Carswell Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force (USAF) base, located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. For most of its operational lifetime, the base's mission was to train and support heavy strategic bombing groups and wings.

Carswell was a major Strategic Air Command (SAC) base during the Cold War. It was the headquarters of several SAC intercontinental bombardment wings, equipped with the latest heavy bombers from B-29 Superfortresses; B-36 Peacemakers and B-52 Stratofortresses. The west side of the airfield is home to United States Air Force Plant 4, a industrial complex occupied over the decades by Convair, General Dynamics, and now by Lockheed Martin. The bulk of the Air Force Convair B-36, B-58 Hustler, General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, EF-111 Raven and F-16 Fighting Falcon fleets were built there. The F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and various NATO and Allied partner nations is currently built there.

With the end of the Cold War and the subsequent downsizing of the American military, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission of 1991 recommended that Carswell AFB be closed by 1994. In lieu of outright closure, the majority of the installation was transferred to the U.S. Navy for use as a naval air station to replace the nearby Naval Air Station Dallas that was also being closed due to BRAC action.

Today, the facility is known as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth / Carswell Field. It retains an Air Force Reserve Command presence from its previous status as an air force base that includes the headquarters for an Air Force Reserve numbered air force and a tenant Air Force Reserve fighter wing. The installation also hosts tenant Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Army Reserve and Texas Air National Guard flying units which were formerly located at Naval Air Station Dallas.

History

Carswell Air Force Base was named after Medal of Honor recipient Major Horace S. Carswell, Jr. (1916–1944). Major Carswell was returning from an attack on Japanese shipping in the South China Sea on 26 October 1944. He attempted to save a crewmember whose parachute had been destroyed by flak. He remained at the controls of his crippled bomber and died while crash-landing the B-24 Liberator near Tungchen, China. The base was renamed in his honor on 29 January 1948.

Origins

Carswell's origins date back to the early years of aviation. After the United States' entry into World War I in April 1917, General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing invited the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to establish training fields in the southern United States where the warmer weather would be more conducive for flying year-round. In June, the War Department inspected 6 sites around Fort Worth, Texas which had been offered by the Chamber of Commerce. In August the War Department signed leases with the RFC on 3 sites around Fort Worth. Known as the Flying Triangle, these sites were Hicks Field (#1), Barron Field (#2), and Benbrook (later Carruthers) Field (#3) based on their locations. In April 1918 these airfields were turned over to the Air Service, United States Army as training fields for American pilots. Hundreds of pilots learned their basic and primary flying skills at these airfields in the Fort Worth area during the war. They were closed in 1919 when the war ended.

In 1940 the City of Fort Worth had filed an application with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), asking for a primary pilot training airfield for the Army Air Corps. In May, General Jacob E. Fickel visited Fort Worth on an inspection visit. Fickel had learned to fly at Carruthers Field in 1918. At the same time, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce was trying to convince aircraft manufacturers to build an aircraft assembly plant in the area. Consolidated Aircraft, wanting to build in the area, suggested to the Air Corps that they jointly build an airfield adjacent to the heavy bomber plant they wanted to build in Fort Worth. On 16 June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved $1.75 million to construct an airfield next to the Consolidated manufacturing plant. The Army wanted to have the airfield ready quickly before the plant was put into production and construction of the Lake Worth Bomber Plant Airport began almost immediately. The school was initially equipped with B-24Ds that were assembled across the runway at Consolidated, later it was upgraded to B-24Es that were manufactured at Consolidated's Willow Run Plant in Michigan, then flown to the Fort Worth plant for final modifications.

During training, nine-member crews were assigned to each plane, and the crews ate, slept, and trained together 24-hours a day. This allowed the crew to learn both the technical skills needed for aircraft operation as well as the other crew members' minds and reactions. Each day they trained five hours in the air and five hours on the ground. Each class lasted four and a half weeks. With its activation, the 7th became part of the Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF), headquartered at Colorado Springs, Colorado.

On 12 September, the group deployed 30 B-29s to Giebelstadt Army Airfield, near Würzburg, West Germany. This flight was the largest bomber formation flown from Fort Worth AAF overseas to date, landing in Germany on 13 September. During their ten-day stay, the group bombers participated in training operations over Europe, as well as a show-of-force display by the United States in the early part of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The flight redeployed from Germany on 23 September.

thumb|left|Arrival of the first B-36A at Carswell "City of Fort Worth" (AF Serial No. 44-92015), in June 1948

Since 1942, the XB-36 Peacemaker had been under development by Consolidated, and work on it was shifted from its San Diego, California plant to its government-leased plant in Fort Worth. By 1947 the initial production version B-36A was ready and in June 1948 the first Convair B-36A Peacemaker was delivered.

The first B-36A was designated the "City of Fort Worth" (AF Serial No. 44-92015), and was assigned to the 492d Bomb Squadron. B-36s continued to roll out from the production plant throughout 1948 and being assigned to the 7th. The group's last B-29 being transferred on 6 December to the 97th Bomb Group at Biggs AFB. For 10 years, the "Peacemaker" cast a large shadow on the Iron Curtain and served as the nation's major deterrent weapons system.

