Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue , also known as Bogue Field, is an landing field located on

Bogue Sound Bogue Sound is a lagoon in the state of North Carolina separating the Bogue Banks, a barrier island, from the mainland. The sound is part of North Carolina's "Crystal Coast", a tourism marketing term that is also used interchangeably with the ter ...

(

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

) that serves as a

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

’

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site for Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP). It is a sub facility of MCAS Cherry Point in Havelock in Craven County and one of three USMC facilities in Carteret County. The others include Atlantic Airfield, a Cherry Point sub installation which is sparsely manned and Radio Island shipping terminal, between Morehead City and Beaufort, which falls under control of Camp Lejeune, though it is only manned during active military operations. Another USMC facility, Oak Grove Airfield, near Pollocksville in Jones County, in also controlled by Cherry Point and in rarely manned unless training is conducted there. By Bogue Field being available for performing many of these landings at night,

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

simulate landing on an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

or an

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, as ...

, which provides the force with the means to forward deploy its

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

assets in order to have a more readily accessible aviation punch for the

Marine Air Ground Task Force Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF, pronounced MAG-TAF) is a term used by the United States Marine Corps to describe the principal organization for all missions across the range of military operations. MAGTFs are a balanced air-ground, combined ar ...

(MAGTF) commander on the battlefield.

History

When the

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 ...

purchased of land in 1942 for an auxiliary airfield, three runways were built for the use of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point,

. Facilities were also constructed to support two squadrons with a combined total of 45 aircraft and accommodations for 1,050 personnel.

World War II

During

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Bogue was used almost exclusively by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

for VMSB dive-bomber squadron training. Equipped with the

SBD Dauntless The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/dive ...

, the first squadron, VMSB-331, moved to Bogue from

MCAS New River Marine Corps Air Station New River is a United States Marine Corps helicopter and tilt-rotor base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in the eastern part of the state. In 1972, the airfield was named McCutcheon Field for General Keith B. McCutcheon ...

in 1943 followed by

Marine Aircraft Group 33 Marine Aviation and Training Support Group 33 (MATSG-33) is a United States Marine Corps aviation training group that was originally established during World War II as Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33). Fighter squadrons from MAG-33 fought most ...

(MAG-33) later that year. Specialized training facilities were established in the surrounding area to support the training of the resident dive-bombing squadrons. Dive-bombing circle targets were constructed on nearby islands, and vertical targets were built for low-level bombing practice. A maneuvering target boat was also used on the

Neuse River The Neuse River ( , Tuscarora: Neyuherú·kęʔkì·nęʔ) is a river rising in the Piedmont of North Carolina and emptying into Pamlico Sound below New Bern. Its total length is approximately , making it the longest river entirely contained in No ...

to practice attacks on shipping. MAG-33 transferred to MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in 1944, and MAG-93 was commissioned at Oak Grove in the same year. By that point, Marine Corps dive-bombing squadrons were transitioning to the

SB2C Helldiver The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver is a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few surv ...

. A

J2F Duck The Grumman J2F Duck (company designation G-15) is an American single-engine amphibious biplane. It was used by each major branch of the U.S. armed forces from the mid-1930s until just after World War II, primarily for utility and air-sea resc ...

amphibian was assigned to Bogue for the rescue of downed flyers, but proved unsuitable for open-sea landings.

Post-war operation

Bogue was decommissioned on 15 June 1947 and became an Outlying Field of Cherry Point. The Marines' first Short Airfield for Tactical Support (SATS) system was installed at Bogue in 1958. It was a deployable catapult & arresting system, intended to permit jet aircraft to operate from short expeditionary airfields.

Vietnam Era

The Marine Corps reopened Bogue (sometime between 1965 and 1976) as a satellite airfield for aircraft &

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s from MCAS New River & MCAS Cherry Point due to the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. As of 2003, Bogue is still actively used as a satellite airfield with one active runway, along with the painted outline of the deck of an LHA

, used for carrier landing practice. MCALF Bogue Field is the primary location for

AV-8B Harrier The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) AV-8B Harrier II is a single-engine ground-attack aircraft that constitutes the second generation of the Harrier family, capable of vertical or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL). The aircraft is primari ...

practice operations. It is also used by other locally based USMC aircraft. It supports about 3500 FCLPs ( Field Carrier Landing Practice) per training year. Training

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

aircraft take priority over normal traffic while exercises take priority over all other users, including training. Bogue Field consists of a

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

constructed of aluminum panels which can be disassembled and reconstructed anywhere in the world in a matter of days by a specialty construction

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

. The remains of two other runways still exist. The Airport Facility Directory includes the remark, "Runway 18 utilized for catapults only." Although Bogue Field has no aircraft permanently assigned, it serves as a training facility primarily for AV-8 Harriers from

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...

. However, it is also used for practice approaches by KC-130 Hercules transports from MCAS Cherry Point,

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...

fighters from

MCAS Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort or MCAS Beaufort is a United States Marine Corps (USMC) air base located northwest of the central business district of Beaufort, a city in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. About 4,700 personnel s ...

, South Carolina and helicopters from MCAS New River, North Carolina.

Bogue Field Committee

MCAS Cherry Point has enjoyed a comfortable relationship with the nearby communities of Emerald Isle and Bogue, although area residents have formed a committee to evaluate the impact that MCALF Bogue has on their community. The obvious noise impact on the community is considered by some to be offensive to the citizens living too close to normal flight patterns. In January 2001, a group of residents from Emerald Isle, Swansboro, Cape Carteret, Bogue and

Morehead City Morehead City is a port town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast. His ...

that have concerns about safety issues of the Harrier noise, quality of life, and accident potential zones, have formed the Bogue Field Committee in an effort to have the federal government properly fund the AV-8 Harrier program so that safety is no longer an issue for the pilots. Since most committee members feel that this is not likely, their goals are now to have the USMC to stop flying the plane over highly populated areas.

Notes

References

Books

Web

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External links

{{US Marine Corps navbox Buildings and structures in Carteret County, North Carolina Military installations established in 1942 Airports in North Carolina OLF Bogue Military installations in North Carolina