Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Wednesday, October 02, 2024
Navy Pilots in Iowa. More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. The 57 AAA is here. Sweet, smooth and sassy. Your road trips will never be the same. When you're behind the wheel of an American legend, Cam Corregus is giving you the chance to win a 57 Chevy Bel Air Sportgoop. This is the car people turn their heads for. Get your raffle tickets now at camcorregus.org. Learn more and get your raffle tickets now for a chance to glide down the road in a classic 57 Chevy. Visit camcorregus.org. America entered the Second World War when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. All aspects of American society were mobilized. Five months later, in April 1942, a U.S. Navy Site Selection Board met in Atumwa with city officials and the head of the airport commission there. The board determined that Atumwa was well-suited as the site for a primary training location and on July 9th of that year, Navy Secretary Frank Knox announced approval of Atumwa as site of a naval aviation base. The Navy took possession of a 1,400 acre tract of land for the air base, which was under the direction of Lieutenant Commander D. D. Gurley. On September 13th, the first two enlisted men reported for duty. Lieutenant Commander Gurley himself landed the first Navy airplane at the base on January 23rd, 1943. Flight training for cadets began in March. That summer, some 30,000 civilians tore the new base during an open house. Over time, more than 6,600 trainees reported for duty in Atumwa, including Ensign Richard Nixon in October of 1942. They flew nearly 400,000 training flights before flight training officially ended in September of 1945. The base was used for midshipman training after the war and then was closed when operations moved to Florida two years later. The naval air station at Atumwa trained thousands of pilots during World War II before the last U.S. Navy airplane left Atumwa on this state in 1947. And that's Iowa Almanac for October 2nd. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.