Douglas Municipal Airport (Georgia)
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Douglas Municipal Airport is a public
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
located two miles (3 km) south of the central business district of
Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
, a city in Coffee County,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, United States. It is owned by the City of Douglas. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter
location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programm ...
for the
FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
and IATA, Douglas Municipal Airport is assigned DQH by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.Great Circle Mapper: KDQH – Douglas, Georgia (Douglas Municipal Airport)
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Facilities and aircraft

Douglas Municipal Airport covers an area of which contains one
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paved
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, concre ...
(4/22) measuring 6,005 x 100 ft (1,830 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending March 29, 2006, the airport had 21,000
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
aircraft operations, an average of 57 per day.


History


Origins

Aviation began in Douglas Georgia in 1928 when Dixie Airways opened a pilot school at the South Georgia College, a two-year or junior college. The institution claimed to be the only college in the United States with its own airport. Wesley Newman Raymond, a
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
native of
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
, relocated to Macon, Georgia in 1936 where he owned an aircraft dealership and fixed-base operation. Raymond played a major role in the development of Macon's Herbert Smart Airport. In 1939, Raymond joined with Robert Richardson, forming the Raymond-Richardson Aviation Company. The new company established a Civil Pilot Training (CPT) flight school at the South Georgia College airport. In early 1941, the
United 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 ...
approached Raymond-Richardson about the possibility of operating a primary Contract Pilot School. The company preferred to locate the school at Macon, but too many other Air Corps activities already existed in the area. Douglas became the second choice because the company already had a school in place. The City of Douglas and Coffee County welcomed the proposal and floated a bond issue to finance a portion of the project. In May 1941, an additional were purchased to enlarge the airport. The construction of the cantonment area at Douglas Army Airfield was of concrete and tile buildings and began on 29 June 1941. The three hangars were constructed of steel. In addition to the main school at Douglas, the following auxiliary airfields were utilized: * Tanner-Ewing Auxiliary Field * Knight Auxiliary Field * Dorminey Auxiliary Field * Paulk Auxiliary Field


World War II

The
Army Air Forces Training Command The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corp ...
Eastern Flying Training Command's 63rd Army Air Force Flight Training Detachment was the Air Force unit assigned to Douglas AAF. The
63rd Army Air Forces Contract Pilot School The 63rd Army Air Forces Contract Pilot School is located at the Douglas Municipal Airport in Coffee County, Georgia. During World War II, it was part of the Civilian Pilot Training Act of 1939, to train civilian pilots to serve as contract labor ...
received its first PT-17 Boeing Stearmans on 11 September 1941. The first class began on 7 October. With the start of the war, the Defense Plant Corporation bought the school. On 31 December 1941, the number of Stearmans present totaled 40. By January 1942, eight barracks had been completed. With the start of the war, an expansion of the school's facilities began. Two auxiliary fields opened for operations in June and an enlargement of the ramp reached completion in July. By August, the Link trainer building, hangar No.3, additions to the mess hall, administration building, and flight control tower were ready for use. In October, two additional auxiliary fields and the gasoline storage tank were completed. By the end of 1942, the number of aircraft present had almost doubled to 78. Douglas had quite a distinction, in that the first class of the 1942 graduates from West Point received primary training here. Since the school did not have a swimming pool, cadets were allowed to use the pool at
South Georgia State College South Georgia State College is a public college in Douglas and Waycross, Georgia. It is part of the University System of Georgia. History Eleventh District A & M School On August 18, 1906, the Georgia General Assembly enacted the Perry Act ...
, a short walk away. As in every other primary Army school, peak training took place during 1943. The total number of flight cadets rose from 300 in January 1943 to 456 in November 1943. Likewise, the number of instructors increased from 78 to 120 and the number of aircraft peaked at 170. In December 1943, the reduction in flight training was beginning to make itself felt as the size of classes began to decrease. Training continued to decrease during 1944. After the last class graduated in December 1944, the school closed. Following the war, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation utilized the airfield for the disposal of surplus Army and Navy aircraft.


Civil use

The Cincinnati Reds baseball team used the school for a spring training facility from 1954 to 1957. The buildings of the school were used for a variety of purposes over the years that included a corset factory, elementary school, mental health facility, agricultural research laboratory, and local headquarters of the
Georgia Bureau of Investigation The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is the state bureau of investigation of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is an independent, statewide agency that provides assistance to Georgia's criminal justice system in the areas of criminal investig ...
. Today, the airfield is Douglas's municipal airport. Due to its substantial construction, the former cantonment area has many World War II buildings still in existence. Two of the original hangars also remain.


See also

*
Georgia World War II Army Airfields During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Georgia for antisubmarine defense in the Gulf of Mexico and for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers. Most of these airfields we ...
*
29th Flying Training Wing (World War II) The 29th Flying Training Wing was a wing of the United States Army Air Forces. It was last assigned to the Western Flying Training Command, and was disbanded on 16 June 1946 at Napier Field, Alabama. The wing controlled World War II Phase One ...


References

* 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. * Shettle, M. L. (2005), ''Georgia's Army Airfields of World War II''.


External links

* *
Raymond-Richardson Aviation School
historical marker {{USAAF Training Bases World War II 1941 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Georgia (U.S. state) USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields Airports in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Coffee County, Georgia Transportation in Coffee County, Georgia