DEDICATION

This page is intended as a contribution to the preservation of Greenville Army Air Base, Greenville, South Carolina. The research is dedicated to the men and women who served there and to former Greenville Mayor Fred McCullough (center below with coat unbuttoned), for his tireless efforts to convince the Army to establish the base in Greenville.  

BOMBS AWAY

by Kenneth D. Willis

for Dr. John Matzko, Historical Research & Writing, 2011.

The Greenville Army Air Base was established in 1942 near Old Augusta Rd. (now Augusta Arbor Way,) Greenville, South Carolina. The base was instrumental in training World War II bomber pilots and crews and sending them to fly combat missions in Europe. After WWII, the base sent Globemaster transports to aid the Berlin Airlift. The site is currently an industrial park (SCTAC). 

Greenville Army Air Base was the third major military installation in Greenville, South Carolina and was operational from 1942-1950, when it became Donaldson Air Force Base. During the Spanish-American War, Greenville was home to Camp Wetherill, and World War I brought Camp Sevier to the Greenville suburbs in what is today Taylors.[1] One soldier stationed at Camp Sevier said, “Greenville has always been a good soldiers’ town, and the soldiers in turn have always left a good taste in the collective mouths of Greenvillians.”[2]

In September 1941, Greenville created a Defense Project Committee to encourage the establishment of an Army camp in Greenville.[3] The Army initially suggested an army camp for 65,000 troops but later cancelled that proposal because of the lack of suitable land in Greenville County. Rural Pickens County was considered an alternate location, but its residents opposed being plagued by artillery fire and perhaps permanent shell damage.[4]

The larger base idea proving impossible, the Army proposed a smaller military installation, an air base.[5] Greenville Mayor Fred C.  McCullough, the “untiring champion” of the air base, and key Defense Project Committee members such as A. G. Furman, scouted land with the necessary prerequisites.[6]  One site at Augusta Road was initially rejected because it was less than five miles from CAA Airways and might have caused chaos for air traffic controllers. Another site off Buncombe Road, twelve miles northwest proved less suitable. After further consideration, Greenville decided that despite its proximity to CAA Airways, the Augusta Road location was the best option.

After Wuest’s arrival, McCullough showed the military board the Augusta Road site, 1,800 acres of land approximately eight miles from the Greenville city limits.[7] Wuest was enthusiastic, his board analyzed the details of construction, and engineers at J. E. Sirrine & Company drew up profiles for the runways. During Wuest’s visit, it was agreed that the cost would be split fifty-fifty between Greenville and the United States government for an estimated total of $250,000 - $260,000.

On 30 September 1941, a special City Council meeting authorized by unanimous decision the acquisition and leasing of the site to the US government “within thirty days after the government had accepted the site.”  Progress on the lease signing was halted when a local dairy business owner sued the city because he claimed his creek near the site had been polluted by “incompetent treatment of sewage.” Greenville did not sign the lease until 11 October 1943, after the issue had been resolved and Congress had intervened.[8]

Soon after the joint meeting of 30 September, Greenville took options on the 1,800-acre site. The land was rented to the government for a dollar per year, the lease renewable for twenty-five years. It was the understanding of the Greenville council that it would lend the land to the government and would inherit any improvements when the government gave it back.[9] Greenville residents seemed eager to have the base, especially since it was rumored the base was a special type used in choice locations.[10]

Negotiations continued after September, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor insured the creation of the base. On 10 December 1941, South Carolina Senator Maybank sent a telegram to McCullough reading, “DELIGHTED TO REPORT ARMY AIR BASE HAS BEEN CHOSEN GREENVILLE.”[11] Two days later, McCullough thanked the Army and expressed the appreciation of Greenvillians that their city had been chosen.[12] In the meantime, the US government utilized a “Right of Entrée,” which gave it the legal right to access the property while Greenville attempted to resolve the lawsuit with the dairy owner.[13]

