Lakeland Army Air Field

Lakeland Army Airfield Drane Field
Part of Third Air Force
Located near: Lakeland, Florida
Lakeland Army Airfield in 1953, at that time unused and in its World War II configuration. Lakeland Army Airfield
Coordinates	27°59′20″N 082°01′07″W
Site history
In use	1942-1945

For the civil airport, see: Lakeland Linder Regional Airport

For the World War II Air Force Contract Flying School in Lakeland, see: Lodwick Field

Lakeland Army Airfield, was a World War II United States Army Air Force located 5.3 miles southwest of Lakeland, Florida. Since 1960, it has been the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.

History

Origins

On May 22, 1941, the Lakeland City Commission passed a Resolution naming the Lakeland Airport No. 2, which was under construction, Drane Field in honor of Herbert J. Drane, one of Lakeland's outstanding citizens.

The city had barely begun work on the new airport when, with war already raging in Europe, it leased the under-construction facility to the War Department. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers improved and expanded the three runways, into a star-shaped pattern of 5000x150(NE/SW), 5000x150(E/W), 5000x150(NW/SE) along with a series of taxiways, dispersal parking hardstands, hangar ramp and constructed the necessary buildings to operate a training facility to fly combat bombers and fighters.

In early May 1942, enough construction was completed to dedicate the new military base, named Lakeland Army Air Field. The base was assigned to the Third Air Force, III Bomber Command. The 60th Flying Training Detachment (Medium Bombardment) was activated to manage the base facilities, and it was assigned to MacDill Field, near Tampa as a sub-base. In addition, Third Air Force assigned the Winter Haven Army Airfield as a sub base to assist in the training mission.

In May 1942, however, the airfield was not ready to support the flying training mission. Construction delays limited the operational use of the field, and Air Service Command (ASC) used the base station as a staging area for organizing, training and deploying Service Groups to overseas theaters.

III Bomber Command

The first flying unit to arrive at Lakeland AAF was the B-26 Marauder-equipped 320th Bombardment Group with three squadrons of aircraft and personnel. It was moved from MacDill Field at the beginning of August 1942 and was sent to Lakeland for 2d phase combat training to alleviate congestion in the Tampa Bay airspace. Training was cut off in late August and it subsequently deployed to Twelfth Air Force, then in England for final training. The unit was urgently needed in England for staging prior to the Operation Torch landings, and engaging in combat during the North African Campaign beginning in December.

The next unit, arriving shortly afterwards was the 322d Bombardment Group, also moving up from MacDill Field for 2d phase combat training, arriving in late September. The 322d remained at Lakeland until November before deploying also to England, to Eighth Air Force and attacking Nazi airfields and targets in Occupied Europe.

The 344th Bombardment Group arrived in late December 1942. It was assigned by III Bomber Command to be an Operational Training Unit for the B-26 Marauder school at Lakeland. Throughout 1943, it received new graduates from Training Command twin engine flight schools and provided transition and combat training to pilots and new crews assembled from technical schools. After transition training, graduates were sent to newly-forming units for combat training.

The 557th Bombardment Squadron, which had been transferred from MacDill Field on 12 April 1943. The 557th had been undergoing training with its parent 387th Bombardment Group at MacDill and was sent to Lakeland for 2d phase combat training to alleviate congestion in the Tampa Bay airspace. After about a month of training, the squadron left for Godman Field, Kentucky on 12 May to complete its combat training.

In October 1943 the 407th Fighter-Bomber Group (Dive) wsa moved to Lakeland from the III Fighter Command base at Drew Army Airfield, also near Tampa. The 407th had been deployed to Alaska in July to engage Japanese Forces in the Aleutian Campaign with Douglas A-24 Dauntless Dive Bombers. The A-24s, although well-suited for Naval carrier operations, were not well-suited for Air Force missions. Upon their arrival at Lakeland, the Group was re-equipped with the new A-36 Apache ground attack aircraft, a variant of the P-51 Mustang fighter. The unit was then reassigned to Galveston Army Airfield, Texas, where it became a training unit.

In late 1943, when Second Air Force began transitioning to B-29 Superfortress training, the 344th was moved Hunter Field, Georgia for combat training and transitioning to an operational group. It deployed to Ninth Air Force in England in February 1944 for combat duties. The medium bomber training mission was changed to B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber training. The 463d Bombardment Group arrived at Lakeland from MacDill on 3 January 1944 for final Level 3 combat training. The group remained for about a month, then deploying to Fifteenth Air Force in Italy in early February.

