Carswell Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force (USAF) base, located northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. For most of its operational lifetime, the base's mission was to train and support heavy strategic bombing groups and wings.
Carswell was a major Strategic Air Command (SAC) base during the Cold War. It was the headquarters of several SAC intercontinental bombardment wings, equipped with the latest heavy bombers from B-29 Superfortresses; B-36 Peacemakers and B-52 Stratofortresses. The west side of the airfield is home to United States Air Force Plant 4, a industrial complex occupied over the decades by Convair, General Dynamics, and now by Lockheed Martin. The bulk of the Air Force Convair B-36, B-58 Hustler, General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, EF-111 Raven and F-16 Fighting Falcon fleets were built there. The F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and various NATO and Allied partner nations is currently built there.
With the end of the Cold War and the subsequent downsizing of the American military, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission of 1991 recommended that Carswell AFB be closed by 1994. In lieu of outright closure, the majority of the installation was transferred to the U.S. Navy for use as a naval air station to replace the nearby Naval Air Station Dallas that was also being closed due to BRAC action.
Today, the facility is known as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth / Carswell Field. It retains an Air Force Reserve Command presence from its previous status as an air force base that includes the headquarters for an Air Force Reserve numbered air force and a tenant Air Force Reserve fighter wing. The installation also hosts tenant Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Army Reserve and Texas Air National Guard flying units which were formerly located at Naval Air Station Dallas. On the base's grounds is the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, the only federal medical center the Bureau of Prisons operates solely for women.
History Carswell Air Force Base was named after Medal of Honor recipient Major Horace S. Carswell, Jr. (1916–1944). Major Carswell was returning from an attack on Japanese shipping in the South China Sea on 26 October 1944. He attempted to save a crewmember whose parachute had been destroyed by flak. He remained at the controls of his crippled bomber and died while crash-landing the B-24 Liberator near Tungchen, China. The base was renamed in his honor on 29 January 1948.Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, "Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982". Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. .
Origins Carswell's origins date back to the early years of aviation. After the United States' entry into World War I in April 1917, General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing invited the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to establish training fields in the southern United States where the warmer weather would be more conducive for flying year-round. In June, the War Department inspected 6 sites around Fort Worth, Texas which had been offered by the Chamber of Commerce. In August the War Department signed leases with the RFC on 3 sites around Fort Worth. Known as the Flying Triangle, these sites were Hicks Field (#1), Barron Field (#2), and Benbrook (later Carruthers) Field (#3) based on their locations. In April 1918 these airfields were turned over to the Air Service, United States Army as training fields for American pilots. Hundreds of pilots learned their basic and primary flying skills at these airfields in the Fort Worth area during the war. They were closed in 1919 when the war ended.Pate and Granger (2013), Arsenal of defense: Fort Worth's Military legacy, Texas State Historical Assn.
In 1940 the City of Fort Worth had filed an application with the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), asking for a primary pilot training airfield for the Army Air Corps. In May, General Jacob E. Fickel visited Fort Worth on an inspection visit. Fickel had learned to fly at Carruthers Field in 1918. At the same time, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce was trying to convince aircraft manufacturers to build an aircraft assembly plant in the area. Consolidated Aircraft, wanting to build in the area, suggested to the Air Corps that they jointly build an airfield adjacent to the heavy bomber plant they wanted to build in Fort Worth. On 16 June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved $1.75 million to construct an airfield next to the Consolidated manufacturing plant. The Army wanted to have the airfield ready quickly before the plant was put into production and construction of the Lake Worth Bomber Plant Airport began almost immediately.
World War II
However, after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army changed its plans and instead of being an operational base, Tarrant Field, as the facility was called, became a heavy bomber training school. The first unit assigned to the base was the Army Air Forces Training Command Combat Crew School on 1 July 1942. At the same time, the Consolidated plant began assembly of B-24D Liberator aircraft in May, with the first aircraft being assigned to the school in August. On 29 July, the base was again renamed as Fort Worth Army Air Field (Fort Worth AAF).
The Army Air Forces Combat Crew School (later re-designated Army Air Forces Pilot School, Specialized 4-Engine) took graduates of Training Command's advanced pilot training schools and experienced 2-engine pilots and trained them on flying the B-24 Liberator. The school was officially opened on 12 October 1942 and was under the jurisdiction of the 34th Flying Training Wing at San Angelo Army Airfield, Texas.34th Flying Training Wing, lineage and history document Air Force Historical Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama The school was initially equipped with B-24Ds that were assembled across the runway at Consolidated, later it was upgraded to B-24Es that were manufactured at Consolidated's Willow Run Plant in Michigan, then flown to the Fort Worth plant for final modifications.
