and renamed Graham Air Base for William J. Graham, the school head and senior civilian instructor who provided flight training to pilots. Graham AB replaced Greenville Air Force Base,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

as a contract pilot training school as Greenville AFB became an ATC basic single engine and jet pilot training school. The 3300th Pilot Training Group (Contract Primary) and the 3300th Pilot Training Squadron was reassigned from Greenville AFB to Graham AB to support the mission, with predominantly civilian instructors providing training in USAF PA-18 Super Cub and AT-6 Texan, and subsequently T-34 Mentor and T-28 Trojan aircraft, graduating a group of USAF student pilots from primary training every six weeks. Because its short runways could not readily accommodate the USAF jet trainers of the period, student pilots completing primary training were then assigned to other air force bases with longer runways for more advanced training in aircraft such as the

T-33 Shooting Star The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

. Although its instructor cadre was primarily civilian, Graham AB was still an Air Force installation with an overall military cadre in command and operated under constant military supervision. Students were a combination of both commissioned USAF officers and non-commissioned air cadets, the latter who would receive their commissions upon completion of flight training. New bachelor officer quarters, cadet barracks and other facilities were built. The air base employed 700 civilians in addition to assigned USAF military cadre and student personnel . Notable graduates of initial pilot training at Graham AB include former Chief of the National Guard Bureau,

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Russell C. Davis and former

Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force The vice chief of staff of the Air Force (VCSAF) is the second highest-ranking military officer in the United States Air Force. If the chief of staff of the Air Force (CSAF) is absent or is unable to perform his duties, then the VCSAF assumes t ...

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Michael P. C. Carns, who was also a member of the first graduating class of the USAF Academy in 1959. In June 1958, the Air Force began replacing their prop-driven T-28s with the first

T-37 Tweet The Cessna T-37 Tweet (designated Model 318 by Cessna) is a small, economical twin-engined jet trainer type which flew for decades as a primary trainer for the United States Air Force (USAF) and in the air forces of several other nations. The T ...

jet trainers, and by 1960, the Air Force was fully committed to transitioning to the Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) concept at selected Air Training Command installations with longer runways which would eventually host

and T-38 Talon jet trainers. Facilities like Graham AB, with civilian contractor instructors and short runways became obsolete and were eventually closed in the early 1960s. The Air Force closed Graham AB in late 1960, despite efforts of influential Florida Congressman

Robert L. F. Sikes Robert Lee Fulton Sikes (June 3, 1906September 28, 1994) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented the Florida Panhandle in the United States House of Representatives from 1941 to 1979, with a brief break in 1944 and 1945 ...

to keep it running. As the installation was being scaled down as a military facility, the industrial committee of the Junior Chamber of Commerce worked to adapt the air base into a combination industrial park and civilian airport. The

3300th Training Squadron 33 may refer to: *33 (number) *33 BC *AD 33 *1933 *2033 Music * ''33'' (Luis Miguel album) (2003) * ''33'' (Southpacific album) (1998) * ''33'' (Wanessa album) (2016) *"33 'GOD'", a 2016 song by Bon Iver * "Thirty-Three" (song), a 1995 song by th ...

was inactivated on 1 February 1961 and the base's air traffic control tower permanently closed. ATC wanted to close the base in March, but an Air Force imposed freeze on shipping property delayed its final closure. However, on 31 August 1961 the base was inactivated as a military installation and turned over to civil control.

Civil use

Today the airport is known as

. In addition to its civilian general aviation traffic, the airport continues to see significant use by military aircraft, with one third of the airport's daily operations normally consisting of transient military training flights, primarily Army helicopters from Fort Rucker and Navy helicopters from Naval Air Station Whiting Field.

References

;Other sources * * Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas * Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC.

External links