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Army Air Base, Mitchel Field

overseas here we come!!!?

TO:  All Sections and Combat Crews Concerned.	 1     February     1945
     1.  Pilots and Crews, as listed below, are ASSIGNED to the Aircraft listed;
and are ALERTED, effective 0600 - 2 February 1945.

     PILOT                                CREW    MODEL      AIRCRAFT NO.

         a.  ON PROJECT NO. 90955-R; SHIPMENT NO. FE-448-BF.

     1ST LT OLDRED LECHNER                BF-l2   B-24L       44-50241

         b.  ON PROJECT NO. 91O14-R; SHIPMENT NO. FW-259-AF.

     1ST LT CALVIN R. MC KAY              AF-9    B-24L       44-50236

         c.  ON PROJECT NO. 92929-R; SHIPMENT NO. FM-111-AA.

     2ND LT WILLIE S. NEWTON              AA-28   B-24M       44-50487

         d.  ON PROJECT NO. 92930-R; SHIPMENT NO. FM-111-AA

     2ND LT HILLARD E. JOHNMEYER          AA-52   B-24M       44-50340

         e.  ON PROJECT NO. 91015-R; SHIPMENT NO. FT-009-AY

     F/O WILLIAM A. BRIZENDINE            AY-52   B-24L       44-50251

     2.  Pilots and Crews, Alerted by Paragraph 1 this Control Memo, will
CLOSELY follow the Clearance Schedule, as set forth below,

ON 2 FEBRUARY 1945
        a. Medical Clearance. AS SCHEDULED BELOW, crews will report to Infirmar
Building T-112. ALL men will be present bringing with them 2 identification
tags; AAF Form #206; and Immunization Record WD Medical Form #81.

Crew BF-12 will report at 0800.
Crew AF-9  will report at 0810.           Crew AA-28 will report at 0830.
Crew AA-52 will report at 0820.           Crew AY-52 will report at 0840.

        b. Records Checked. IMMEDIATELY UPON COMPLETION OF MEDICAL CLEARANCE,
the Pilot of each crew will report to Building T-83, 2nd floor, to check all
personnel records of his crew.

        b. Parachute Check. IMMEDIATELY UPON COMPLETION OF MEDICAL CLEARANCE,
while the Pilot is checking records, the Co-Pilot and remainder of each crew
will report to Building T-94 with all parachutes.  The Co-Pilot will bring the
Pilot's parachute to this recheck.

(CONT'D) CONTROL MEMO # 47 click image to enlarge Combat Crew Field Clearance Sheet click image to enlarge

Mitchel Field

Built on the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, it's been the site of training camps in almost every war in which this country has fought. The centrally located grassy area was first used for military purposes early in the 18th Century, when soldiers drilled and held reviews there. Soldiers recruited by the British to fight in the French and Indian War were mustered there, and infantry regiments based in New York City were sent there for summer encampments.

When the British became the enemy during the American Revolution, they made use of the area, stationing the 17th Light Dragoons on the plains. When America fought the British again in the War of 1812, it was American soldiers who camped in the plains. United States troops were there again during the Mexican War in 1846. And during the Civil War, Union troops were trained at what was then known as Camp Winfield Scott. The name changed to Camp Black during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

In 1917, a new army aviation field, Field #2, was established just south of Hazelhurst Field to serve as an additional training and the government set up an Aeronautical General Supply Depot and Concentration Camp on the site. That meant it was used for the concentration and distribution of supplies for three nearby airfields. Jennies became a common sight over Long Island in 1917 and 1918. Hundreds of aviators were trained for war at these training fields, two of the largest in the United States. Numerous new wooden buildings and tents were erected on Roosevelt and Field #2 in 1918 in order to meet this rapid expansion.

Mitchel Field got its current name on July 16, 1918, when it was named for Maj. John Purroy Mitchel, a former mayor of New York who was killed 10 days earlier in a training flight in Louisiana. Camp Mills, just west of Mitchel Air Force Base, was the largest training center for the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. The 42nd Infantry Division, known as the Rainbow Division, left for overseas from the camp and became the first American ground troops to see combat in France. The military returned to the Camp Mills site in 1938, when the Second Air Base Squadron moved in for two years.

Penworthy Note Book Just a little more to do...

Mitchel Field continued to grow after World War I and between 1929 and 1932 a major new construction program was undertaken. New brick barracks, officers' clubs, housing, warehouses, and operations buildings were constructed, as well as eight massive steel and concrete hangars. Much of this construction remains in place today. Between the wars Mitchel was the Army's premier air corps base, somewhat of a military Country Club atmosphere with fine housing, clubs, pools, polo fields and tree-lined streets. It became home to several observation, fighter and bombardment groups and it hosted the 1920 and 1925 National Air Races. The 1920 Pulitzer Race saw Major C. S. Mosely set a new speed record of 156 mph, while in 1925 Lt. Cyrus Bettis set another world speed record of 249 mph in a Long Island built Curtiss Racer. In 1922, the Army laid out its first air route, a model airway, from Mitchel field to McCook Field, Ohio. In 1938, Mitchel was the starting point for the first nonstop transcontinental bomber flight, made by Army B-18s. Mitchel Field also served as a base from which the first demonstration of long-range aerial reconnaissance was made. In May 1939, three B-17s led by Lt. Curtiss Lemay flew 750 miles out to sea and intercepted the Italian ocean liner Rex. This was a striking example of the range, mobility and accuracy of modern aviation at the time.

ROUTE TO NORTH ATLA' click image to enlarge Back of Operations Order Number 212 (see below)

During World War II, Mitchel Field was one of the key Army Air Corps bases on the East Coast and was the focus of a defense system against possible enemy air attacks. Mitchel was the main point of air defense for New York City, equipped with two squadrons of P-40 fighters. Army Air Corps operations to target German submarines off the Atlantic coast were run from Mitchel Field from early 1941 until the Navy took over the job two years later. In 1943 and 1944, 1,400 B-17, B-24 and B-29 bombers and crews flew from Mitchel Field to forward bases in England. German prisoners of war also were housed in the area in 1943 and 1944.

By 1949, Mitchel was relieved of the responsibility for defending New York City because of the many problems associated with operating tactical aircraft in an urban area. However, Mitchel did serve as the terminus for the last speed record set on Long Island, a transcontinental speed record of 4 hours, 8 minutes set by Col. W. Millikan in an F-86 on January 2, 1954. After several notable crashes, including a P-47 into Hofstra Universityís Barnard Hall, public pressure ultimately led to the fieldís closure. The last active unit to be based at Mitchel was the 514th Troop Carrier Wing flying Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars. Due to the noise, small size of the field, and several spectacular crashes, Mitchel was closed in 1961 with the property being turned over to the County of Nassau.

Defensive activities on the Hempstead Plains ceased in late 1944. Today, the only defensive maneuvers there take place on the hockey rink of Nassau Coliseum.

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