Dale Mabry Field

Dale Mabry Field
Dale Mabry Field

Us army air corps shield.svg

Part of Army Air Force Training Command
Tallahassee, Florida
Dale Mabry Field FL - March 1949.jpg
Dale Mabry Field FL - March 1949
Type Army Airfield
Coordinates 30°2615.96N 084°2014.96W / 30.4377667°N 84.3374889°W / 30.4377667; -84.3374889
Built 1928-29
In use 1929-1961
Controlled by United States Army Air Forces (1940-1945)
Garrison Army Air Force Training Command
Dale Mabry Field is located in Florida
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Dale Mabry Field
Location of Dale Mabry Field, Florida
Former site of Dale Mabry Field, now Tallahassee Community College, 5 January 1999

Dale Mabry Field (IATA: DLZICAO: KDLZ) was an early airfield located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States established in 1928 and replaced by Tallahassee Regional Airport. It was located at what is now Appleyard Drive and W. Pensacola Street at what is now the campus of Tallahassee Community College.

Contents

History

1920s

In 1928 the City of Tallahassee purchased a 200-acre (0.81 km2) tract of land for $7028 for its first municipal airport. The land was previously a dairy farm operated (1910-1928) by Ervin Bostick Revell and Theodore B. Revell. Once the city purchased it, it was named Dale Mabry Field in honor of Tallahassee native Army Captain Dale Mabry, killed while commanding the Army semi-rigid airship Roma on February 21, 1922, which crashed at Norfolk, Virginia. The airport was dedicated on November 11, 1929 with its first manager being Ivan Munroe. The airfield had one grass runway and was built with the assistance of federal WPA funds.

Munroe was part owner and eventually full owner of Tallahassee's first airplane and was a flight instructor. Munroe also formed the Tallahassee Aircraft Company with Jeff Lewis, Frank Lewis and Dick Weeks after serving as a Navy pilot in the Jacksonville area during World War II. The company offered flight training, aerial photography and charter service.

1930s

Atlantic Gulf Coast Airlines began commercial flights at the new airport during its first month. By 1934 the airport had 4 sod runways with the longest at 2,600 feet (790 m). (Department of Commerce Airport Directory, 1934).

In 1937 Dale Mabry Field had 2 paved runways with a single hangar at the northwest corner of the airfield. In 1938 Eastern Airlines began service from Tallahassee to Memphis, Birmingham, and Montgomery, Alabama with 4 daily flights. National Airlines began service to Jacksonville, Pensacola, Mobile and New Orleans that same year.

First scheduled flight in 1938 by Eastern Airlines with Douglas DC-2. Airline President Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker is fourth from left.

In the photo, left to right, are Ben H. Bridges, Mayor J.R. Jinks, Honorable Robert Ramspect, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, Mrs. Joe Giddens, Wilet Moore, Mrs. Jewell Puckett, City manager H.P. Ford, Ralph McGill, Colonel C.L. Waller, W.B. Hartsfield, Smythe Gambrel, C.F. Palmer, Paul Brattain, Sidney L. Shannon, Captain W.S. Dawson, W.V. Crowley.

In 19381939, the U.S. Army's 3rd Air Force established a fighter pilot training school at Mabry and developed three runways to serve their needs. The field was described as having 2 paved runways. One runway was 4,000 feet (1,200 m) running northwest to southeast and a second was 2,500-foot (760 m) running north to south. Another 3,400-foot (1,000 m) sand & sod runway ran east to west. A single hangar was depicted on the field. The manager was listed as Ivan Munroe and the operators were Ivan Monroe, Eastern Air Lines, and National Air Lines.

1940s

Ivan Munroe in 1961

In October 1940 military activity began with the construction of a railroad siding and drainage improvements to overcome the swamp conditions at the site.

In 1941 U.S. Senator Claude Pepper and Florida Governor Spessard Holland influenced the Army to make Dale Mabry Field a United States Army Air Force airfield. Aircraft and trainees arrived in May 1941. Mabry also had satellite fields at Thomasville and Harris Neck near Savannah, Georgia. The Third Air Force also Dale Mabry Field for training pilots and for antisubmarine patrols. On May 8, 1941, the 53rd Pursuit Group from Tampa was transferred from MacDill Field in Tampa to Dale Mabry to perform the pilot training mission. On 22 July 1942, the III Fighter Command 338th Fighter Group was activated at the airfield to assume the training mission. The 338th was assigned the 305th, 306th, 312th and 441st Fighter Squadrons for training. The group was inactivated on 4 May 1944.

In 1946 U.S. Army Air Force barracks on the field were used by male students attending the Florida State College for Women under a program called the "Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida" (TBUF). By 1947 the Florida State College for Women returned to being coeducational and was renamed the Florida State University. The TBUF program was then discontinued. The areas of Dale Mabry Field used by these students were called "West Campus".

Aircraft Assigned to Dale Mabry

During the early part of World War II, P-39 Airacobras, P-40 Warhawks, and P-47 Thunderbolts were used with training on the P-51 Mustang fighter occurring later in the war.

P-47 Thunderbolt
P-40 Warhawk
P-39 Airacobra
P-51 Mustang

In 1942, the 99th Fighter Squadron under the command of Lt. Col. Benjamin Davis received advanced training at Mabry Field. In 1942 and 1944 Chinese & French cadets trained at Dale Mabry Field. Students at Dale Mabry used a gunnery base at Alligator Point and a bombing range at Sopchoppy on the Gulf for their training needs.

Photo Gallery of Dale Mabry Events

B-26 Marauder lands for visit
P-36 Airacobras stationed
F6F Hellcat lands
P-40 Warhawks On The Line

Eastern Airlines and National Airlines continued to use Mabry despite being closed to general aviation during World War II. Originally 530 acres (214 ha), the airfield grew to 1,720 acres (696 ha) and 133 buildings during the course of the war. Training activity peaked in mid-1944 with base complement averaging 1,300 officers, 3,000 enlisted men & women, and 800 civilian employees.

A branch Prisoner of War compound at Mabry held 150 POWs who worked on the base.

In 1945, Mabry was placed on inactive status and eventually resumed its role as a civilian airport after World War II.

1960s

In 1961, Dale Mabry Field was abandoned when a new Tallahassee Airport was built several miles to the southwest.

Republic RC-3 Seabee at Dale Mabry Field 1946

See also

  • Florida World War II Army Airfields

Sources

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.


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