This is release R18 of the World War II data base.  With this release, Alaska has been added. 

The data has been reorganized to hopefully be easier to follow.  Information is still organized by states listed alphabetically.  Major bases (either AAF or Navy/Marines) or other major facilities are still in the first column.  Those major bases that had auxiliary, satellite and sub-base are indented 1 place.  Bases that have airfields reporting to them are also bolded.  This reorganization should help to understand the relationship between auxiliaries and main bases.

Auxiliary airfields for the AAF and Out Lying Fields (OLF) for the Navy/Marines are indented 2 places.

This is just an example:

Luke AAF (main base)

          Luke Aux. No. 1  (auxiliary)

          Luke Aux. No. 2  (auxiliary)

     Ajo AAF (sub-base)

          Auxiliary No. 1  (auxiliary)

          Auxiliary No. 2  (auxiliary)

     Gila Bend AAF Aux (sub-base)

          Auxiliary No. 1  (auxiliary)

          Auxiliary No. 2  (auxiliary)

Corpus Christi NAS (main base)

          OLF #41  (OLF auxiliary)

     Kingsville North NAAS (Auxiliary to NAS Corpus Christi)

     Kingsville South NAAS (Auxiliary to NAS Corpus Christi)

          OLF #42  (OLF auxiliary)

          OLF #55  (OLF auxiliary)

     Rodd NAAS (Auxiliary to NAS Corpus Christi)

          OLF #1C  (OLF auxiliary)

          OLF #12  (OLF auxiliary)

The rest of the data is still there.  Items with photographs are blue and underscored hyperlinks.

There are cases where auxiliaries may not be in the same state as the main base is located.  These auxiliaries are still located in the state where they are located.  In the comment column, the location is bolded.  Example the main base is located in FL for Florida.  Hopefully this is not confusing, but was the only method that seems to work with the data base.

There are major bases that had not auxiliaries and does not diminish there importance.

One other change has been with this release.  All latitude coordinates are north and thus no other annotation is made.  All longitude coordinates are west and the change is in the representation of the decimal coordinates now have a negative (-) symbol in front of them representing west.  In the future, Alaska will be added and there are a few bases that were located in the eastern hemisphere.  This change is made in advance so when Alaska section is added, there will be no conflict with standard notation for longitudinal coordinates.

I wish to extend my thanks and appreciation to Mr. Brian Rehwinkel and Mr. Chris Kennedy for there help.

(See the bottom of the home page for info about picture sources.)

INTRODUCTION

The information gathered is an attempt to list all known airfields used during WW2 (1941-1945).  The data contained in this data base covers the 48 contiguous states and now Hawaii (added with this release).  This includes Army, AAF, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard airfields and seaplane bases (where known).   A variety of sources have been used to create this data base. 

Directories, charts, maps, Government and historical data has been used to create this data base.  During WW2, many civil and auxiliary airfields (civil or private), were used by the military.  Identification of all of these airfields is limited by available data.  Some of the airfields in this data base as having "joint" usage.  These were civil/commercial, auxiliary and private airfields continued there normal business as well as handling military operations.   I have also endeavored to verify the location coordinates, but some are just not available due to lack of information.

The Army Air Forces referred to there major air facilities as Army Air Field (AAF).  There were some Army Air Forces major facilities referred to as Army Air Base (AAB).  The Army Air Forces referred to its auxiliary airfields, generally, with the designation of Auxiliary Air Field Number (AF Aux No. has been used in this data base).  Normally, the AAF numbered the auxiliary airfields.  Often, a name was given or adopted too in addition to the number.

The Navy and Marines referred to the major facilities as Naval Air Station (NAS) or Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS).  The next tier down was a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) or Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station (MCAAS).  Support airfields were referred to as Out Lying Field (OLF).  Normally, the Navy and Marines named there OLFs.  The Navy also had a number system that was associated with the property referred to as Naval Air Facility (NAF).  An example of this form of identification is NAF-12345.  Fields identified by these numbers (a lot of charts showed OLFs this way) also had names.  Most of the names have been determined.  Just for confusion, many of the OLFs associated with Corpus Christi's NAS used "names" which were numbers too! (e.g. NAF 25519 - OLF No. 2B).  Have not been able to locate all of the OLF names associated with Norman NAS in Oklahoma.

