Carlsen Air Force Base
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| Carlsen Air Force Base
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| Part of Sixth Air Force | |
| Located in Trinidad | |
| Type | Military Airfield |
| Coordinates | 10°29′55.79″N 061°33′23.33″W / 10.4988306°N 61.5564806°W |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1941-1949 |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
Carlsen Air Force Base is a former United States Army Air Forces World War II airbase on Trinidad, consisting of two landing strips, "Edinburgh" and "Xeres". The airbase also included an emergency landing strip, "Tobago".
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[edit] History
The American rights to the airfield were obtained via the Destroyers for Bases Agreement in September 1940 when the United States transferred fifty destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for Army and Navy base rights on British possessions in the Americas.
Opened in 1942, Edinburgh Field had been intended solely as an overflow facility for Air Transport Command transport aircraft headed for nearby Waller Field, but eventually, it grew into an enormous sprawling complex with three parallel paved runways – 5000 x 150ft / 5000 x 150ft / 2000 x 300ft and an Airship operating area that made it physically larger than all the other airbases in Trinidad, being used by both Army and Navy aircraft.
Edinburgh Field became the principal combat base for USAAF bombers and Naval airships on Trinidad as well as Navy fighters with a complex of runways and taxiways that surpassed even Waller Field. This lasted until 3 November 1943 when, it was renamed Carlsen Field. It was also used by the Royal Air Force and was defended by US Army infantry and AA units. When the Navy began lighter-than-air operations in the Caribbean in the fall of 1943, the 80th Seabees were brought in to build a station at Carlsen Field. To supplement the eight Army-owned buildings taken over by the Navy, the 80th Battalion built a large, steel blimp hangar, a mooring circle, paved runways, a helium-purification plant, and other operational appurtenances.
[edit] Major units assigned
- 25th Bombardment Group (Headquarters), 1 Nov 1942-1 Aug 1943
- 10th Bombardment Squadron, 1 Nov 1942-1 Oct 1943, (B-18 Bolo)
- 35th Bombardment Squadron, 7 Feb-24 Mar 1944, (B-25 Mitchell)
- 59th Bombardment Squadron, 12 Jul-Oct 1943, (B-18 Bolo)
- 835th Bombardment Squadron, (Attached from 26th Antisubmarine Wing) Nov 1942 - Mar 1943 (B-18 Bolo)
- 839th Bombardment Squadron, (Attached from 26th Antisubmarine Wing) Jul-Aug 1942 (B-18 Bolo)
- 851st Bombardment Squadron, (Attached from 26th Antisubmarine Wing) 20 Apr-20 Jul 1943 (B-18 Bolo)
- Deployed from Imeson Field, Florida
- 1st Bombardment Squadron (9th Bombardment Group), 23 Aug 1942-31 Oct 1942 (B-18 Bolo)
- 2d Search Attack Squadron (1st Sea-Search Attack Group), 20 Sep-21 Oct 1942 (B-18 Bolo)
- (Army Air Force Antisubmarine Command)
- 4th Antisubmarine Squadron (Caribbean Sea Frontier), 6-9 Oct 1942 (B-18 Bolo)
- (USAAF unit assigned to United States Navy)
- 23d Antisubmarine Squadron (Trinidad Department, Antilles Air Command), 5 Aug-24 Dec 1943 (A-29 Hudson)
- Detachment operated from: Zandery Field, Dutch Guiana, 15 Aug-24 Dec 1943
[edit] Postwar use
With the end of World War II Carlsen Airfield was reduced in scope to a skeleton staff. It was placed under the command of the 24th Composite Wing based at Borinquen AFB, Puerto Rico. In 1947 Navy C-47 operations at nearby Waller Air Force Base were moved to Carleson.
The airfield was redesignated Carlsen Air Force Base on March 26, 1948, by the Department of the Air Force General Order Number 10. Carlsen AFB was turned over to the United States Navy on 28 May 1949 and was renamed NAF (LTA) Carlsen Field. Naval units used the facility until it was formally disestablished on 10 January 1950.
Today the former air and naval airship base has been turned into a dairy and agricultural area south of Chaguanas and is all but unrecognizable. Much of the former airfield area is owned by National Flour Mills and the only remnants of the base are the name of the area in south Chaguanas, along with streets named "Edinburgh" and "Xeres"
[edit] References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
- Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
- Mauer, Mauer (1969), Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. ISBN 0892010975
[edit] External links
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