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Back in 1917, Scott Air Force Base began in a wheat field
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A plane flies during Inspection Day at Scott Field in the summer of 1917. Post-Dispatch photo.
A flight of Missouri National Guard O-47 observation planeslines up for takeoff from Scott Field on Aug. 1, 1939, for a flightto Kansas City and back. The 12 airplanes were at Scott for an Armycelebration of the 30th anniversary of the purchase of its firstairplane. The burly O-47s carried a crew of three, one of whomcould drop into the plane's belly to operate cameras. The plane hada maximum speed of 225 mph and was replaced by faster models by thetime the United States entered World War II. The O-47s did wartimeduty on coast patrols. (Post-Dispatch)
Soldiers in the fire-suppression school at Scott Field practicesfighting a crash fire at the base on Jan. 27, 1944. They used asurplus early-model B-17 that had been stripped of its engines andother usable parts. Firefighting school was an eight-day course.(Post-Dispatch)
A view of new base housing, just north of the runway andtaxiways, in November 1951. Called Daly-Lewis Acres, the complexhad 1,000 housing units for the families of base personnel. Thefirst of them opened a week after the photo was taken. TheDaly-Lewis complex no longer exists. (Post-Dispatch)
Aviation fans and their families walk around jet transports ondisplay in June 1982 during the annual base open house. In theforeground is one of the massive engines of a C-5 Galaxy, thenation's largest transport. Behind it is a C-141 Starlifter, aworthy companion to the larger Galaxy. Air Mobility Commandpersonnel at Scott direct and monitor transport flights around theworld, both to combat zones and disaster scenes, such as Haitiafter the earthquake on Jan. 12. (Larry Williams/Post-Dispatch)
Radio cadets standing outside early versions of flightsimulators at Scott Field in February 1943. The simulators weredesigned to resemble the radio compartment in B-17 FlyingFortresses, and the simulators bounced and rocked for a hint ofnoisy mayhem that lay ahead for the airmen over Germany.(Post-Dispatch)
Lt. Finter at Scott Field with his Sperry Messenger, equippedwith the hook he used to snare the TC-3's trapeze. The Messengerwas a small biplane with a wingspan of only 21 feet.(Post-Dispatch)
Scott Air Force Base as seen from the air, lookingsoutheastward, in November 1964. By then, the base was headquartersof the Military Air Transport Service. It remains headquarters ofthe renamed, reorganized Air Mobility Command, and employs 13,000military and civilian personnel. (Post-Dispatch)
Army air cadets work with headsets and typewriters to practiceMorse Code dots and dashes at Scott Field's radio operators'school. This scene is from June 1941, the same month in which theArmy renamed its Air Corps as the Army Air Forces. Throughout WorldWar II, Scott trained thousands of radio operators for duty onbombers and transports. (Post-Dispatch)
By Tim O'NeilSt. Louis Post-Dispatch
BELLEVILLE • The big news came by telegram on June 14, 1917, from businessman Edward Daley, who had been in Washington for a week lobbying to snare a new military base.
"Belleville gets aviation field. Lease made. Return tonight," Daley notified his colleagues at the Greater Belleville Board of Trade. Thus began Scott Air Force Base, the nation's third-oldest continuously operating Air Force flying field.
Shortly after Congress voted to enter World War I on April 4, 1917, the Army Signal Corps announced plans to build nine bases to train aviators. Maj. Albert Bond Lambert, future namesake of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, was among those who believed the level ground of Shiloh Township, six miles east of Belleville, would serve the Army well. Daley hurried to Washington with regional political backing and options on leases from seven farmers.
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The Army signed for 624 acres and, within a week, awarded a contract to Unit Construction Co. of St. Louis to build the Belleville Aviation Camp. Almost 2,000 workers began raising 53 buildings, including 16 hangars, six barracks for aviation cadets and a "dope house" to store gasoline. They were strung along the Southern Railway line, which still runs through the base.
Many workers lived in tents amidst hastily harvested wheat fields. The Belleville News-Democrat noted that city fathers "wouldn't let workers loaf on the public square."
Capt. Bayriver and Lt. Tabuteau of the French Flying Corps, neither of whom spoke English, arrived June 27 to prepare the training program. The first airplanes were J-1 Standards, quickly supplemented by Curtiss Jennies. Three weeks later, the Army renamed the field for Cpl. Frank Scott, the nation's first enlisted man to perish in a flying machine. He died in Maryland in 1912.
Flight training began Sept. 11, 1917, from a grass open space at the south end of today's military runway. Eight cadets died in crashes, but many others lived to fly in combat in France. Scott pilots fitted Jennies with stretchers to experiment with early flying ambulances — a foreshadowing of one of the field's later roles in medical airlift.
After World War I, the Army bought the property for $191 per acre and turned it into a dirigible base.
During World War II, Scott trained radio operators for crews flying in bombers and transports. When the nation closed hundreds of installations after the war, Scott endured as a major point for transports and air-medical services.
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- Scott Air Force Base
- Belleville
- World War I
- Albert Bond Lambert
- Frank Scott
- Army Signal Corps
- Dirigibles
- Tim O'neil
- Army
- Military Personnel
- Local-history
- Edward Daley
- Nation
- Military
- Aeronautics
- Air Force
- Transports
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