Bakalar: Little City in Hawpatch
the Evening Republican, December 9, 1965
by John Rutherford

It was called the Hawpatch community in June, 1942, when the U. S. Corps of Engineers showed up on a 4-mile square area north of Columbus to se in motion steps which led to the establishment of what is now Bakalar Air Force Base. 

A decision to close the base by Oct. 1, 1967, was announced this week by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. 

On Aug. 3, 1942, Joseph W. Springer, project manager for Camp Atterbury, made it official.  The federal land acquisition office there had received instructions to begin purchase of 2,339.72 acres for a flying field site. 

Within 16 days, the government had taken possession of the land, helped the residents get relocated and go the first construction started. 

Fighter Protection 

"It is understood," reported the Evening Republican, "that the Air Command Support base is designed as fighter plane protection for Camp Atterbury and other war projects in this area.." 

Training, often in conjunction with ground troops at nearby Camp Atterbury was an important task of the base.  Glider pilots trained there in the second world war.  After the war, training was conducted first for Air National Guardsmen and then for Air Force Reserve units. 

First know as the Columbus Air Support Command Base, the air field was one of three in the county to get under way in 1942.  The War department also approved the construction of "auxiliary airports" at Grammer and Walesboro for the flying school at Freeman air base at Seymour. 

On Sept. 18, 1942, a lost Navy flyer who landed on a graded but unpaved runway had the honor of putting down the first plane at the new base.  He stayed just long enough, however, to get his bearings and didn't leave his name. 

Base Put into Use 

The base was put into use after the first Army plane landed on Dec. 13, 1942, bearing an inspection party.  The first large group of troops arriving from Pine Camp, N. Y., on Feb. 3, 1943, and the use of the base began in earnest. 

In the meantime, the name had been changed to Columbus Army Air Base, but due to confusion with other cities named Columbus, the name again was changed, to Atterbury Army Air Field on April 21,1 943.  By Sept. 9, 1943m the Evening Republican could report: "Placed under construction in the Hawpatch 13 months ago, Atterbury Army Air Field now stands as a little city with a cost evaluation estimated at almost half the tax valuation for the city of Columbus. 

"Its buildings," said the report, "are of temporary nature but there is nothing temporary about its miles of runways.  Its natural location and general layout have drawn the comment of a number of Army pilots to the effect that in these features it is one of the best fields in this section of the country. 

In Review - C-119 Flying Boxcars fly over in formation as U. S. and Indiana flags wave during a review ending summer training at Bakalar for reserve members of the 434th Troop Carrier Wing.

1,000 Employed 

Employment at peak of construction amounted to more than 1,000 workers. 

In January 1945, with the Allies winning the war, the War department ordered Freeman field at Seymour placed on a temporary, inactive status resulting in closing of its auxiliary bases, including the ones t Grammer and Walesboro.  The one at Walesboro was eventually taken over by the city for an airport and the one at Grammer sold as farm land. 

However, at Atterbury Air base, the glider training program was gradually stepped up.   

With the war won, the Evening Republican carried this story on Jan. 1, 1946: 

"Atterbury Army Air field here is now on a standby basis and present plans call for reduction of the staff at the field to 23 civilian employees and one or two Army Air Force officers by Feb. 10, Capt. Luther J. Smith, Jr., new base commander, stated today." 

The article pointed out that the field was constructed in 1942 and occupied in 1943, as an installation of the First Air corps.  It later served as a Troop Carrier command base, a Third Air Force base and then was transferred back to the Troop Carrier command as a sub-base of George Field, Lawrenceville, Ill. 

Field Reactivated 

Help for Louisiana - A telephone company truck is loaded on a 434th wing C-119 at Bakalar to provide help for hurricane-stricken areas of Louisiana last September.

The field was used only for Air Guard activities until May 5, 1949, when the following story appeared in the paper: 

"Plans for immediate reactivation of Atterbury Air field at the north edge of Columbus were announced today by Maj. Gen. Paul L. Williams, commanding general of the Tenth Air force, which has headquarters at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis." 

It explained the field would be used primarily as summer training headquarters for 2-week active duty tours of 5,000 to 10,000 air reservists from 13 north-central states.  It also served a dual purpose as a maintenance center. 

Command was vested in the 2466th Air Base squadron.  Although several reserve units have trained at the base, it became the 'home' for units of the 434th Troop Carrier Wing in February 1953, when the unit was relieved of active duty following the Korean War.  After serving in Europe during World War II, the wing was reorganized at Baer Field, Fort Wayne.  Deactivated in 1947 as a reserve unit at Stout Field in Indianapolis, before being called up for the Korean War. 

Command of the air base remained with the regular air force, but in 1958 it was announced that the Air Force had begun ‘phasing out’ the regular Air Force squadron and on July 1, 1959, the 434^th Reserve Troop Carrier wind assumed responsibility for the base.  The new unit, composed of both civil service employees and reserve members, resulted in the elimination of normal military base operation such as messing, housing and maintenance of recreational facilities on a regular basis. 

In the meantime, the base was renamed and the basic aircraft in use at the base changed from the C-46 Curtis Commando to the C-110 Fairchild Packet with its big twin tails. 

Renaming of the base took place in 1954 to eliminate the confusion between the air base and Camp Atterbury. 

A crowd of approximately 2,000 persons witnessed the ceremonies on the concrete apron in front of the field’s control tower as the field was renamed Bakalar Air Force base in honor of the late First Lt. John Bakalar, F-51 fighter pilot killed in the second world war.  Lt. Bakalar, a reserve officer, was killed on Sept. 1, 1944,  on a mission over France. 

The air base also made news over the years for the call-ups to active duty during the Cuban, Berlin and Korean crises and participating in training operations such as the Swift strike series, airborne support missions, aircraft ferrying flights, aerial recovery training missions, overwat4er training flights and numerous paratroops and heavy cargo drops during realistically stages Army-Air Force maneuvers. 

Courtesy of the 434th - Parachutes laden with troops and equipment darken the skies as C-119 Flying Boxcars of the 434th Troop Carrier wind from Bakalar fly over.

Congressman Earl Wilson in 1942 estimated that initial cost of construction of the field would be approximately $2,000,000, but this is less than the current annual operation expense. 

Many improvements have been made over the years with $3,141,648 spent in 1957 alone on one contract to equip the base to handle the C-119’s. 

Although the early years of the operation of the air base resulted in stories of numerous plane crashes, some fatal, the 434^th has a 9-year accident-free record covering more than 100,000 hours of flight out of Bakalar. 

Besides the 434^th wing and the 2466^th squadron, other units which have called Bakalar home since it reactivation in 1949 include the 81^st Troop Carrier squadron, the 16^th Aerial Port Squadron, the 8634^th Replacement Training Squadron and the 8505^th Navigation Training Squadron.