Fort Glenn Army Airfield
| Cape Air Force Base Fort Glenn Army Airfield Cape Field at Fort Glenn  |
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|---|---|
| Part of Eleventh Air Force | |
| Umnak, Alaska | |
 Cape AFB
|
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| Coordinates | 53°22′39″N 167°53′24″W / 53.37750°N 167.89000°WCoordinates: 53°22′39″N 167°53′24″W / 53.37750°N 167.89000°W |
| Type | Military Airbase |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
 United States Army Air Forces
|
| Site history | |
| In use | 1942-1950 |
| Battles/wars | Aleutian Islands Campaign |
Cape Air Force Base also known as Fort Glenn Army Air Base, is a site significant for its role in World War II fighting, operating alongside Otter Point Naval Air Facility.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 as Cape Field at Fort Glenn.
Because of the perceived vulnerability of Alaska immediately following the Pearl Harbor Attack, additional Army Air Corps units were authorized by General Henry H. Arnold for Alaska and plans were made to send modern aircraft to the Territory to replace the obsolete aircraft assigned. However the Alaskan Air Force had few airfields to accommodate the additional aircraft and units being assigned.
Along with new airfields on the mainland and Southwest Alaska, new air bases were planned for the air defense of the Aleutians to Dutch Harbor. Construction of the new bases on Umnak and Cold Bay began in January 1942 in secret, with construction reportedly disguised as a cannery. Originally, the equipment was supposed to construct McGrath Army Airbase, but the ground had frozen by the time that the equipment arrived. The first United States Army engineers landed at what would become Fort Glenn Army Air Base on 17 January and construction began by the end of the month. A Naval airfield, Otter Point Naval Air Facility was adjacent to the Army Airbase. The 807th Engineering Battalion (Aviation) was brought in from Yukat to perform the construction along with a detachment of the Navy Seabee 8th Construction Battalion.
Plans called for three hard-surfaced runways (four were eventually built), however time was of the essence in the construction of the base, as the air defense of Dutch Harbor was dependent on them. Instead of a hard surface, engineers chose to use a new material, Pierced Steel Planking (PSP), which could be laid down quickly over a compressed gravel subsurface to provide the airfield with an all-weather capability. There were 80,000 pieces of matting which needed to be barged to the island. Construction crews worked in three shifts, 24 hours a day laying down the runways and constructing a rudimentary support station, water and sewer lines, an electrical grid, communications, fuel and munitions storage sites and all the other necessities to convert a remote island site into an operational airfield capable of supporting heavy bombers. A 5,000-foot (1,500 m) PSP runway was completed on 5 April although a C-53 was first plane to land on the field was on 31 March. The main runway was officially opened on 23 May. Fort Glenn's first runway was then the U.S. Army's most westerly airfield in the Aleutian Islands."
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Wikipedia