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Reese AFB Media Pak |
OFFICE OF INFORMATION SERVICES
3500TH PILOT TRAINING WING
REESE AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS
POrter 3-1951 extension 324
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HISTORY OF REESE AIR FORCE BASE
The colorful and distinguished history that graces Reese Air Force Base
It was in July of that year, during feverish defense preparations, that
construction contracts were awarded to two combinations of firms made up of
W.S. Moss and W.G. McMillan of Lubbock, S.S. Lambie of Amarillo and Holland
The base cost approximately $3,500,000 exclusive of land which was pro-
vided by the City of Lubbock.
By December of that year construction work was nearing completion. Work-
men were on a seven-day schedule and were hard at work on the base when the
news of the attack on Pearl Harbor was heard.
Late in December, 1941, the first large number of military personnel
came to the base from Brooks Field, San Antonio, as a security detachment.
In the early weeks of 1942 the first class of cadets arrived and started
the intensive training routine which led to their graduation as pilots and
commissions as second lieutenants.
Men who trained at Lubbock Army Air Field flew the bombers, the Flying
Fortresses, Liberators and B-26s, over such targets as the Ploesti oil fields,
Berlin, Rome, Naples, Mersburg, Hamburg, Tarawa and Iwo Jima, Wake Island and
Guam, the Philippines and Okinawa, the Hump and Burma and Tokyo. They flew
the transports, the cargo planes and the fighters in all theaters of war.
Early in 1944 the field completed its mission of training pilots and
began turning out instrument pilots, a job it continued until the field was
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Closed December 31, 1945.
It graduated a total of 7,008 bomber, fighter and transport pilots.
During the four-year history of the field the post had five commanding
officers: Col. Thomas L. Gilbert from Nov. 19, 1941 until March 23, 1943;
Col. Ralph G. Holmes from March 23, 1943 until June 27, 1944; Col. Howell M.
Estes, Jr., from June 27, 1944 until Nov. 15, 1945; Col. Harold N. Holt, from
then until about Dec. 15, 1945; and Lt. Col. William G. Snaith, during the
closing weeks of the base.
LAAF officially became a "sub-base of Goodfellow Field, San Angelo, as
of midnight Dec. 31, 1945," it was announced by Col. Snaith.
Approximately 100 military personnel and 60 civilians completed the
process of sending out records and supplies.
After the temporary inactivation wsa carried out, a standby force of
three or four officers and three enlisted men remained along with about 60
civilians to maintain the field as a sub-base. Lt. Col. James M. Hunter of
Salt Lake City, Utah, was the standby commanding officer of the sub-base,
with six or seven enlisted men to help him.
In the fall of 1945 the AAF released a list of permanent installations
which did not include LAAF and the inactivation was ordered originally for
Nov. 15, 1945, but it was held up three or four times until the final date.
For the next four years the base was destined to serve as a haven for
veterans and their families who experienced housing difficulties. Barracks
were converted to low-rental apartment units. Other buildings served needed
purposes as meeting places for National Guard, Air Corps, Reserve and Naval
Reserve units. Vegetable gardens sprang up on drill fields where men had
marched, and children skated and rode bicycles where big bombers had landed.
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After approximately four years on a standby basis Reese Air Force Base,
then known as Lubbock Air Force Base was reactivated. That was on August 1,
1949.
On November 5, 1949, the name was officially changed to Reese Air Force
Base in memory of First Lieutenant Augustus F. Reese, Jr., of Shallowater,
Texas, who was killed in action in Sardinia, Italy, on May 14, 1943.
In a surprise announcement, made on Armed Forces Day, 1950 Congressman
George Mahon, Lubbock, announced that Reese would become a permanent instal-
lation.
The primary mission of the base since reactivation has been that of
training pilots. Aircraft include the T-6, T-28, B-25 and the T-33
single-engine jet.