On 26 December 1941, another Army board inspected the Greenville property and reviewed the work of Wuest’s board. The second board declared the property unsuitable for the kind of base the Army had in mind, a dispersed airfield with runways, facilities, vehicles and aircraft widely spaced to minimize damage in the event of an air raid.[14]

 An additional 1,000 acres was requested by the Army and once again, McCullough rose to the challenge of finding more land. The Augusta site boundaries were amended during the visit of a third Army board in January 1942. McCullough worked on the property issues that were the result of the new boundaries.[15]

After the alterations to the boundaries, five months of negotiations ended when the War Department decided that the site was completely satisfactory.[16] Construction began immediately.[17] Charles Ezra Daniel and the Daniel Construction Company received the contract for most of the construction.[18]

There was apparently some discussion about the name of the base. A Mr. Marshall Moore requested the base be named “McSwain Field” after the late South Carolina congressman John J. McSwain, but Captain Charles J. Himes of the AAFNB decided the base would be called “Greenville Army Air Base” (GAAB.)[19]

The new base was placed under the command of the Third Air Force, which chose Colonel Robert R. Selway as first commander on 30 April 1942. Born 31 December 1902 in Sheridan, Wyoming, Selway was a West Point graduate who had volunteered for the Air Corps while a second lieutenant and had served in the United States and the Philippines as a senior pilot and combat observer.[20]

Footnotes:

[1] The 30th, 81st and 20th Infantry Divisions were stationed at Severe throughout the war.  A.V. Huff, Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 256, 284-285.

[2] Interview from 17 March 1944 with G. Heywerd Mahon Jr. Corporal George K. Gelbach, assistant to the Historical officer. Edited by Captain Robert L. Burger, Historical officer, Greenville Army Air Base 1942-1945. “History of Greenville Army Air Base.” South Carolina Room, Hughes Library, Greenville, SC, 3 vols. (HGAAB) 1, 1.

[3] The committee first met 7 September 1941.

[4] Interview 17 March 1944 with Mr. Glenn, President of Greenville Chamber of Commerce. HGAAB 1, 2.

[5] The Army believed the base would require a budget of over a million dollars per year to accommodate 400 officers and 4,000 enlisted men.

[6] A certain Colonel Wuest asked Greenville County to find a suitable site and be prepared to discuss the details of the location before he arrived with a military advisory board to assess it.  McCullough wrote a brochure titled “Requirements For The Establishment of an Air Base.” Ibid., 1, 5. Exhibit #2.

[7] This site had been considered by city advisor Ike Jones one year earlier for an auxiliary airport.

[8] See records of City Council in mayor’s file. Ibid., 1, 7.

[9] This was one of few wartime leases that were extended over six months after the war. Ibid., 1, 10.

[10] There is no recorded opposition to it after 30 September 1941. According to Gelbach, Greenvillians’ eagerness was also due to the belief that the Army Air Corps was the finest branch of the Armed Services at the time. Ibid., 1, 10.

[11] Telegram, 10 December 1941, Maybank to McCullough.

[12] Letter, 12 December 1941, McCullough to Lt. Col. Frank Kimble; the public knew nothing officially until 11 December 1941 when the Greenville News published the announcement.  HGAAB 1, 11. 

[13] For copy of lease, see Exhibit 4. See letter in Post Engineer files 601.5, Greenville Army Air Base from T. J. Wesley, Major, Corps of Engineers, to the Chief of Greenville Army Air Base, 21 January 1944. About that time the Greenville News published an article detailing the base negotiations and stated that construction was imminent. Huff, 378.

[14] HGAAB 1, 12.

[15] The base property went from 1,800 acres to 2,000 acres. Huff, 378-379.

[16]  Lieutenant Colonel Cox of the Army Division Real Estate Office, Atlanta, Georgia sent a telegram to McCullough on 23 January 1942. The Greenville News, 24 January 1942, see “exhibit 6.” HGAAB 1, 12-13.

[17] It was estimated to take four to six months.

