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Marine Corps Air Facility Walnut Ridge is a former
/ref> It consisted of a main 6,000 ft runway aligned 05/23 and two 5,000 ft secondary runways aligned 01/19 and 14/28; all were concrete.
Several auxiliary airfields were constructed to support training: * Pocahontas Field AF Auxiliary #1 (Naval OLF) * Biggers Field AF Auxiliary #2 (Naval OLF) * Walcott Field AF Auxiliary #3 (Naval OLF) * Bono Field AF Auxiliary #4 (Naval OLF) * Beech Grove AF Auxiliary #5 (Naval OLF) Walnut Ridge AAF was placed under the jurisdiction of the Southeast Training Command, Army Air Forces Training Command. Training at the Army Air Forces Flying School (Basic) began in October 1943. It put new pilots through the third stage of their flight training,Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas largely with
Walnut Ridge Air Force Station
Walnut Ridge Air Force Station (ADC ID: SM-143) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located north-northeast of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. It was closed in 1963.
History
Walnut Ridge Air Force Station ...
''
Marine Corps Air Facility Walnut Ridge is a former United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
and 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 ...
airfield in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas
Walnut Ridge is a city in Lawrence County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 5098 at the United States Census's 2019 estimate. The city is the county seat of Lawrence County. Walnut Ridge lies immediately north of Hoxie. The two towns f ...
. After it was closed, it was turned into Walnut Ridge Regional Airport
Walnut Ridge Regional Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located four nautical miles (7 km) northeast of the central business district of Walnut Ridge, a city in Lawrence County, Arkansas, United States. According to the FAA's Na ...
.
History
Walnut Ridge Army Airfield
In 1942, theUnited States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
picked Walnut Ridge as the location of one of the new basic flying schools being built to train tens of thousands of military pilots. One of many airfields created in the country's interior during the war, it was built in the late spring and summer, and opened on 15 August 1942 as Walnut Ridge Army Airfield (AAF).AFHRA Document 00179459. Walnut Ridge Army Airfield/ref> It consisted of a main 6,000 ft runway aligned 05/23 and two 5,000 ft secondary runways aligned 01/19 and 14/28; all were concrete.
Several auxiliary airfields were constructed to support training: * Pocahontas Field AF Auxiliary #1 (Naval OLF) * Biggers Field AF Auxiliary #2 (Naval OLF) * Walcott Field AF Auxiliary #3 (Naval OLF) * Bono Field AF Auxiliary #4 (Naval OLF) * Beech Grove AF Auxiliary #5 (Naval OLF) Walnut Ridge AAF was placed under the jurisdiction of the Southeast Training Command, Army Air Forces Training Command. Training at the Army Air Forces Flying School (Basic) began in October 1943. It put new pilots through the third stage of their flight training,Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas largely with
Vultee BT-13 Valiant
The Vultee BT-13 Valiant is an American World War II-era basic (a category between primary and advanced) trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces. A subsequent variant of the ...
single-engine monoplane trainers. Graduates from the basic flight school were transferred to one of Training Command's Advanced flying schools that operated 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 ...
Advanced trainers, and upon graduation, they were awarded their pilot's wings and commissioned as 2d lieutenants.
Trainees flew a total of 160,646 hours from 1 November 1942 to 30 September 1943, well above the average of 129,474 for a Basic Flying School in the Southeast Training Command. Walnut Ridge had .49 accidents per 1,000 hours, lower than the .57 accidents-per-1000-hours average for all schools. But the fatal accident rate at Walnut Ridge was higher: .087 per 1000 hours versus a .052 average. The hours flown at Walnut Ridge through June 30, 1944, totaled 414,429.
Walnut Ridge graduated more than 4,600 pilots. Forty-two students and instructors died in training.
Walnut Ridge also hosted a major Air Technical Service Command
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
(ATSC) maintenance facility. It performed phase maintenance and other updates on training aircraft from bases around the United States, including C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...
s, 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, P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...
s, 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 ...
es and later in the war, B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
es.
Walnut Ridge's Basic school graduated its last class on June 27, 1944, and closed at the end of the month. The facility was transferred to the Department of the Navy.
Marine Corps Air Facility
Under Navy control, the facility was used by theUnited 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 ...
as a pilot training school. VMF-513 was transferred to the base on 14 September 1944 and operated SBD-5s and FG-1D Corsairs. Apparently the school only operated until 4 December 1944, when the school was moved to MCAS Mojave
The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave, California, United States, at an elevation of . It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a s ...
, California. The Navy decommissioned the base on 15 March 1945.
RFC Walnut Ridge
With the end of World War II, theReconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a government corporation administered by the United States Federal Government between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgag ...
(RFC) established a disposal and reclamation facility at Walnut Ridge for aircraft unneeded by the United States military. RFC Walnut Ridge became one of the largest disposal sites for aircraft in the United States. It is estimated that about 10,000 warbirds were flown to Walnut Ridge in 1945 and 1946 for storage and sale. Some sources report the number to be over 11,000.
Fighters, bombers, trainers, and all other manner of aircraft were offered for sale to the public, some of the planes being newly manufactured and flown to Walnut Ridge directly from the assembly line. Some were sold to various civilian entities and to the general public (stripped of their armament and classified military components). However, most aircraft sent to Walnut Ridge were dismantled and their airframes shredded, their hulks finding their way to two large aluminum smelters built on the flightline ramp. The smelters turned the aluminum of the aircraft into ingots, which were recycled and sold to industry for use in manufacturing a wide variety of items, from toasters to mobile homes.
RFC Walnut Ridge disposed of aircraft until 1951, when it was closed. The smelters themselves were dismantled the next year and used as bricks for a civil administration/terminal building on the civil airport established by the City of Walnut Ridge.
See also
*Arkansas World War II Army Airfields
During World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Arkansas for training fighter and bomber pilots and aircrews.
Most of the airfields were under the command of Third Air Force or the U.S. Army Air Forces T ...
* 27th Flying Training Wing (World War II)
The 27th Flying Training Wing was a training formation of the United States Army Air Forces. From 1943–45 it was assigned to Eastern Flying Training Command. In 1945–46 it was assigned to the Western Flying Training Command, and it was disba ...
* List of United States Marine Corps installations
This is a list of installations used by the United States Marine Corps, organized by type and state. Most US states do not have active Marine Corps bases; however, many do have reserve bases and centers. In addition, the Marine Corps Security Fo ...
References