Utah's City of Airmen: Kearns Army Air Base, 1942-1948

Utah's City of Airmen: Kearns Army Air Base, 1942-1948

by Thomas G. Alexander

In attempting to mobilize effectively to meet the threat posed by the Japanese bombardment of Pearl Harbor, the United States Air Force determined that most large training bases should be located far enough inland to secure them from a West Coast attack. One area, the northern part of Utah, presented an ideal location for these bases under World War II conditions. Almost equidistant from the three major West Coast ports of San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles, and halfway between Canada and Mexico, northern Utah formed a location which was readily defensible yet easily accessible by rail, truck, and air.

Early in 1942, the United States district engineer, Colonel E. G. Thomas, and his staff searched this region for a suitable site for an Air Corps training base. Specifically required were good drainage, accessible water supply, and a climate which would not hinder the landing of aircraft. On February 10, 1942, Colonel Thomas recommended that the Army choose a 5,450-acre dry farming area in Kearns, 14 miles west of Salt Lake City. The base was located about midway between the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains.

Since officials intended the base to be temporary, the construction proceeded rapidly, though hampered by "swirls and eddies" of the omnipresent dust. In a month and a half — between April 7 and May 22, 1942 — the contractors laid out streets, put in water mains and an electric system, and constructed tarpaper buildings. About $500,000 was spent on the construction of roads, and $1,827,644 for water, sewage, and electric systems capable of serving between 30,000 and 70,000 persons. In addition $89,518 was spent to build a railroad spur from the Denver and Rio Grande Western to the base, and another $38,000 on a fence around the cantonment area. By August 21, 1942, all the barracks had been completed, and on September 12 the base held its first formal review for the new commander, Colonel Leo F. Post.

Total cost of the entire installation was estimated at $17 million. The base had warehouse space totaling 1.7 million square feet, 926 tarpaper-sheathed buildings, three theatres, two gymnasiums, three completely equipped fire stations, two service clubs, 16 mess halls, a cold storage plant, recreation fields, parking areas, a 10-wing hospital capable of accommodating 1,000 patients, a railroad station to which heaping trainloads of food and equipment were directed, and a sewage treatment plant. The base had a bank, a post office, a telegraph office, a library with 8,500 volumes, four chapels, and a number of tailor shops, barber shops, and shoe repair shops. Even though the base had no water supply nearer than the Salt Lake City municipal system, only 16 days were required to complete the 9-mile tie-in-line. More than 25,000 trees and shrubs, and a great amount of grass were later added to keep the dirt in place and lend a touch of beauty.

During World War II Kearns Air Base served primarily as a training field for Air Corps personnel. On July 20, 1942, Kearns officially opened as an adjunct of the Army Air Force Training Command, and on August 15 became a basic training center. On September 16 the Army designated Kearns as an overseas replacement center. During 1943 and part of 1944, Kearns served as a field of the Second Air Force, which conducted schools for Air Force specialists, particularly ground crews. Air Corps gunners, including some from the 509th Composite Group who distinguished themselves at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, trained at the base. On April 15, 1944, the War Department transferred Kearns to the Western Technical Training Command under whose jurisdiction it continued to train personnel until it was deactivated. Early in 1944 the Army established a release point at Kearns for skilled Air Force personnel who were needed in defense industries on the West Coast. Those with special skills for whom a replacement could be found were allowed to leave the Air Corps and go to work in the West Coast airplane industries. The Air Corps sent men from 500 different posts to Kearns for release.

By the spring of 1943, Kearns had grown until it was Utah's third largest city. At its peak the Army stationed 40,000 troops at Kearns and between 1,000 and 1,200 civilians were employed there. By October 1943 Kearns facilities had trained 90,000 airmen. The facilities for training included a mile-long obstacle course, a grenade-throwing ground, and bayonet targets. There was a large area for beachhead maneuvers, and another for gas demonstrations. There was training in camouflage and airdrome defense. Southwest of the camp, near the Oquirrh range, was the nation's second largest rifle range, with 600 targets. In addition to having the second largest hospital in the state and one of two then existing sewage treatment plants in Utah, Kearns had one of the largest dental installations in the entire nation.

Despite these assets, Kearns was not without problems. The great influx of airmen produced friction with Salt Lake City residents — buses carried servicemen to the city in 35 minutes. Airmen complained that Salt Lakers were not hospitable, that there was a lack of entertainment, limited U.S.O. facilities, and an archaic Sunday closing ordinance. Airmen's wives had trouble finding apartments, and transportation facilities were found to be inadequate.

The boon which the base represented for Utah's economy, however, tended to counteract any local opposition to the base. In 1943, for instance, the State of Utah, the City of Salt Lake, and the commanding officers of nearby installations helped organize recruiting parades in Salt Lake City. The parades were designed, not to recruit fighting men for frontline activity, but to obtain civilians as workers at the many large War Department installations in the state.

The acknowledged temporary base continued to function until the end of World War II. On January 24, 1947, the War Assets Administration declared Camp Kearns to be surplus, and planned to return it to its previous farmland status. Influential Utah citizens protested this move. Here, in the suburbs of Salt Lake City, they argued, the Army had laid out a model city. More than $1.8 million had been spent on a complete utilities system which would cost over $3 million to replace.

As the result of this pressure, War Assets Administration changed its classification and opened the 1,200-acre "fenced-in ghost town" to public bidding. By 1948 only 100 of the buildings remained, but railroad tracks, paved streets, utilities, and fire equipment still graced the area. When the government opened the bids in July 1948, Standard Surplus, Incorporated, of New York, had submitted the high bid of $287,270. Thus, a ready-made housing development, complete with utilities, streets, and 2 million board feet of lumber sold for less than 10 per cent of the value of the utilities alone.

The "surplus" townsite became one of Utah's fastest growing communities. The build-up of missiles and metal manufacturing and other economic activity west of Salt Lake City produced a steady growth in population, which reached 17,172 in 1960.

The Vicissitudes of "HURRICANE SAM': The Supersonic Military Air Research Site at Hurricane Mesa, 1934-1961

From time immemorial, man dreamed of leaving the earth like the mythical Icarus and joining the gods and the birds in their freedom of movement. Sitting on the seacoast, he watched the gulls soaring above the water; inland he saw the eagle effortlessly gliding on invisible ribbons of air. Owing to his inventive nature, man took the principles of flight taught him by the birds and perfected them to a point where the birds' soaring seems puny compared with the speeds which he has reached.

In the early years of the Cold War that followed World War II, the speed of the new jet planes began to exceed 500 miles per hour, and the Air Force found that pilots had trouble making emergency escapes. Indeed, during the years 1949 to 1956, pilots accomplished only 20 per cent of the ejections without harm. Seeing the need for an ejection system which would allow the pilot to be thrown clear of his airplane without causing him any injury, the Air Force constructed track systems in deserts and lake beds to perfect such a system. But because tests at such sites resulted in the early impact of the ejected dummy, it was impossible to observe the complete ejection cycle.

In 1953 the Air Force announced a competition for the design of a high-speed track on an elevated site where engineers could observe the entire cycle and recover the ejected dummy. Its primary purpose was to stabilize the seats in some way so they would not spin and tumble, causing injury to the pilot.

Together with several other companies, Coleman Engineering Company, Incorporated, of Torrance, California, entered the competition for the design of the elevated track. Coleman had previously contracted to study the design of existing tracks for the Air Force, and partly because of its previous experience was awarded the $2 million contract to construct the Supersonic Military Air Research Track (SMART) at Hurricane Mesa. Coleman agreed to complete construction of the new facility within 18 months from the awarding of the contract in June of 1954, but by July 8, 1955, only 13 months after the Air Force awarded the contract, the first test took place.