[18] The Daniel Construction Company, Anderson, South Carolina, moved its headquarters to downtown Greenville Because of the base construction, Daniel’s company became a main player in the development of post-World War II Greenville. It is also noted that Greenville companies’ involvement in the base construction led to a “war-time Greenville” atmosphere. Huff, 379-380. Per request of Bob Jones Sr., Daniel’s company also built many campus buildings for Bob Jones University, which had recently moved to Greenville. Interview with Dr. John Matzko, Chairman of BJU Social Science Dept. 5 April 2011.

[19] Moore had mailed the Army Air Forces Naming Board (AAFNB) a letter on 17 February 1942. The suggestion was originally made by senator Maybank and congressman Bryson in the state house.  McSwain had served in World War I. It appears that Maybank and Bryson believed McSwain highly deserved having the base named for him and that such an honor would help preserve the history of Greenville John J. McSwain was captain of Company A, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Infantry, honorably discharged 6 March 1919. He is buried in Springwood Cemetery. The AAFNB had either already determined the name GAAB or thought it would better serve the purpose of preserving Greenville’s history; Himes gave no further explanation. The Greenville News, 21 March 1942.

[20] He had attended Kentucky Military Institute while only thirteen. He was relieved of command from his position as Executive Officer of Savannah Air Base on 18 May 1942 and ordered to Greenville.  Special Order 152, paragraph 7, Headquarters, Third Army Air Force, 1942. While at West Point, he received instruction from future Pacific commander General Douglas MacArthur. HGAAB 1, 25. 

Base life was anything but boring; where there are planes, there are men, and those men were diverse ethnically, racially, spiritually and had different entertainment tastes. The base officially opened 28 May 1942 when the runways were complete. The first plane—an AT-6—arrived 7 June 1942.[1]  The following Sunday, the 90th Bombardment group reached Greenville. Accompanying the air units were the 407th Ordinance Company, the 688th and 786th Quartermaster Companies, the latter two Negro organizations.[2] The new units included more than 1,500 men.[3]

There were many ways for an off-duty airman to spend his time. The base’s proximity to town meant an abundance of entertainment. The base made provision for special shows, dances, balls and guest entertainers. Films were shown at the base theatre, which was also used for training events and safety forums. In bad weather when flying was impossible, the Army had a Rainy Day Program in which recruits heard lectures on weight, balance flying safety, formations, navigation and bombing.[4] In November 1942, the base had 664 officers and 5,190 enlisted men, including the 560th Army Band, which provided ceremonial and recreational performances.[5]

Married men were allowed extra privileges such as access to the “PX” where their families could get food, toiletries, clothes, and various household items. However, single men lived mostly on Army food unless they could get to town.[6] Due to the demand for good cooking, particularly Italian, a local restaurant chain—Capri’s Italian Restaurants—was born. While Julius Capri was stationed at the base, he got his “Mama” to start cooking for soldiers, and after World War II, moved to Greenville and opened Capri’s.[7]

The Army was greatly concerned for the spiritual needs of soldiers, and because chaplains were often shipped out with the recruits, they were in high demand. One such chaplain, a Southern Baptist, Lewie H. Miller Jr., who served at GAAB in the early forties, was then sent to Europe, doubled as a chaplain and tail gunner fighting alongside his “parishioners” for eleven combat missions. Like many base personnel, Miller later moved back to Greenville to raise a family and start a business.[8] The Army requested local ministers to help serve the spiritual needs of the soldiers.[9]

Towards the end of the war local residents sought to tour the base. Many were turned down because of the overwhelming number of requests, and in January 1945, the base decided to prohibit all visitors unless they had “accomplished unusually patriotic services.”[10] In September 1942, the first female mechanics arrived. Though some base veterans were reluctant to accept the “petticoat brigade” as it was called, the women soon earned the approval and respect of the base.[11]

In January 1945, the base commander was chosen to present Greenville families with medals of killed, missing or prisoner of war Army Air Corpsmen. There were multiple presentations: three in Spartanburg, one in Fountain Inn, two in Greenville, one in Anderson, one in Walhalla and one in Townville. Seven medals were for POW’s and two KIA’s in the Pacific theatre.[12]

Footnotes:

[1] Piloting the AT-6 was Lieutenant Colonel Donald H Baxter, Control Officer, Fourth Airways Commission Region, Maxwell Field. Baxter had come to discuss control tower operations with Selway. The second aircraft to arrive was a B-24 Liberator bomber that landed 18 June 1942.  Gelbach notes the civilian workers were so excited to see the Liberator, armed guards had to keep them from running onto the runway. Ibid., 1, 38.

