A Little Greenville and Greenwood History

[Mergie Master]

Y'all may have seen where I've said I was born in the hospital on Donaldson Air Force Base while my dad was in Korea. I talked to a guy in another forum that was based there as a pilot when they moved the 63rd Air Wing to Hunter AFB in Savannah, GA in 1963. Donaldson was deactivated that year (1963) and deeded back to Greenville County. I knew that the boys in the Doolittle Raid had used the base to train.

So I got interested and looked online for some history on Donaldson Air Force Base

Donaldson Air Force Base is a former facility of the United States Air Force located south of Greenville, South Carolina. It was founded in 1942 as Greenville Army Air Base; it was deactivated in 1963 and converted into a civilian airport. It is currently an active airfield known as Donaldson Center Airport.

It was used by the United States Army Air Forces' Third Air Force as a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber training airfield during World War II. It was home to C-124 Globemaster II transports and called "The Airlift Capital of the World" for its role in the Berlin airlift, Korean War, and Cold War, being assigned to both Tactical Air Command (TAC) and the Military Air Transport Service (MATS).

Originally named Greenville Army Air Base when opened in 1942, and later Greenville Air Force Base in 1947, the base was renamed in March 1951 as Donaldson Air Force Base in honor of Captain John Owen Donaldson, (1897–1930). Donaldson spent his boyhood in Greenville, South Carolina, attending Greenville High School, Furman University and Cornell University before joining the Royal Flying Corps and (after April 1918) the Royal Air Force in World War I. He became an ace, with eight victories, and was decorated by Great Britain, the United States and Belgium. Becoming an air racer after the war, Donaldson was killed on 7 September 1930 after winning the American Legion Air Race in Philadelphia when his plane spun out of control. He had won the Mackay Gold Medal for taking first place in the Army's transcontinental air race in October 1919.

In the early 1940s, the War Department selected Greenville, South Carolina as the site for a new Army airfield to support the buildup for World War II. The airfield was completed in May 1942, and in June, Greenville Army Air Base was officially activated as a B-25 Mitchell medium twin-engine bomber training base.

Greenville AAB was assigned to the III Bomber Command of the Third Air Force. The 342d Army Air Force Base Unit was assigned as the host unit for the airfield. The 342d provided such as logistics, maintenance, facilities, security and general administration. Isaqueena Bombing Range was established on and near Lake Isaqueena in the Clemson University Experimental Forest about 27 miles (43 km) to the west. Greenville AAB also controlled Coronaca Army Airfield as a sub-base for its training mission.

So naturally I had to jump over to the Coronaca Army Air Field which is now the Greenwood County Airport.

Greenwood County Airport opened in November 1943 as a United States Army Air Force military airfield called Coronaca Army Airfield. It was a sub-base of Greenville Army Air Base, supporting B-25 Mitchell medium bomber training for Third Air Force. Training was accomplished by the 50th Station Compliment Squadron.

The military use of the airport ended on December 31, 1945 and the airfield was turned over to civil authorities and converted into a civil airport in 1947. It replaced the smaller Chinquapin Airport which was subsequently closed.

My dad had showed me the runaway at the old Chinquapin Airport when I was a kid. He said when he was young the boys used to race their cars and motorcycles there. The runway is now a long straight dead-end road in a little subdivision off Chinquapin Road.

Chinquapin Airport today:

[Duck cutter]

Cool stuff

[4THEGIRLS]

Interesting. I grew up just off of Chinquapin Rd. Never heard that before.