The site which the Air Force selected for the facility was a flat, arid mesa ending in a 1,500-foot drop into the valley of the Virgin River, 16 miles west of Zion National Park, near the town of Hurricane, Utah. After careful observation, the Air Force found that they could expect favorable testing weather all year round and a temperature which ranged between 27 and 98 degrees. Observation also showed that the mesa contained a flat bedrock of faultless Shinarump conglomerate into which a track could be securely anchored. Finally, the Virgin River would supply the necessary water. along with photographic and telemetering facilities. The site included the track, launching pad, crew shelters, camera towers, revetments, rocket storage depots, water system (pumped five miles from the Virgin River), power system, communications system, 20-mile road system, security facilities, administration building, and shop building.

After moving forward at breakneck speed to complete the facility ahead of schedule, Coleman received the Air Force contract to operate the facility for one year on November 30, 1955. A similar contract was renewed annually, and by the middle of 1961 Coleman had supervised some 334 tests. During the six years of operation, not only companies from the United States but also teams from several foreign countries, including England and Canada, conducted tests at Hurricane.

In a typical test the rocket sled was hurled along the track at a speed of 1,050 miles per hour, or Mach 1.3, carrying the seat with a dummy strapped to it. The dummy was a highly instrumented anthropoid simulator named "Hurricane Sam." To the dummy, engineers connected electronic equipment and a radio for transmitting its condition to the telemetering stations. Along the track cameras followed the movement of the sled, then just before the edge of the cliff, the ejection mechanism fired, and the seat hurtled over the cliff where its parachute opened and it floated to the valley floor 1,500 feet below. By this method the Air Force was able to standardize ejection systems for industry-wide acceptance for both fighters and bombers. In one series of tests, apes were substituted for the dummy in order to determine the effects of ejection on live beings.

For the purpose of arresting the sled, Coleman constructed water brakes similar to those on aircraft carriers, with a capacity of 34 tons of braking force. The attempt to stop a sled moving at the speed of sound was described by one Coleman official as akin to stopping an automobile traveling 100 miles an hour in a space of three and a half feet without demolishing the car. In the first year of operation, "Coleman set a world land speed record and fulfilled its contract with the Air Force by sending a 9,400-pound sled rocketing down the track at 1,800 miles an hour." The result of all this was the perfection of an ejection seat that would not tumble, and would give the pilot maximum protection from the devastating effects of wind blast.

By 1958 Coleman was conducting tests other than those involving rocket ejection seats, and the name of the site was changed to Hurricane Supersonic Research Site (HSRS). In one of these tests, Coleman launched a missile from the rocket sled and shot it at a target suspended from a balloon 75 miles away. This made possible the observation of the separation of missile stages. The facility also tested the use of escape capsules in the B-58 Hustler bomber. Because many of the projects were secretive, details are not available on all types of tests conducted at the site.

After the functions of the test site expanded, the facility changed hands. At first it was responsible to the Wright Air Development Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and then it came under the Air Force Flight Test Center of the Air Research and Development Command, Edwards, California.

The developments at HSRS were of value not only to the Air Force, but to industry as well. At the peak there were five different aircraft companies testing their equipment at Hurricane Mesa at one time. Several railroads adopted the Coleman method of welding tracks under high temperature. The rockets were handled by power equipment developed for that purpose, and testing of ignition systems practically eliminated rocket failures at HSRS. Several industrial concerns adopted HSRS methods of handling liquid rocket fuel, and several of the trailers which Coleman designed for more efficient handling of the sleds and rockets found acceptance in industry.

The facility also improved upon old telemetering and camera techniques. At first, HSRS used hand-operated comparators and made calculations on desk calculators. Later, Coleman developed a powered comparator to review high-speed motion pictures. In 1956 the base acquired the IBM 607 computer, and in 1960 it replaced the IBM machine with a Bendix G-15 electronic digital computer. By 1960 all data reduction was done by a system of semiautomatic processing equipment. By 1961 complex equipment permitted telemetering of simultaneous ejections such as one from a dual seat bomber with data transmitted from both dummies.