[2] The 90th was comprised of the 319th, 320th, 231st and 400th Bombardment Squadrons and commanded by Lt. Col. Eugene P. Mussett.  Movement authorized per Special Order 157, paragraph 50, Headquarters, Barksdale Field, La.

[3] Greenville Army Air Base Strength Report, 20 June 1942. Gelbach notes the large increase heavily “taxed” the base’s limited facilities.  

[4] One such forum was held immediately following a fatal accident involving a B-24. HGAAB 4, 8. 

[5] Strength report, GAAB, November 1942. Ibid., 1, 99.

[6] Sara E. Dover, interviewed by the author, 12 April 2011.

[7] The first restaurant opened in 1944 on Augusta Road. Capri’s Italian Restaurant, “The Story Behind Capri’s,” http://www.caprisitalian.com/story.html (accessed 13 April 2011.)

[8] This was extremely unusual because chaplains are forbidden by the Geneva Convention to carry arms or participate in combat. Born 19 November 1919, Blackville, S.C., received M.Div. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, and joined the Air Force 21 December 1941. He still resides in Greenville and is the founder and CEO of Computer Bibles International Inc. The Military Chaplains Association of The United States of America (Turner Publishing Company, 1997), 77.

[9] Interview with Dr. John Matzko, 12 April 2011.

[10] Many training and informational films were shown to pilots and intelligence personnel. Gelbach notes that youth organizations were the final straw that brought about the policy.  HGAAB 1, 78.

[11] Women served as mechanics at the base through the 1950’s. Ibid., 1, 79.

[12] Ibid., 4, 35, 53. 

While base life was not dull, the men were there to learn to fly and bomb the enemy. With the arrival of more B-24 Liberators and five control tower operators on 22 June 1942, the fledgling base was prepared to launch training operations although only one of three runways was operable. Furthermore, the control tower did not have a clear view of the three runways and engineers were immediately summoned to tear down the tower and build another.[1]

The Army secured a bombing target range on 27 June 1942 when Clemson University reached an agreement with the War Department to loan 4,096 acres of its Experimental Forest near Lake Issaquena, northwest of Calhoun, South Carolina.[2] The Air Corps developed three ranges on the property: a practice range for high altitude bomb runs and a skip range on Lake Issaquena, where pilots could make low level runs to skip bombs off the water into a target, a tactic used against enemy ships. The third range was apparently never used.  Pilots dropped only 100-pound practice bombs rather than actual explosives.[3]

The first combat training mission was launched 9 November 1942 when the 472nd Squadron flew to the Union Bombing Range on a simulated combat flight. The bombing missions continued for ten more days after bomber gunners trained to shoot down smaller, faster enemy fighters.[4] Bomber crews used their first live munitions at the Myrtle Beach Range 200 miles southwest of Greenville on the South Carolina coast.[5]

A special training mission took place 9 February 1945 when eighteen Greenville bombers joined a host of planes from other regional bases in a joint “strike” on the Myrtle Beach Range. Greenville’s planes were selected to lead the attack and the mission was accomplished in record time with outstanding success.[6]

As the Allied forces closed in on Berlin, the demand for trained bomber crews increased. March 1945 was remarkably busy for GAAB and the good flying weather allowed the base to keep sixty-six bombers flying daily.[7]

Footnotes:

[1] Operators sent from Fourth Airways Communications Squadron. Ibid., 1, 39.

[2] Bombing Range Road is still located off of State Highway S-39-291.

