Coffeyville Army Air Field

Coffeyville Army Airfield
Part of Army Air Forces Flying Training Command
Located near Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville Army Airfield KS 10 Oct 1943
Coordinates	37°05′39″N 095°34′19″W
Type	Training Airfield
Site history
Built	1942
In use	1942-1947

Coffeyville AAF

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Location of Coffeyville Army Airfield, Kansas

Coffeyville Army Airfield was a World War II training base of the United States Army Air Forces Central Flying Training Command (CFTC). It is currently the city-owned Coffeyville Municipal Airport.

History

Early in 1942, the War Department decided to build a basic training field outside the town of Coffeyville, Kansas, one of eleven Air Force bases the state would have before the end of World War II.

The base was eagerly sought after by the town's community leaders. Many businessmen donated time and part of their expenses to get the base approved. Their efforts started in late 1941, with several visits by key city officials in Washington to talk with different agencies of the War Department. By Thanksgiving 1941, the Chamber of Commerce and the Airport Committee, received a commitment from the War Department for a site engineer to consider Coffeyville.

The decision was made to build the base on May 8, 1942. Construction began on June 10, 1942. It had really started before when the county began to improve the road network around the new base to handle the increased truck traffic hauling construction material to the site. The weather didn't cooperate, as the latter part of 1942 was very wet, slowing construction; however, most of the construction was accomplished over the next eight months.

When finished, Coffeyville Army Air field had four runways, each 150 feet wide. The shortest was 5,872 feet. Most of the buildings were Theater of Operations construction while some were of the Mobilization type. The Mobilization type buildings included the station hospital, theater, chapel, and Link training buildings. There were three hangars with a parking apron a mile long and 450 feet wide.

See also

• Kansas World War II Army Airfields

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
• Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC