Vernam Field

Vernam Air Force Base
Part of Sixth Air Force
Located in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica
Coordinates	17°53′26.75″N 077°18′07.68″W
Type	Military Airfield
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1941
In use	1941-1949

Vernam Air Force Base is a former World War II lend-lease air base in Clarendon Parish, Jamaica.

The base was named in honor of First Lieutenant Remington de Bremont Vernam (March 24, 1896 - December 1, 1918) was an American pilot who entered the French air service during World War I. Vernam was shot down behind German lines on October 30, 1918. After the Armistice he was found by American forces in a hospital in Longwey, France, with another wounded aviator, Lt. Arthur C. Dineen. Vernam died of his wounds on December 1. He is buried in the American cemetary at St. Mihiel in Thiaucourt, France. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (United States).

Vernam AFB was built to house a bomber squadron and had three runways: a 6000-foot concrete runway and two shorter asphalt runways.

The base was redesignated Vernam Air Force Base on March 26, 1948, by Department of the Air Force General Order Number 10. Vernam AFB closed in 1949 due to budgetary cutbacks.

An automobile racetrack known as Vernamfield occupies the Vernam AFB site today.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
• www.pacificwrecks.com