McCook Army Airfield was activated on 1 April 1943. It is located nine miles (14 km) northwest of McCook, a city in Red Willow County,

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, United States and is southwest of

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. It was constructed in 1943 . The site is bordered on all sides by level farm ground.

History

McCook AAF was one of eleven

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

training bases in

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 opposing ...

. The base included three 150 by concrete runways, five hangars, and barracks for 5,000 men. It operated with three divisions: Base Services (hospital, chapel, theater, band, gymnasium, fire station, post office, photo lab, library, and military police); Maintenance and Supply (air service groups, post engineers, machine shop, warehouses); and Training (celestial navigation, gunnery and bombing, communications, radar, and aircraft maintenance). Approximately 110 buildings and structures were constructed. The airfield was activated on 1 April 1943, under the command of

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defende ...

Headquarters,

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. The host unit at the airfield was the 520th Operational Training Unit as part of Air Technical Service Command. The 520th was assigned to the 16th Bombardment Operational Training Wing (August 1943 - March 1944), then transferred to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing in March 1944 for B-29 training. McCook provided final training of heavy bomber crews for the B-17 Flying Fortress, Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Boeing B-29 Super Fortress. Some 15,000 servicemen and 500 civilians were stationed at McCook. Bomber crew members received final proficiency training at the field before deployment in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, Europe, and Pacific Theater of Operations. Among the bomb groups trained at McCook were elements of the 8th, 15th, and 20th Air Forces. These bomb groups saw combat in the European,

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, and

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Theaters. The following USAAF Groups were stationed at McCook: * 454th Bombardment Group (Heavy) (July - October 1943) : 736th, 737th, 738th and 739th Bombardment Squadrons : Deployed to Fifteenth Air Force in Italy ( B-24 Liberator) * 486th Bombardment Group (Heavy) (September - November 1943) : 832nd, 833rd, 834th and 835th Bombardment Squadrons : Deployed to Eighth Air Force in England ( B-24 Liberator) * 465th Bombardment Group (Heavy) (October 1943 - February 1944) : 780th, 781st, 782nd and 783rd Bombardment Squadrons : Deployed to Fifteenth Air Force in Italy ( B-24 Liberator) * 493d Bombardment Group (Heavy) (November 1943 - January 1944) : 860th, 861st, 862nd and 863rd Bombardment Squadrons : Deployed to Eighth Air Force in England ( B-17 Flying Fortress) * 9th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) (May - November 1944) : 1st, 5th, 99th and 430th Bombardment Squadrons : Deployed to

Twentieth Air Force The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Interco ...

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(

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 F ...

) * 331st Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) (November 1944 - April 1945) : 355th, 356th, and Bombardment 357th Squadrons : Deployed to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

(

) * 98th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) (25 June-1- November 1945) : 343rd, 344th, 345th and 415th Bombardment Squadrons (

) : Inactivated 18 November 1945 * 448th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) (8 September- 4 December 1945) : 712th, 713th, 714th, and 715th Bombardment Squadrons : Inactivated 4 December 1945 With the inactivation of the 448th Bomb Group, McCook AAF was inactivated and placed in reserve status under supervision of the 2347th Air Force Reserve Training Center. The Airfield closed on 31 December 1945, and was acquired by the state of Nebraska from the

War Assets Administration The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Ord ...

in 1947.

In 1950, the city of McCook took possession of the airfield for a municipal airport, however, found that its distant location from the city made it inconvenient. The city of McCook turned the McCook airfield back to the State of Nebraska in 1952. Today the land is owned primarily by farmers and the Nebraska Bureau of Land Management. Most of the concrete runways have been removed except for a 20' strip on the E-W and SW-NE runways. About a dozen World War II-era buildings still exist at the former airfield in various states of deterioration including all the hangars.

References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .

External links

Nebraska's Army Airfields

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database detailing information and first hand memories about airports in the United States which are no longer in operation, or are rarely used. The website was started by Paul Freeman in 1999 a ...

: Western Nebraska
Image of McCook Army Airfield on Google Maps

Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mccook Army Airfield 1942 establishments in Nebraska Airports established in 1942 Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Nebraska Defunct airports in Nebraska Airports in Nebraska Buildings and structures in Red Willow County, Nebraska 1945 disestablishments in Nebraska Airports disestablished in 1945

History

See also

References

External links