The training organization was designated the 3500th Pilot Training
Wing and its first commander was Col. George W. Pardy. He was replaced by
Col. Thomas J. Barrett, who in May, 1952, was transferred to the Far East
and who was succeeded by Col. Casper West. Colonel DRoss Ellis assumed com-
mand of the base on April 17, 1956, upon West's retirement. Colonel Ellis
was succeeded by Col. L. C. Hess on August 18, 1959, upon his transfer to
Headquarters, Air Training Command.
The first post-war aviation cadet classes, 50-A and 50-B, arrived at
Reese on November 1, 1949 and the first class graduated in March, 1950.
Classes have been graduating since then on the average of one every six
weeks.
Since 1949, Reese graduated 6,789 pilots in its basic multi-engine
program. The phaseout of the B-25 began in 1958 and the last class of
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multi-engine students, 59-E, graduated in January, 1959. The new pilots
consisted of 3,013 student officers, 3,519 aviation cadets, and foreign
students. They flew a total of 130,842,250 miles, a total of 5,233 times
around the equator.
The B-25 was ushered out with appropriate ceremonies known as "Project
Commemorate." During the events, held January 23-24, Class 59-E was graduated,
a mounted B-25 at the main gate was unveiled, and a banquet attended by approxi-
mately 200 civilians and military dignitaries was given by Col. Ellis.
Dignitaries attending included Gen. Thomas D. White, chief of staff,
USAF: Lt. Gen. Frederic H. Smith, Jr., then commander, Air Training Command;
Mayor Lennis Baker, Lubbock; W. D. Rogers, Lubbock, president of the Chamber
of Commerce; A. T. Burton, vice president of North American Aviation Corpora-
tion; and H. P. Clifton, city manager, Lubbock. Several thousand persons
attended the open house.
With the arrival of Class 60-A on January 30, 1959, Reese's mission
changed from that of training multi-engine pilots in the B-25 to that of turn-
ing out qualified pilots in the single-engine T-33 jet. A total of 262 pilots
have graduated since the B-25 phase-out began.
The students arrive at Reese to enter the basic phase of training after
completing pre-flight and primary instruction. Pre-flight, carried out at
Lackland AFB, Texas, consists of an introduction to the Air Force for aviation
cadets, who undergo 12 weeks of instruction. Officers have four weeks. Both
undergo medical and dental examinations, military processing, altitude chamber
processing, drill and ceremonies, and outfitting in flying gear. Cadets
also take courses in geo-politics, physics, Air Force History and mathematics.
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Upon completion of pre-flight, the student pilot goes to a primary base.
There are six of these air bases, located at Bainbridge and Spence, Ga.,
Bartow and Graham, Fla., Malden, Mo., and Moore, Texas. There they learn
the basic fundamentals of military flying in addition to academic and
military training.
The embryo pilot comes to Reese for the basic and last phase of training
in the program. Other basic bases are Greenville, Miss., Laredo, Tex., Webb,
Tex., and Vance, Okla.
During this period he receives 115 hours of flight instruction in the
T-33 in addition to intensive academic and military training. The flight
instruction is carried out under the close supervision of highly qualified
instructor pilots and includes dual and solo flights, pre-flight briefings,
and debriefings. They learn formation, instrument, navigation and day and
night flying.
Academic courses run the gamut from pilot operation instructions and
celestial navigation to survival and physiological training. Approximately
196 hours are utilized in this phase.
Military training includes 104 hours of drill, physical training, counsel-
ing and orientation in officer responsibilities. An officer must be a well-
qualified member of the Air Force today and Reese trains him toward that end.
At the completion of the approximately six months of basic, the new pilot
receives his wings in impressive graduation ceremonies, including a parade
and an aerial review. The aviation cadet also is commissioned a second lieu-
tenant in the Air Force
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Most of the graduates receive further training in advance aircraft.
Upon completion, they are well qualified to take their place in the Air
Force's aerospace force, consisting of manned aircraft, missiles, and space-
craft, and to contribute to their efforts to the nation's first line of defense.
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