Piccolo Field, (Formerly: Eglin Air Force Auxiliary Field #5), is a closed United States Air Force field. It is located 9.3 miles northwest of

Valparaiso, Florida Valparaiso is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,036. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2018 estimates, the city had a population of 5,195. It is part of the Fort Walton Beach& ...

Overview

Auxiliary Field 5 is named Piccolo Field for Capt. Anthony D. Piccolo, who died in the crash of AT-6A-NT Texan, ''41-16372'',USAAF/USAF Accidents for Florida
Accident-Report.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-31. on 6 October 1942. Piccolo was the commanding officer of the 386th Single Engine Gunnery Training Squadron at Eglin.

History

With the onset of

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 opposing ...

, the Eglin Field military reservation was greatly expanded when the Choctawhatchee National Forest was turned over to the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

by the U.S. Forestry Service on 18 October 1940, and a series of auxiliary airfields were constructed from January 1941. The history of Piccolo Field is largely unknown, however in March 1942, the airfield was utilized for training by the

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japa ...

ers in preparation for their raid on Japan. The airfield was apparently used during the late 1950s and early 1960s as part of the

CIM-10 Bomarc The Boeing CIM-10 BOMARC (Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center) (IM-99 Weapon System prior to September 1962) was a supersonic ramjet powered long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) used during the Cold War for the air defense of Nor ...

program. Just north of the airfield are approximately 40 BOMARC Launch shelters, along with several support buildings, large lighting poles and the remains of a security fence (). It is unknown if any missiles were located at the facility. It was likely abandoned in the early 1960s when BOMARC funding was ended.

Current status

The airfield was incorporated into Eglin AFB on 9 October 1959 and was inactivated. However, the airfield remains under the jurisdiction of the 96th Air Base Wing (96 ABW) as part of the active Eglin base and is not accessible to the public. Today, it serves as a microwave station. A 60-foot radar antenna and some support buildings was installed on the north-south (36/18) runway in April 1961. A secondary site is located on the northeast end of the 05/23 runway. On most base maps, it is identified as Site C-4. A secure storage area is also located on the site.

References

{{Reflist
Abandoned Airfields: Piccolo Field / Eglin Air Force Aux #5

Fields of the United States Air Force Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Florida Airports in Florida Airports in Walton County, Florida