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    Glenview Naval Air Station
    Glenview Naval Air Station
    Glenview Naval Air Station
    Ebook178 pages53 minutes

    Glenview Naval Air Station

    By Beverly Roberts Dawson

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    In 1923 just 20 years after the Wright brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk a Naval Reserve aviation training program was established at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. Originally, sea planes and a few small land-based planes were used for primary flight instruction. With the development of heavier, faster military aircraft, the Great Lakes facility became inadequate. Under Rear Adm. John Downes, commandant of the 9th Naval District, the search for a suitable new location was undertaken. Curtiss-Reynolds-Wright Airfield was deemed ideal for relocation of the aviation training program. From humble beginnings as Naval Reserve Aviation Base Chicago, Naval Air Station Glenview (the official U.S. Navy designation) went on to play a vital and unique role during World War II. Until closure in 1995, the base was home to thousands of Navy and Marine Reserve pilots, aircrews, and support personnel proudly known as weekend warriors."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJan 10, 2007
    ISBN9781439617021
    Glenview Naval Air Station
    Author

    Beverly Roberts Dawson

    Beverly Roberts Dawson, past president of the Glenview Area Historical Society and historian of the Glenview Hangar One Foundation, frequently writes and lectures about the history of Naval Air Station Glenview. Images contained in this book are from the collections of the Glenview Area Historical Society and the Glenview Hangar One Foundation. In addition, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps personnel who served at Naval Air Station Glenview provided photographs from their own files.

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      Book preview

      Glenview Naval Air Station - Beverly Roberts Dawson

      Dawson

      INTRODUCTION

      How can one properly present the story of Naval Air Station Glenview in a few short pages? In truth, it is not possible to cover every facet of this fascinating installation; perhaps the best approach is to begin at the beginning.

      The first immigrants arrived in Illinois to the region now called Glenview in the early 1830s. Mostly Europeans of English and German origin, they were homesteaders who worked hard to buy land that the government offered for $1.25 per acre. As time went by, many of the landowners sold off parcels, resulting in smaller farms with fewer acres, growing vegetables and flowers. In early 1929, several farmers who owned the property sold their land to the Curtiss Flying Service; work to build Curtiss Reynolds Wright Airport (variously known as Curtiss Reynolds, Curtiss Wright, Curtiss Chicago—or simply Curtiss) began almost immediately. The airport had barely opened when the New York Stock Market crashed on October 29, 1929. The airfield stayed afloat during the Depression years largely due to the entertainment side of the business. While people may not have had enough money to learn to fly, many could afford the price of a ticket to watch the most popular form of entertainment in the land—air shows.

      Although there had been a naval aviation unit in place at Great Lakes for several years, the progress of aircraft design and technology made it necessary to relocate. Since Curtiss Wright Airport was a modern facility, it seemed an ideal place to expand the navy’s flight training program. Those who facilitated the transition from Great Lakes to Glenview to establish United States Naval Reserve Aviation Base (NRAB) Chicago were a small but remarkable contingent. Excellence was the minimum requirement at NRAB Chicago. Jack Witten, who served at the base in the late 1930s, recalls, a cadre of talent . . . permitted NAS Glenview to grow from the Naval Air Reserve Base . . . to a full blown Air Station. To accomplish this growth and still find time and talent to train the embryo pilots in the rudiments of line safety, so they didn’t lose their arms or head in a propeller, and so they wouldn’t lose themselves in the hegira of flight which would take them from Glenview . . . ultimately to the oceans and seas of the world.

      After December 7, 1941, the pace at the base accelerated. As the United States expanded its war efforts, it became obvious that the number of pilots required would be unprecedented. The need was particularly urgent in the Pacific, where planes and carriers were to play a major role in the war with the Japanese. Comdr. Richard C. Whitehead conceived the idea of refitting commercial vessels to serve as training carriers on the safe inland waters of Lake Michigan. It was a brilliant concept for three major reasons: German U-boats prowled the waters off the Atlantic Coast of the U.S., making any carrier training operations very dangerous; Japanese submarines were often spotted off the Pacific Coast of the country, so prospects of maintaining an effective program off the West Coast was deemed very chancy; last, but certainly not least, America needed every carrier in its inventory to be deployed with the fleet. From that concept grew the unique Carrier Qualification Training Unit’s Corn Belt Fleet—the USS Sable and USS Wolverine. It would hardly be possible to overstate the pivotal role NASG played in the winning of World War II.

      After peace was declared in both Europe and the Pacific, demobilization was a hot topic in the base newspaper, the Exhaust. The strength of the navy at the time was more than 3 million; it was projected that half the personnel would be discharged in a six-month period. Sailors and WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) expressed happiness at the thought of returning to civilian life but lamented that shipmates would be sadly missed. The great number of marriages taking place at the base chapel indicated the strength of bonds that had been forged among many of those serving at NASG. Among those being demobilized in 1946 was Lt. Comdr. Gerald Ford. Having been stationed at Glenview for the final six months of his World War II tour of duty, he was discharged from the navy. Reporting for duty in 1942, he served as a military training and fitness training officer at navy pre-flight school in North Carolina and then was assigned to the USS Monterey. He became the 38th president of the United States 28 years later.

      Following the Japanese surrender on August 15, 1945, attention rapidly shifted to transitioning huge numbers of veterans back to civilian life and disposing of equipment and stockpiled materials no longer required for the war effort. The Sable and Wolverine were on the surplus list, and both were ultimately sold for scrap. It seemed an unceremonious end for two ships that had contributed so much to allied victory in the Pacific war.

      Only five years after World War II was over, the Korean War began on June 25, 1950. Thirty thousand members of the Naval Air Reserve were called upon to augment active navy personnel. Navy and marine squadrons from NASG were deployed and served with distinction in Korea.

      The postwar years were not all military business; the

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