During training, nine-member crews were assigned to each plane, and the crews ate, slept, and trained together 24-hours a day. This allowed the crew to learn both the technical skills needed for aircraft operation as well as the other crew members' minds and reactions. Each day they trained five hours in the air and five hours on the ground. Each class lasted four and a half weeks. Training officials added a Bomb Approach School in October 1943, which incorporated teamwork between a pilot and bombardier. In addition, the 9000th WAC Company of the Women's Army Corps were used in the control tower as well as in the communications office of the base.
In late 1944, the B-24 training was phased out at Fort Worth AAF, being replaced with a B-32 Dominator Flight Crew Conversion Training School. Training Command instructor pilots were flown to the Consolidated manufacturing plant in San Diego to learn about the Dominator, which was planned as a stablemate of the B-29 Superfortress; much like the B-17 Flying Fortress was teamed with the B-24 Liberator. The first B-32 arrived at Fort Worth in September 1944, however it was in the modification plant until January before it was released to the training school. By the end of 1944, only five production aircraft had been delivered by Consolidated; by comparison, the B-29 had been flown in combat for nearly six months. The Army was quite unhappy about the Dominator and the production problems it was experiencing.
Eventually, 40 TB-32 trainers were produced for the training program to get underway. Prospective B-32 pilots underwent 50 hours of training in the TB-32s and co-pilots received 25 hours of flight time and 25 hours of observer training. Ultimately, a shortage of equipment meant the B-32 training at Fort Worth was never fully realized and after V-J Day, officials eliminated the B-32 training program.
Strategic Air Command
Postwar era
In November 1945, the jurisdiction of Fort Worth AAF was transferred to Second Air Force, which established its 17th Bombardment Operational Training Wing at the base, equipped with B-29A Superfortresses. The Air Force had decided to keep Fort Worth as a permanent airfield and in 1946, constructed an 8,200-ft north–south extra heavy-duty runway for future use. The number of completed B-32s at the Consolidated plant had reached 74 production aircraft, along with the TB-32 trainers; many of which were parked at the field. These were ordered flown from Fort Worth directly to storage at Davis-Monthan and Kingman Fields, Arizona for disposal, and the partially assembled B-32 aircraft in the plant were ordered scrapped in place.
7th Bombardment Group Fort Worth AAF was assigned to the newly formed Strategic Air Command in March 1946, and on 1 October 1946, the 7th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy was activated.Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . With its activation, the 7th became part of the Fifteenth Air Force (15 AF), headquartered at Colorado Springs, Colorado. Personnel and aircraft of the new group, consisting of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, were transferred to Fort Worth AAF from the 92nd Bombardment Group at Spokane AAF, Washington. On 1 November 1946, the Eighth Air Force moved its headquarters to Fort Worth AAF from MacDill Field, Florida.
With its B-29s, the 7th prepared its people for any combat eventuality that might arise, flying simulated bombing missions over various cities. On 5 July 1947, a flight of eight B-29s of the 492nd Bomb Squadron deployed from Fort Worth AAF to Yokota AB, Japan. Shortly after this, the detachment received orders to redeploy to Fort Worth AAF via Washington, D.C. The aircraft left Yokota AB on 2 August, flew over the Aleutian Islands, then into Anchorage, Alaska. From Anchorage the flight flew over Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, turned south and flew over Minnesota and Wisconsin. The bombers flew a low-level flight between The Pentagon and Washington Monument in the Capitol on 3 August. Completing this aerial demonstration, they headed for Fort Worth, landing 31 hours after launch from Japan and covering 7,086 miles.
On 12 September, the group deployed 30 B-29s to Giebelstadt Army Airfield, near Würzburg, West Germany. This flight was the largest bomber formation flown from Fort Worth AAF overseas to date, landing in Germany on 13 September. During their ten-day stay, the group bombers participated in training operations over Europe, as well as a show-of-force display by the United States in the early part of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The flight redeployed from Germany on 23 September.
On 13 January 1948, Fort Worth AAF was renamed as Griffiss Air Force Base. On 29 January, the name was changed again, this time to Carswell Air Force Base.
In February 1949, a B-50 Superfortress (developed from the famed B-29) and named Lucky Lady II took off from Carswell for the first nonstop flight around the world. She returned to Carswell after mid-air refueling, flying 23,108 miles, and remaining aloft for ninety-four hours and one minute.
Since 1942, the XB-36 Peacemaker had been under development by Consolidated, and work on it was shifted from its San Diego, California plant to its government-leased plant in Fort Worth. By 1947 the initial production version B-36A was ready and in June 1948 the first Convair B-36A Peacemaker was delivered.
The first B-36A was designated the "City of Fort Worth" (AF Serial No. 44-92015), and was assigned to the 492d Bomb Squadron. B-36s continued to roll out from the production plant throughout 1948 and being assigned to the 7th. The group's last B-29 being transferred on 6 December to the 97th Bomb Group at Biggs AFB. For 10 years, the "Peacemaker" cast a large shadow on the Iron Curtain and served as the nation's major deterrent weapons system.