 To the best of my knowledge and research, all major facilities have been identified.  As I have researched this information, it has become apparent that many (but not all) AAF auxiliary fields or NAS Out Lying Fields (OLFs) have been identified.  The area where data is weak deals with the auxiliary airfields used by "major" air facility (an AAF / AAB for the AAF, NAS / NAAS for the Navy and MCAS / MCAAS for the Marines.  There are a few airfields identified in the data base that were used by the Army and Coast Guard but these did not seem to have any auxiliaries.

The issue is that not all of the auxiliary fields/OLFs have been accounted for.  Using the AAF process as an example, you could have Wonderful AAF with auxiliaries:

          Wonderful AAF

                   #1 – Aux Fld.

                   #2 – Aux Fld.

                   #4 – Aux Fld.

                   #6 – Aux Fld.

Two numbers are unaccounted for – number 3 and 5.  Until identified in documentation, I treat this situation with the following possibilities.

1. Planned for but nothing was done.

2. Planned for and land was acquired but halted (or used for something else such as bombing and/or gunnery range).

3. Planned for, land acquired and used - but the information has become lost in time.  (This principally applies to auxiliary airfields that were turf/dirt in nature with minimum infrastructure support elements placed at the field.)

4. Planned for and used an existing civil/commercial/auxiliary airports or CAA intermediate airfields but the data has become lost in time.

These auxiliary (or OLF for the Navy and Marines) often were farm type fields that were used.  The field would be mowed, cleared of brush, the land rolled or leveled a bit.  These fields were always close to a road for logistics support.  Some auxiliary fields had more extensive facilities including paved runways.  The AAF often used the "triangle" layout.  The Navy used several patterns including what I call offset squares.  However, other layout patterns were used.  One thing I have noticed is that some layouts are "regional" in usage.  That is, the "triangle" layout is more common in selected western states (AZ, CA, CO, NM and TX).

Sometimes, this offset squares was referred to as "eight star" layout.  These seemed to vary from about 1,200 feet to as large as about 2,000 feet.  There was at least one occasion where the pattern was not completed and the OLF was referred to as "Five Point" (an OLF supporting NAS Hensley in Dallas, TX).  Even though the octagonal pad was used at some OLFs, in looking for old OLFs, there is a possibility of wrong identification as to layout may have taken place as the interior of the squares often looks a bit like octagonal layout.  (The drawing to the has one layer shaded differently for easier understanding.)

The octagonal layout was used and many of these were paved (including concrete as well as asphalt) and a few may have used steel matting material.  Remains of some of these exist today.

The AAF often used the "triangle" type layout with two, three or four runways.  There are examples where this layout had various runway lengths from 3,500 feet up to over 5,000 feet.  Sometimes the center or bisecting runway was narrow and used as a taxi way.  A small ramp might be along one of the sides of the triangle.  These were routinely paved and many examples of this layout are still seen and some act as local airports to the near by communities.  There are also many variations on the triangle layout.

With the current update, pictures have been added.  One thing to keep in mind, some of the airfields that are still active generally have undergone changes.  Runways eliminated, lengthened, rearranged and completely revamped.  The latter is particularly true for those airfields that are today major civil airports (e.g. Chicago's O'Hara - ORD).

Some contractor training fields are included (also with auxiliary fields).  Not all are in this data base.  During the war, many wished to help support the war effort, especially the training efforts.  These contracted efforts are not the easiest to identify.  I have used a guideline that these contractor training fields have to be identified by the Army, AAF, Coast Guard or Navy/Marines as having been used.  This would indicate that some infrastructure was added to support the military.  Some of the information has been lost in time.  Thus, obtaining a complete listing of contractor's airfields would be very difficult.  A very few Civil Air Patrol (CAP) fields have been identified.  During the war, the CAP generally flew out of civil/commercial or auxiliary fields.  Few had dedicated fields for there usage.