Cold War

thumb|Special photo of Air Force bombers from the 1930s through the late 1940s. A Douglas B-18 "Bolo"; a Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress"; a Boeing "B-29 Superfortress" and the B-36 "Peacemaker" dominating the group photo with a 230 Ft Wingspan. Taken at Carswell AFB after receipt of the first B-36 in 1948. Note the SAC 7th Bombardment Wing marking on the B-29.

In 1947, shortly after the United States Air Force was established as a separate branch of the United States military, the Hobson Wing-Base Organization Plan was implemented. The 7th was selected as one of the "Test Wings" to evaluate the new organization T/O and on 17 November 1947 the 7th Bombardment Wing was established. The test was successful and the wing was made permanent on 1 August 1948. As part of the new organization both the 7th and 11th Bombardment Groups became its operational component.

On 16 February 1951 the 11th Bombardment Wing was activated and the group was assigned to it. The 19th Air Division was organized the same day at Carswell. With this move the division assumed responsibility for the 7th and 11th Bomb Wings at Carswell.

B-52 crews were sent through an intensive two-week course on the B-52D, making them eligible for duty in Southeast Asia. B-52s assigned to combat duty in Vietnam were painted in a modified camouflage scheme with the undersides, lower fuselage, and both sides of the vertical fin being painted in a glossy black. The USAF serial number was painted in black on the fin over a horizontal red stripe across the length of the fin.

Beginning in 1972, the 301st Fighter Wing (under various designations) has trained at Carswell as an Air Force Reserve Command unit, training for tactical air missions, including counter-air, interdiction, and close air support. Originally gained by the former Tactical Air Command (TAC), the unit is now operationally gained by Air Combat Command (ACC).

The 301st replaced the Air Force Reserve's 916th Military Airlift Group (916 MAG), which was inactivated.

Inactivation

Carswell AFB was selected for closure under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 during Round II Base Closure Commission deliberations (BRAC 91). As part of BRAC 91, the decision was made to relocate the 7th Bomb Wing from Carswell AFB to Dyess AFB.

During the 1992 Air Force-wide reorganization, SAC was disestablished on 1 June. Carswell and the 7th Bomb Wing were assigned to the newly created Air Combat Command (ACC), and the B-52Hs assigned to the wing were given the ACC tail code "CW".

Major units assigned

  • 404th Base HQ and Air Base Sq, 18 August 1942 – 1 May 1944
  • Army Air Forces Combat Crew School

: Re-designated: Army Air Forces Pilot School, Specialized 4-Engine, 28 July 1942 – 1 January 1946

  • 96th Pilot Transition Training Group (4 Engine), 28 July 1942 – 1 April 1944
  • Army Air Forces Flying Training Command

: Re-designated: Army Air Forces Training Command, 21 August 1942 – 24 February 1946

  • 2519th AAF Base Unit (Pilot School, Spec 4E), 1 May 1944 – 18 November 1945
  • 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing, 24 December 1945 – 9 April 1946
  • 31st Flying Training Wing, 31 May 1945 – 30 December 1945
  • 233d AAF (later AF) Base Unit, 18 November 1945 – 17 November 1947
  • 7th Bombardment Group, 1 October 1946 – 10 June 1952
  • 7th Bombardment Wing, 17 November 1947 – 1 October 1993
  • 58th Bombardment Wing, 9 May 1946 – 1 March 1948
  • Eighth Air Force, 1 November 1946 – 1 August 1948
  • 11th Bombardment Group

: Re-designated: 11th Bombardment Wing, 1 December 1948 – 13 December 1957

  • 19th Air Division, 16 February 1951 – 16 June 1952; 16 June 1952 – 30 September 1988.
  • 4123d Strategic Wing, 10 December 1957 – 25 February 1959
  • 43d Bombardment Wing, 15 March 1960 – 1 September 1964
  • 916th Troop Carrier Group

: Re-designated: 916th Military Airlift Group (AFRES), 1 April 1963 – 8 July 1972

  • 512th Troop Carrier Wing

: Re-designated: 512th Military Airlift Wing (AFRES): 8 January 1965 – 29 June 1971

  • 301st Tactical Fighter Wing (AFRES), 1 July 1972 – 30 September 1994
  • The base was one of the sites for the filming of James Stewart's 1955 film, Strategic Air Command.
  • Air Force One (VC-137C 62-6000) landed at Carswell AFB shortly after 11:00 pm on 21 November 1963 carrying President Kennedy and his entourage to Fort Worth. The next morning, 22 November, President Kennedy returned to Carswell AFB at 11:25 am and boarded Air Force One for a 15-minute flight to Love Field, Dallas, Texas. It was the last use of Air Force One by President Kennedy before he was assassinated later that day in Dallas.

See also

  • 34th Flying Training Wing (World War II)
  • Liberator village
  • Texas World War II Army Airfields

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas
  • Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
  • Mueller, Robert (1989). Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982. USAF Reference Series, Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History.
  • Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. .
  • Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC.
  • Several scanned documents issued by Fort Worth Army Air Field during World War II