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===World War II===
===World War II===
[[File:Brookley Field Mobile Alabama.jpg|thumb|World War II scene at Brookley Army Air Field.]]
[[File:Brookley Field Mobile Alabama.jpg|thumb|World War II scene at Brookley Army Air Field.]]
During [[World War II]], Brookley Army Air Field became the major [[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Forces]] supply base for the [[Air Material Command]] in the southeastern United States and the Caribbean.<ref name="newhistory1"/><ref name="adahbrookley">{{cite web |title=Alabama and World War II |work=Alabama Department of Archives and History |url=http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec50det.html |accessdate=2007-12-06}}</ref> At this time it was a modification and repair center for various military aircraft, to include the [[B-29 Superfortress]] and [[P-51 Mustang]], and employed 17,000 civilians, about 7500 of whom were women.<ref name="newhistory1"/><ref name="adahbrookley"/>
During [[World War II]], Brookley Army Air Field became the major [[United States Army Air Forces|Army Air Forces]] supply base for the [[Air Material Command]] in the southeastern United States and the Caribbean.<ref name="newhistory1"/><ref name="adahbrookley">{{cite web |title=Alabama and World War II |work=Alabama Department of Archives and History |url=http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/sec50det.html |accessdate=2007-12-06}}</ref>
During the war, Brookley became Mobile’s largest employer, with about 17,000 skilled civilians capable of performing delicate work with fragile instruments and machinery. In 1944, the Army decided to take advantage of Brookley’s
large, skilled workforce for its top-secret “Ivory Soap” project to hasten victory in the Pacific. The project required 24 large vessels to be re-modeled into Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Units that had to be able to accommodate B-29 bombers, P-51s Mustangs, R-4B Sikorsky helicopters, and amphibious vehicles. <ref name="newhistory1"/><ref name="adahbrookley"/>

The Air Force delivered all 24 vessels to Mobile, Alabama in spring 1944 to start remodeling. Some 5,000 men
underwent a complex training process that prepared them to rebuild the vessels and operate them once on the water. By the end of the year, the vessels departed Mobile.

One of the keys to Allied victory in Europe was the Norden Bomb Sight, which enabled bomber squadrons to target Germany’s war-making industry and infrastructure much more accurately. The military repaired and calibrated the bombsights at Brookley in a secret facility, still standing and in use today


===Postwar use===
===Postwar use===

Revision as of 18:41, 11 July 2012

Brookley Air Force Base
Part of Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC)
Located near: Mobile, Alabama

Brookley Air Force Base - 7 April 1952
Coordinates30°37′36″N 088°04′05″W / 30.62667°N 88.06806°W / 30.62667; -88.06806
Site information
Controlled by United States Air Force
Site history
Built1940
In use1940-1969

Brookley Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Mobile, Alabama. After it closed in 1969, it became what is now known as the Brookley Aeroplex.

History

Brookley Air Force Base had its aeronautical beginnings with Mobile's first municipal airport, the original Bates Field. However, the site itself had been occupied from the time of Mobile's founding, starting with the home of Mobile's founding father, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, in the early 18th century.[1]

In 1938 the Army Air Corps took over the then 1,000-acre (405 ha) Bates Field site and established the Brookley Army Air Field.[2] The military was attracted to the site because of the area's generally good flying weather and the bay-front location, but Alabama Congressman Frank Boykin's influence in Washington was important in convincing the Army to locate the new military field in Mobile instead of Tampa, Florida.[3] However, later that year, Tampa was also chosen for a military flying installation of its own, which would be named MacDill Field, home of present day MacDill Air Force Base.

World War II

World War II scene at Brookley Army Air Field.

During World War II, Brookley Army Air Field became the major Army Air Forces supply base for the Air Material Command in the southeastern United States and the Caribbean.[2][4]

During the war, Brookley became Mobile’s largest employer, with about 17,000 skilled civilians capable of performing delicate work with fragile instruments and machinery. In 1944, the Army decided to take advantage of Brookley’s large, skilled workforce for its top-secret “Ivory Soap” project to hasten victory in the Pacific. The project required 24 large vessels to be re-modeled into Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Units that had to be able to accommodate B-29 bombers, P-51s Mustangs, R-4B Sikorsky helicopters, and amphibious vehicles. [2][4]

The Air Force delivered all 24 vessels to Mobile, Alabama in spring 1944 to start remodeling. Some 5,000 men underwent a complex training process that prepared them to rebuild the vessels and operate them once on the water. By the end of the year, the vessels departed Mobile.