It was found, that Lakeland was not suitable for heavy bomber training for a number of reasons, and the 463d was the first, and last heavy bomber group to train at Lakeland. The A-20 Havoc-equipped 410th Bombardment Group was moved from Laurel Army Airfield, Mississippi to operate from Lakeland in early Feburary 1944 as part of the Air University Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics headquartered at Orlando Army Airfield. The A-20 light bombers took part in practice combat maneuvers at part of the combat training school, designed to develop new tactics and combat maneuvers.

III Fighter Command

The Air University training mission ended in mid-March 1944, when Lakeland was officially reassigned to III Fighter Command. Air Service Command, which has been using Lakeland as a staging base for new Service Units, remained at Lakeland after the transfer to Fighter Command. The 352d Army Air Forces Base Unit (Replacement, Fighter), was activated at the base as a replacement personnel training unit.

A different mission of sorts was ordered by III Fighter Command, the training of Air Commando fighter units for the China Burma India Theater and the invasion of Burma. Air Commando units were formed to be part of the invasion force to operate from captured Japanese airfields behind the main battle lines in India. Parachutists would be dropped on enemy held fields, and quickly the Allies would fly in fighter and transport units to operate from those fields. As the battle moved further east, the commandos would jump ahead and establish new bases. In each case the pattern had been the same: spot open spaces from the air, send in glider-borne engineers and equipment to hack an airstrip from the brush, and within a matter of hours, fly in troops to harass the enemy and his lines of communication with P-51 Mustang fighter and B-25 medium bomber units.

The 3d Air Commando Group arrived for training in early May 1944 after being formed and organized at Drew Field. Equipped with new P-51D Mustangs, the group's three combat squadrons underwent training at Lakeland. It moved to Alachua Army Airfield, near Gainesville in late August. A succession of Air Commando units were trained at Lakeland during the late summer of 1944. Both P-51-equipped fighter squadrons as well as light observation aircraft squadrons recieved training prior to their deployment to Burma.

During 1944, Third Air Force used Lakeland Army Airfield as a training base for Air Commando units, assigned to the 2d and 3d Air Commando Groups. The 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th Fighter (Commando) Squadrons flew P-51 Mustangs from the airfield before being reassigned to India and Burma in the summer of 1944.

Closed 30 April 1945. Subsequently returned to the City of Lakeland.

Major units assigned

Air Service Command

• 323d Service Group (1942)
• 324th Service Group (1942)
• 40th Service Group, 1 January 1944-

Re-designated: 4501 Army Air Forces Base Unit (Service Group), 1 March 1944-April 1945

III Bomber Command

• 60th Flying Training Detachment (Medium Bombardment)
• 320th Bombardment Group 8–28 August 1942, (B-26, 3d Level Training)
• 322d Bombardment Group 22 September–November 1942, (B-26, 3d Level Training)
• 344th Bombardment Group, 28 December 1942-19 December 1943 (B-26 OTU)
• 557th Bombardment Squadron, 12 April-12 May 1943 (B-26, 2d Level Training)
• 407th Fighter-Bomber Group (Dive), 2 October-9 November 1943 (A-36 OTU)
• 463d Bombardment Group, 3 January-2 February 1944 (B-17 3d Level Training)

Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics

• 410th Bombardment Group (Light), 8 February-13 March 1944 (A-20)

III Fighter Command

• 352d Army Air Forces Base Unit (Replacement, Fighter), 1 May 1944-April 1945
• 3d Air Commando Group, 5 May-20 August 1944

• 1st Fighter Squadron (Commando), 22 August-23 October 1944 (P-51)
• 2d Fighter Squadron (Commando), 22 August-23 October 1944 (P-51)
• 127th Liaison Squadron (Commando), 22 August-23 October 1944
• 155th Liaison Squadron (Commando), 22 August-23 October 1944
• 156th Liaison Squadron (Commando), 22 August-23 October 1944

• 457th Fighter Squadron, 21 October 1944-16 February 1945 (P-51)
• 462d Fighter Squadron, 21 October 1944-16 February 1945 (P-51)

See also

• Florida World War II Army Airfields

References

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

• Maurer, Maurer (ed.). Combat Squadrons of the Air Force: World War II. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1982 ISBN 0-405-12194-6.
• Maurer, Maurer (ed.), Air Force Combat Units of World War II, History and Insignia, USAF Historical Divisio, Washington, DC, 1961 (reprint 1983) ISBN 0-89201-092-4

• World War II airfields database: Florida