Moore Army Airfield is a former airfield located in

Fort Devens Fort Devens is a United States Army Reserve military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Due to extensive environmental contamination it was li ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. It was closed following the closure of the fort in 1995. It is named for

Ayer Ayer may refer to: Places * Ayer, Massachusetts, United States ** Ayer (CDP), Massachusetts, the central village in the town of Ayer ** Ayer (MBTA station), commuter rail station * Aller, Asturias, a municipality in Spain known in Asturian as A ...

native Chief Warrant Officer 2

Douglas Moore Douglas Stuart Moore (August 10, 1893 – July 25, 1969) was an American composer, songwriter, organist, pianist, conductor, educator, actor, and author. A composer who mainly wrote works with an American subject, his music is generally charact ...

. It was the only Army Airfield named for someone killed in 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 ...

. It is currently used for racing and State Police driver training.

History

Beginnings

The earliest information concerning the construction of the airfield dates to 1 July 1926. It was originally known as Ayer (Camp Devens) Emergency Field. The sod airfield's dimensions were: . It also ran northwest/southeast. Camp Devens Airfield, as it was called later, was operated by the Army. A second runway was established the following year. Approximate dimensions were said to be . In 1934, it was marked as an auxiliary airfield to the Navy.

World War II

When the nearby fort was expanded in 1940, the airport supposedly "gained" its own airfield. It was described as having a runway. In 1944, the army withdrew from the airfield and it became known as Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Ayer, which supported training operations at

Squantum Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Squantum was an active naval aviation facility during 1917 and from 1923 until 1953. The original civilian airfield that preceded it, the Harvard Aviation Field, dates back to 1910. The base was sited on Squantum Point in t ...

. Carrier Air Groups 4 and 83 were at Ayer in 1944. The nearby

Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Beverly Beverly or Beverley may refer to: Places Australia *Beverley, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide *Beverley, Western Australia, a town *Shire of Beverley, Western Australia Canada *Beverly, Alberta, a town that amalgamated with the City of Ed ...

was used as a bounce field.

Postwar years

The Navy discontinued their use of Ayer NAAS for unknown reasons between the years of 1944–1946.

was deactivated as part of demobilization, in 1946, but it was reopened in 1948. By 1954, it was known as Ayer AAF. Then it was renamed Fort Devens AAF between 1954 and 1959. It had three operating runways but they were used intermittently on and off throughout the years. The longest runway was listed in 1960 as being 3,745 feet (not including overrun). In the 1970s it got an upgraded control tower and it was used for helicopter operations. The air traffic controllers worked in conjunction with their counterparts at the nearby

Hanscom AFB Hanscom Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located predominantly within Bedford, Massachusetts, with portions extending into the adjoining towns of Lincoln, Concord and Lexington. The facility is adjacent to Hanscom Field ...

. Around 1976 the field was renamed Moore Army Airfield.

Closure and Redevelopment

The field was closed around 1995 after the Army left. It is now a State Police driver training facility on week days. On weekends the runways are currently the largest and only centrally located venue in southern

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

for

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...

Solo II style autocross competitions.New England Region SCCA Solo II
/ref> Several other clubs also use the runways for similar competitions. ne-svt
/ref> BMWCCA-Boston autocross

/ref>New England Region Porsche Club
North Country Porsche Club
/ref> There is now talk of putting an industrial park over the runways of Moore Army Airfield.

Groups Hosted

* 152nd Observation Squadron (1941–1943) * Carrier Air Group 4 * Carrier Air Group 83 *

10th Special Forces Group The 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (10th SFG (A), or 10th Group) is an active duty United States Army Special Forces (SF) Group. 10th Group is designed to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare (UW), foreign in ...

(Minus the First Battalion) (1968–1995)

Aircraft Hosted

Aeronca L-16 The Aeronca L-16 was a United States Army liaison aircraft built by Aeronca. It saw extensive service during the Korean War. It was essentially a militarized version of the Aeronca Champion. From 1955 large numbers were transferred to the Civil A ...

* R-16/H-16 - Piasecki *

North American BC-1 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 ...

North American O-47 The North American O-47 is an American observation fixed-wing aircraft monoplane designed in the mid-1930s and used by the United States Army Air Corps during the Second World War. It has a low-wing configuration, retractable landing gear, and a t ...

* O-49 *

O-52 Owl The Curtiss O-52 Owl was an observation aircraft used by the United States Army Air Corps before and during World War II. Design and development Developed in 1939, the Curtiss O-52 was the last "heavy" observation aircraft developed for the US ...

O-58 The Aeronca L-3 group of observation and liaison aircraft were used by the United States Army Air Corps in World War II. The L-3 series were adapted from Aeronca's pre-war Tandem Trainer and Chief models. Design and development In 1941, the ...

* HU-21 Workhorse/Shawnee *

U-10D Super Courier The Helio Courier is a cantilever high-wing light STOL utility aircraft designed in 1949. Around 500 of these aircraft were manufactured in Pittsburg, Kansas, from 1954 until 1974 by the Helio Aircraft Company. The design featured four lead ...

UH-1 Huey The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helico ...

C-45 Expeditor The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November ...

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...

C-12 Huron The Beechcraft C-12 Huron is the military designation for a series of twin-engine turboprop aircraft based on the Beechcraft Super King Air and Beechcraft 1900. C-12 variants are used by the United States Air Force, United States Army, United ...

UH-60 Blackhawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System ( ...

* U-10 Helio courier *

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

Accidents and Incidents

2003 Emergency Landing

In the morning hours of February 10, 2004, a single-engine

Diamond DA20 Katana The Diamond DV20/DA20 Katana is an Austrian-designed two-seat general aviation light aircraft. Developed and manufactured by Diamond Aircraft, it was originally produced in Austria as the DV20. The DV20 shares many features from the earlier Dia ...

N-303EC suffered an in-flight engine-loss during an instructional flight. The aircraft landed at the closed airport with no additional damage or injuries.

References

External links

Moore Army Airfield
at GlobalSecurity.org {{MA Airport 1929 establishments in Massachusetts 1995 disestablishments in Massachusetts Airports in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Massachusetts Defunct airports in Massachusetts Fort Devens Military facilities in Massachusetts Closed installations of the United States Navy Closed installations of the United States Army