WARNER ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE and the GEORGIA AVIATION MUSEUM
TEXT, LAYOUT, BY
and
select photography
LIAM GREENAMYRE
A
bout a hundred miles southeast of Atlanta, a short drive from Macon, lies a town that has been transformed by the military. Once little more than fields and swampland, Warner Robins, Georgia, formerly known as Wellston, had its course changed dramatically when it was selected as the site for a major Air Force logistical base shortly before World War II. As a history of the town reads, “The story of Wellston and the construction of an air depot at what became Robins Field is the story of a sleepy hamlet transformed into a bustling industrial city.� Beginning in the mid-1930s, the local government and Macon Chamber of Commerce began a program
of policymaking, fundraising, and lobbying to encourage the development of military installations in and around the area. After an intensive selection process, Wellston was chosen as the site of the base that was first known as the Wellston Air Depot. Construction began in earnest on September 1, 1941. Many of the youth from the area who had been working on their family farms took jobs with the federal government to help build the base, alongside men from every part of the nation. Yet with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor three months later, the pace of construction at the base was accelerated. The sprawling depot was completed on August 31, 1942, at the cost of nearly $20 million.
Right: An aerial view of Warner Robins Air Force Base shortly after it was completed Opposite: The base during construction
On October 14, 1942, the base’s name was changed to Warner Robins Army Air Depot to honor the late Brigadier General Augustine Warner Robins, known as the Air Force’s “father of logistics.” Former Chief of the Materiel Division, Robins had an impressive military career, serving under General John J. Pershing in the Pancho Villa Expedition, and once travelling to China disguised as a millionaire tourist to collect intelligence.
P
rior to World War II, there was little need for air logistics. But starting with this conflict, success in the air war depended heavily on the proper maintenance of aircraft in the theaters of operations and the flying condition of aircraft. Warner Robins became the principle training ground for Air Depot Groups, who would go on to perform supply and maintenance overseas. The Macon Aircraft School was also opened onsite, with graduates hired to work at the base. With the motto “We Keep ‘Em
Flying,” Warner Robins overhauled or modified more than 2,000 aircraft and 21,000 engines during World War II. The base trained and shipped out more than 45,000 enlisted men and 15,000 medical technicians, and expended upwards of 15 million man-hours to handle 4,563,686 supply requests. One of Warner Robins’s first projects was the preparation of A-29s, B-24s, and B-34s for use in antisubmarine patrols, helping to clear the waters off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Yet perhaps the base’s most important achievement was training the men of the 33rd Air Depot Group, who operated Air Depot No. 2, charged with the task of maintaining, repairing, and launching P-51 mustangs against Hitler’s Europe.
At the start of the US involvement in World War II, the United States Army Air Force flew daytime bombing missions over occupied Europe. But they quickly found these missions to be prohibitively dangerous—until, that is, the arrival of the P-51 Mustang. The P-51, originally designed for Britain’s Royal Air Force, was a long-range, single seat fighter built by North American Aviation. The plane was used as a bomber escort in raids over Germany and helped to ensure Allied air superiority. The Mustang also saw service in the North African, Mediterranean, and Italian theaters. The definitive engine used in the P-51s was a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 60 series two-stage two-speed supercharged engine, and the plane was generally armed with six .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns. The defeated German Reichmarshal Hermann Goering later said, “The first time your bombers came over Hanover escorted by fighters, I began to be worried. When they came with fighter escort over Berlin—I knew the jig was up.”
The T-6 Texan was the most critical and prolifically manufactured trainer aircraft in North America. More than 10,000 were made and shipped to more than 30 Allied Nations. The single engine aircraft came in many different variations, and was also used to provide guidance to Close Air Support aircraft, who would bomb hostile targets in close proximity to friendly troops. Aside from World War Two, the Texan saw service in Korea and Vietnam, and was also used by the British in Kenya, the French in Algeria, the Spanish in the Ifni War, and in the Portuguese Colonial War. The T-6 is also a regular participant in airshows.
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, which stands proudly at the entrance to the Museum of Aviation, is a twin-engine all weather tactical fighter, and is among the most successful modern fighters. To date, this aircraft has seen over one hundred aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights. The F15 Eagle was designed during the Cold War to counter Soviet MiG-25 “Foxbats,� and the first one flew in 1972. The Eagle can carry a variety of air-to-air weaponry, including AIM-7F/M Sparrow Missiles, AIM-9L/M Sidewinder missiles, of an internal M61A1 20 mm Gatling gun. The F15 was used in the first Gulf War, and has also been exported to Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia.
The B-29 Superfortress was a four engine, propeller-driven heavy bomber, flown primarily in WWII and Korea, and also used by the RAF. Built by Boeing, it was one of the largest aircraft used in World War II, with advanced features such as a pressurized cabin, electronic fire-control systems, and remote controlled machine gun turrets. It was designed as a high-altitude daytime bomber, but actually ended up flying more nighttime incendiary bombing missions. Perhaps the B-29’s greatest claim to fame, however, is that it was the plane that carried the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Army Air Force Parachute Search and Rescue team was one of the most prestigious units across all branches of the armed forces. Tasked with dropping into high-risk areas and guiding down pilots and crews back to civilization, this group first saw significant action in the China-Burma-India Theater, where there was a unique combination of long overland flights and territory loosely held by the enemy and survivable. Crews forced to bail out over the long ‘Hump Route’ over the Himalayas could face weeks trying to find a path back to civilization, braving harsh weather, injuries, and lack of food. The cap, shirt, jacket and pistol belt were all standard issue. The Search and Rescue Team also carried an M-1 .30 caliber carbine, a .45 caliber pistol, and a shoulder holster. The pants feature additional pockets for food, ammunition, or other supplies, and the jump boots are designed both for parachuting and for navigating mountainous terrain.
The male officer’s winter service uniform, nicknamed ‘The Pinks and Greens,’ was considered to be one of the best-looking uniforms in the Air Force.
The A2 flight jacket, adopted in 1931, was worn by USAAF pilots, navigators, and bombardiers. The Air Force catalog advertised its “seal brown horsehide leather, knitted wristlets and waistband.” This jacket replaced the A1’s buttoned front and pocket flaps with a zipper and hidden snap fasteners. It also featured a shirt-style leather collar with hidden snaps and a hook-and-eye latch at the throat. Airmen would often stitch on elaborate squadron patches to personalize their jackets.
A 35 mm Kodak camera designed for special intelligence gathering.
The .45 Caliber “Liberator” pistol was first designed as an insurgency weapon. Cheap and mass-produced, it would be dropped in large numbers into territories occupied by Axis forces. Although it wasn’t much of a firearm, it was believed that vast quantities of these weapons could have a devastating effect on the morale of the occupying troops, who would find it impossible to seize all of them. The “Liberator,” however, was never used for this purpose, nor was it ever issued to American or Allied troops. Instead, the gun was used by the OSS, precursor to the CIA, for assassinations. The pistol was only designed to be effective at extremely short ranges.