[3] Skip bombing was also used against Nazi dams. Interview with Dr. John Matzko, 5 April 2011.  In 2006, the site was inspected by the United States Corps of Engineers for the purpose of “discern[ing] the presence or absence of munitions and explosives.”  The range was used throughout the war and closed in September 1945. Additional bombing ranges were later constructed in Union and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Clemson University, S.C., “Issaquena Bombing Range” Clemson University Archives, http://clemsonwiki.com/wiki/Issaqueena_Bombing_Range (accessed 12 March 2011.

[4] HGAAB 99-100.

[5] During this time, the other two runways were finished; once useable, B-24 Liberators could be parked dispersed—the original intention of the wide runway design. The Army Air Corps had failed to find a safe location near Greenville, but, Myrtle Beach provided the seclusion and safety needed. There was apparently some difficulty getting the crews to Myrtle Beach and accommodating them so far from Greenville, but the hardship paid off because the range became one of the finest live ordinance bombing ranges in the United States. 334th Bomb Group History, November 1942.

[6] HGAAB 4, 36, 3. 

[7] Flight time in March increased 3,000 hours since February. Ibid., 4, 37, 1. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the base flight schedule was set at 07:00. Daylight savings time allowed extra flights to be scheduled. In addition to the sixty-sixty planes per day flying over the base, fifty-two per day were sent on flights outside Greenville. There was a significant increase in flight crews sent to Europe that month; sixty-one crews were sent—ten more than in February.  Ibid., 4, 37, 2.

Training for war is never completely safe; some men never make it to the battlefield. Less than a month into the base’s operation, tragedy struck. On 7 July 1942, during a severe thunderstorm, a B-24 slammed into a mountainside, killing the five airmen on board.[1] On 22 September 1942, a plane from the 470th Bombardment Squadron went down in heavy woods while returning from Decatur, Georgia. The aircraft was piloted by Lieutenant [Harford] Jenks when both engines failed. Two crew members died instantly, but Jenks’ skillful crash-landing and heroic action prevented more loss of life. Jenks pulled four men from the burning wreckage just before the plane erupted into a ball of fire. The Army first believed the aircraft had been tampered with, but an investigation indicated parts failure.[2] Two more deadly crashes occurred in November. The first happened 21 November 1942 when a bomber from the 472nd clipped its wing on a barn, crashed and exploded.[3] The second crash occurred 28 November 1942 when a B-25’s engine failed, the crew lost control and the aircraft crashed.[4]

In 1943, the crash branded “Greenville Air Base’s most dreadful hour” occurred. That year a      B-25 had to ditch in Lake Greenwood but the big accident occurred later that year when two B-25’s collided over the base and both crews perished.[5] In February 1945 two accidents occurred one day apart. On 2 February a B-25 crashed a mile from the runways; the cause was never determined.[6] One day later, another B-25 experienced landing gear failure and was forced to land without them. The crew survived, but the plane skidded across the NE-SE runway and was severely damaged. Carelessness was determined the cause.[7] During World War Two, 27 airmen were killed while training at GAAB. Nevertheless, bomber fatalities at GAAB were lower than any other base in the Air Force Bomber Command.[8]

Footnotes:

[1] The names of the dead were Second Lieutenants Earl M. Hobson, Earl B. Wood, Staff Sergeant Warren E. [Motherbray], Sergeant Rolland F. Carrigan and Corporal Thomas R. Thurman. The Greenville News, 8 July 1942. 

[2] The names of the dead were co-pilot Second Lieutenant Robert Oberhelman and Operations Clerk Corporal Jack Lee. Ibid., 1, 79.

[3] Killed in the crash were Lt. Charles T. Humphries, Lt. Melvin R. Quast and Staff Sergeant Otis K. Fryer Jr. The Greenville News, 22 November 1942.

[4] Killed in the crash were Lt. Hebert W. Barton Jr., Lt. William T. Wright, Staff Sergeant James [W.] Britton and Staff Sergeant Bertram Howard. Ibid., 29 November 1942.