One of the keys to Allied victory in Europe was the Norden Bomb Sight, which enabled bomber squadrons to target Germany’s war-making industry and infrastructure much more accurately. The military repaired and calibrated the bombsights at Brookley in a secret facility, still standing and in use today

Postwar use

Following World War II and the creation of an independent United States Air Force, the installation became Brookley Air Force Base. In 1947 with the closure of Morrision Field, Florida, the C-74 Globemaster project was moved to Brookley. The C-74 was, at the time, the largest military transport aircraft in the world. It was developed by Douglas Aircraft after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The long distances across the Atlantic, and especially the Pacific Ocean to the combat areas indicated a need for a transoceanic heavy-lift military transport aircraft.

The "C-74 squadron" (later 521st Air Transport Group) operated two squadrons of C-74 Globemasters from Brookley from 1947 until their retirement in 1955. The eleven aircraft were used extensively for worldwide transport of personnel and equipment, supporting United States military missions. They saw extensive service supporting the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War being used on scheduled MATS overseas routes though the late 1940s and mid 1950s. Additionally, logistic support flights for Strategic Air Command (SAC), and Tactical Air Command (TAC) saw the Globemaster in North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean, and within the United States. Two C-74s were used to support the first TAC Republic F-84 Thunderjet flight across the Pacific Ocean to Japan. SAC also continued to use the Globemasters to rotate Boeing B-47 Stratojet Medium Bombardment Groups on temporary duty in England and Morocco as part of their REFLEX operation.

In 1962, the Air Material Command was renamed as the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and Brookley AFB became an AFLC installation and the host base of the modification and repair center's successor organization, the Mobile Air Materiel Area (MOAMA).

After an immediate end to many of the wartime jobs of World War II, the base's civilian workforce again expanded to around 16,000 people by 1962, a result of both the Cold War and other USAF base closings in other areas of the country.[5] During this time, AFLC's Mobile Air Materiel Area (MOAMA) provided depot-level maintenance for various USAF aircraft of the period, to include the C-119 Flying Boxcar, C-131 Samaritan, F-84 Thunderstreak, RF-84 Thunderflash and the F-104 Starfighter.

On 19 November 1964, the Department of Defense announced a progressive reduction in employment and the eventual closure of Brookley Air Force Base.[6] Then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara denied that politics played any part in the decision to close several Air Force bases including Brookley.[7]

When it finally closed in June 1969,[8] Brookley AFB represented the largest base closure in U.S. history up to that time, eliminating 10% of local jobs for the Mobile workforce, which provided an annual payroll of $95 million to the local economy.[6]

Post-Military use

After closure, the base was returned to the City of Mobile. Later, the city transferred it to the Mobile Airport Authority and it became known as the Mobile Downtown Airport. The city had created the Mobile Airport Authority in 1982 to oversee the operation of the Mobile Regional Airport and what would become the Brookley Aeroplex.[9] The Mobile Airport Authority is autonomous and is not a part of the city or Mobile County.[9] The Authority’s five board members are appointed by Mobile’s Mayor, approved by the Mobile City Council, and serve 6 year terms.[9]

Many of the sets from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind were filmed in an aircraft hangar at Brookley. B-17 Flying Fortresses from Brookley Air Force Base were flown in the 1949 film Twelve O'Clock High, filmed largely at the nearby Eglin Air Force Base complex in Florida. In May 1976, the American Freedom Train was displayed at Brookley Center.

See also

References

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

  1. ^ Delaney, Caldwell. The Story of Mobile, page 32. Mobile, Alabama: Gill Press, 1953. ISBN 0-940882-14-0
  2. ^ a b c Thomason, Michael. Mobile : the new history of Alabama's first city, page 213. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8173-1065-7
  3. ^ Thomason, Michael. Mobile : the new history of Alabama's first city, page 210. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8173-1065-7
  4. ^ a b "Alabama and World War II". Alabama Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
  5. ^ Thomason, Michael. Mobile : the new history of Alabama's first city, page 286. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8173-1065-7
  6. ^ a b Thomason, Michael. Mobile : the new history of Alabama's first city, pages 289-297. Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8173-1065-7
  7. ^ McNamara denies political motives
  8. ^ History
  9. ^ a b c "Mobile Airport Authority FAQs". Mobile Airport Authority website. Archived from the original on 2007-09-01. Retrieved 2007-12-06.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brookley_Air_Force_Base&oldid=501761992"