Airlines: Keep 'em flying!

Air Classics, May 2003

15 MAY: Refueled, flew off six VT (TBMs) and 14 VF (Hellcats). Took on provisions, etc.

16 MAY: Still in port. Unloading bombs, torpedoes, aviation supplies, etc.

17 MAY: Sailed at 9:00. Bunker Hill with us. Had gunnery practice in afternoon. Due in Pearl the 24th. (Note: Bunker Hill was damaged by kamikazes on 11 May and returned to Ulithi. However, it was the Franklin [CV-13] that the Langley escorted to Pearl.)

18 MAY: On way to Pearl. Nothing new. Standing by for ASP if needed. (Note: The Langley arrived at Pearl on 25 May 1945. It departed Pearl on the 28th, arriving at Alameda on 3 June.)

GODMAN FIELD

In the February issue on page 56 there is a caption for the photograph of a Thunderbolt which includes a reference to Godman AFB, Kentucky. I arrived at 4364-B Walsh Street (a dead-end street) in the Godman Housing Area during 1959 at the age of nine as a dependent of a military officer. My adopted father, a captain in the Army Corps of Engineers, was stationed on the military reservation upon which existed Godman Airfield but 150 yards from the end of our street. The old brick control tower was but another 50 yards farther.

I had the run of the place - the entire length and breadth of the military reservation - until 1962 when my father retired as a major.

Five years later, I enlisted and ended up taking Basic Combat Training about 1.5 miles from my former home. Needless to say, I was very popular for knowing the area so well. Since leaving the service, I have gone back a few times to pay respects to the grave of my adopted dad which is located about 400 yards from the south westernmost comer of Godman Airfield.

Being extraordinarily intimate with this particular community, I say with authority that there is nothing whatsoever - in the accounts of old-timers or in artifacts of any sort - to indicate that Godman Field was EVER an Air Force Base and, according to USGS maps of Kentucky, this in the only "Godman Air-anything" in all of Kentucky.

You see, about 1-1/4 miles from the northwestern corner of the officer's golf course - 50 feet from the gravesite in a southwesterly direction is the National Gold Depository. Yes, Godman Airfield is located on the Fort Knox Military Reservation and, again, I have NEVER heard or seen any reference to an Air Force base of any sort there.

When I was there, helicopters were outfitted with experimental rocket pods, L-19 Bird Dogs flew in and out with huge whip antennas in Forward Air Controller artillery spotting mission, de Havilland Otters operated in the STOL role, and M-48 and M-60 tanks drag raced. Once in awhile, Martin B-57s would land. We kids could always tell when they were going to takeoff by the huge cloud of smoke their cartridge starters made. They were Air National Guard aircraft from Standiford Field in Louisville.

Richard Nash POB 7001 Atascadero, CA 93423

EDITOR'S NOTE: Checking the official history, the Kentucky Air National Guard's 165th Fighter Squadron and its P-511) Mustangs were called to active duty on 10 October 1950 and on 20 October, the unit moved to Godman to join with the Tactical Air Command. As stated the caption to which Mr. Nash refers, the Mississippi ANG's 153rd Fighter Squadron moved to Godman on 11 December 1951 for assignment with the Tactical Air Command so the field obviously had significance for the ANG and USAF. One source refers to the base simply as Godman Field, another as Godman AFB. We would appreciate further clarification from readers.