[5] The plane remained in Lake Greenwood until 1983 when it was recovered by U.S. Navy divers. The big accident seems to have hit the base and Greenville community harder than the previous ones. Leonard Todd, “Donaldson Center Industrial Air Park,” The Proceedings and Papers of the Greenville Historical Society, 8, (1990): 133.

[6] Those killed were 2nd Lt. Harry L. Davis, Edward L. Heinlein, Roy T. Jaynes, Cpl. Joseph G. Magovern, Cecil M. Hirill and Nicholas F. Mariano. HGAAB 4, 37, 6.

[7] Ibid., 4, 37, 7.

[8] Ibid., 1, 102. Base commander Selway was replaced 18 October 1942 by Colonel Oliver H. Stout. There is no evidence linking Selway’s removal to the two crashes.  HGAAB 4, 39, 36.

GAAB gradually transformed into a civilian industrial center. From late 1942 through 1943, GAAB sent a steady supply of personnel to fight in the European theatre, including pilots, flight crews, ground crews, administrators, engineers, quartermasters, ordinance outfits and service units.[1] But by July 1944, the Army cancelled seven billion dollars in war contracts in preparation for the end of the war.[2]  

After V-E Day, efforts shifted towards the Pacific. The only celebration for the end of the war in Europe was an honorary banquet 4 June 1945 at the Poinsett Hotel in Greenville.[3] Following the conclusion of the war in Asia, planes flew relief missions during the Berlin Airlift and missions were conducted at the North and South Poles, where newer Douglas C-74 Globe Masters supplied scientific expeditions and supported Artic defense projects.[4] Because the Army Air Corps was renamed the Air Force in 1947, GAAB was renamed Greenville Air Force Base (GAFB.)[5]

In 1950, GAFB was renamed “Donaldson Air Force Base” in honor of Greenville resident Major John O. W. Donaldson, an ace from World War I who had served as a squadron commander in the British Royal Flying Corps and was killed in 1930 plane crash.[6] The base was officially closed on 1 July 1963 and the property was sold to Greenville on 29 October 1963.  A special dinner was held at the Poinsett Hotel and the property became Donaldson Center, an industrial park.[7] In 2008, it was renamed South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC) although the airfield itself remains “Donaldson Field.”[8] Though often unused, many original buildings remain, including hangars, the PX, barracks, and a water treatment facility. Two of the three runways are still in use.[9] The only official monuments for the base are two South Carolina historical markers.[10]

Footnotes:

[1] Ibid., 3, 1.

[2]  Officers chosen for the contract program were those least valuable to the base; most were men who had not advanced themselves in rank after years of Air Force service. Ibid., 3, 2. Air Force officials favored the project because it would prevent post war problems in the states. Victory meant a halt in the home front war effort, and such a drastic halt could devastate the U.S. economy. Introductory Remarks made by Maj. Gen. James M. Bevans, 26 May 1944, Pentagon Building Conference, Washington D. C.

[3] The meal was hosted by the Greenville Chamber of Commerce and over 250 prominent Greenvillians attended. The base officers were each introduced and honored for their service. Commander Stout and his wife received the title “guests of honor” and were given a silver service medal by McCullough.  HGAAB 4, 39, 36.

[4]The Greenville Piedmont, 31 October 1955, p 6.  

[5] Greenville Magazine, May/June 2008, 67.

[6] Air Force officials thought it fitting to name the base after a local Air Force hero.  The Greenville News, unknown publication date.

[7] The base sold for $421.650. Greenville got the property plus $30 million dollars’ worth of improvements.  Chamber of Commerce, Greenville, S.C., Base anniversary program, 25 January 1968.

[8] South Carolina Aviation & Technology Center, “History,” SCVATC, http://www.sc-tac.com/about/history (accessed 21 March 2011.)

[9]  G. Ken and Sara E. Dover, interview by author, Greenville, SC, 12 April 2011.

[10] One in front of the SCTAC building (the old Head Quarters) and the other in between the Army Reserve compound and Bonnie Brae Golf Course.