Industry was not the only beneficiary from Coleman's occupation of Hurricane Mesa. Like a phoenix arising from its own ashes, the addition of new blood to the small town (1,271) gave Hurricane a new lease on life. Skilled technicians, mechanics, and engineers, 90 per cent of whom had families, took part in local community activities and development, and the Coleman Company itself helped induce Hurricane High School to achieve accreditation by offering a scholarship to the student body based on that condition. Of the Coleman employees 50 per cent claimed Utah as a home, and the other 50 per cent came from 11 states, thus offering to Hurricane a cultural and intellectual diversity and bringing new ideas to the small southern Utah town. In 1961, although the force was considerably reduced, Coleman had up to 100 employees and the testing companies up to 25 at one time. In addition the Air Force stationed one liaison officer at the base.

Added to these cultural advantages, Coleman also injected a spurt of life into Hurricane's economy. In 1960 Coleman employed 67 persons full time, in addition to 3,939 man days which temporary employees, most of whom were local people, worked. To these employees the company paid $400,000 in payroll checks annually. In addition the company purchased more than $200,000 worth of goods and services on the local market and paid $50,000 for its utilities. The employees themselves, according to company computations, annually spent $90,000 for food, $50,- 000 for clothing and household necessities, $30,000 for utilities, $50,000 for car expenses, and additional amounts for medical care, entertainment, new cars, furniture, and other items. Total cost of operating the base was approximately $ 1 million per year.

For the economy of Hurricane, however, the future of HSRS was not secure. Beginning in 1961 the work force was reduced, and the facility was gradually phased out. In December 1961 the base was closed and held by Edwards Air Force Base, California, on a stand-by basis.

PROJECT ATHENA . . . The Green River Test Complex, 1963-1966

For some time the Ballistic Systems Division of the United States Air Force Systems Command was concerned about the high cost of testing re-entry systems. In 1961 the AFSC instituted, as part of the Advanced Ballistic Re-entry System program (ABRES), the Athena program which was aimed at improving ballistic penetration through the use of smaller, less expensive missiles than those flown from the eastern and western test ranges at Cape Kennedy, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The BSD officials concluded that if they could develop scaling laws, a smaller missile could do the same job as a larger Atlas or Titan and that the results from the smaller projectile could then be scaled up to fit the larger and more costly rockets.

The Air Force had conducted some re-entry type experiments at the Army's 4,000 square-mile White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. But to make test flights at re-entry velocities ABRES had to find a launch site from which missiles could be projected from some distance to the White Sands site. It was necessary that overland test flights dislocate and inconvenience as few people as possible. After considerable research, the Department of Defense concluded late in 1962 that shots from Green River, Utah, would inconvenience only 32 people, and so Green River was chosen. It is some 425 miles northwest of the impact area of White Sands.

At first, there was considerable local and state apprehension over the establishment of the missile base near Green River. Lieutenant Colonel August T. McColgan, former information officer at White Sands, met with the Green River Chamber of Commerce to allay such fears. He said that the town would grow accustomed to the noise after the first couple of shots, and that there would be no hazard to the town. The government contracted to pay per diem to ranchers for evacuating during Athena firings and to reimburse them for any damage which the test did to their property.

A major concern was associated with the area of the drop zone of the first-stage booster rocket. The impact dispersion area lay about 45 miles southeast of Green River, between the Colorado River and the north edge of the Manti-LaSal National Forest. About five per cent of the zone was within the Canyonlands National Park, and there was some fear that park visitors might be in danger. Service officials pointed out that they would give 24 hours notice before any launch and post signs at all roads entering the drop area. After these assurances, state officials agreed that the Defense Department could locate the site at Green River.

Concurrently with obtaining agreements with the owners in the safety areas, the Army Corps of Engineers had begun construction at the cantonment and assembly areas, which were located approximately two miles southeast of Green River. The Utah State Land Board granted a right-of-entry to 1,600 acres of state land, and the Bureau of Land Management issued a special permit to the Corps of Engineers for 11,098 acres. Low bidder for the basic construction was the Olson Construction Company of Salt Lake City, which bid $1,235,072. The contract included support structures, utilities, and roads. Later construction has increased the value of the installation to more than $3 million.

The Green River Launch Facility is actually an Army installation which is operated in connection with the White Sands Missile Range, with the Air Force as a tenant. The Air Force Ballistic Systems Division at Norton Air Force Base near San Bernardino, California, directs the missile program, and the Ogden Air Materiel Area at Hill Air Force Base near Sunset, Utah, has support responsibilities for the installation. OOAMA stores the Athena rocket motors in ammunition igloos at Hill AFB and sends calibration specialists to calibrate missile control instruments at the Green River site. Prime contractor for the Air Force program is the Atlantic Research Corporation of Alexandria, Virginia, through its offices in Duarte, California. Other contractors include Dynalectron and American Vitro Corporation (AVCO) .

The facility consists basically of three areas. The first of these is the cantonment area near Green River, supported and maintained by Dynalectron's Land-Air Division which succeeded Bendix Field Engineering Corporation in this capacity on February 1, 1965. This area includes 59 trailers used as bachelor officers' quarters, offices, a mess hall, a laundry, and a latrine. There are seven prefabricated buildings for supply, a telephone exchange, and engineer and transportation use. Adjacent to the cantonment area are storage facilities for the Athena missile rocket motors.

Although near the cantonment area, the second area, the Atlantic Research Corporation Assembly Area, is outside the actual limits of the government-controlled complex. It occupies the facilities originally constructed for the Union Carbide Uranium Company, which had produced uranium and vanadium in the 1940's and 1950's.

The third, or launch area, is almost five miles down range from the assembly area. It consists of a fall-back area, a blockhouse, three concrete launching pads, and various meteorological system component facilities.

The assembly areas and housing area at Green River comprise 44 acres, the operations are contained in 3,546 acres, and the safety area is 12,000 acres. All land areas were acquired through cooperation of the individual landowners and without condemnation proceedings. White Sands Missile Range holds the land under an exclusive use lease with renewal options through June 30,1968.

The Athena, which is the test vehicle for the ABRES program, is a 4-stage, 50-foot, 8-ton, solid-fuel missile which can simulate the speeds and re-entry phenomena of the much larger intercontinental ballistic missiles. It incorporates an altitude control system for terminal guidance and has two basic configurations enabling re-entry angles of 21 and 43 degrees. The Athena carries a nominal payload of 50 pounds and its re-entry velocity is approximately 23,000 feet per second.

The major part of the Athena is produced by Utah companies. The first stage consists of a Thiokol XM-33 E8 Castor missile, augmented by two XM- 19 EL Recruits, both of which are products of Thiokol's Wasatch Division (west of Brigham City). The second stage consists of either a Thiokol TX 261-2 for low angle re-entry or the Hercules X259-A4 for high angle reentry tests. The fourth stage is a Hercules BE-3 Ranger (Bacchus). The third stage — the only stage not produced in Utah — is an Aerojet General 30KS- 1100. The payloads themselves are produced by General Electric, Lockheed, AVCO, Sperry (Salt Lake City), and other companies.

Several problems are being studied in the current set of test firings, which began in 1964 and have recently been rescheduled to last through 1967. During Athena flights, data are gathered by sophisticated radar and other instrumentation installed at White Sands. Preliminary test firings made in February and May 1964 failed, but later firings were concluded successfully. The original 77 launches announced in the series were to cost $65 million, but a new contract for $14 million will allow 36 subsequent launches. The initial tests were successful, and with the new contract, it is possible that the Green River range may develop into a permanent low-cost site for testing small scale re-entry vehicles for larger rockets.

In addition to the service it performs for the Department of Defense, the Green River Test Complex provides another example of the positive impact of the federal government upon the economy of a Utah community. By December 1963, 136 persons had already been employed at the installation. Atlantic Research Corporation had opened nearly a full block of offices at the site, and the bulk of the personnel was finding homes in Green River, though some lived at Price, Dragerton, and Moab. By 1963 approximately 450 persons were employed at the base, with a payroll in excess of $3 million yearly. This installation has undoubtedly provided a shot in the arm for Emery County which, owing to difficulties in the coal industry, underwent a decline in population between 1950 and I960.

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