Lakeland Army Airfield
Lakeland Army Airfield
 Drane Field |
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| Part of Third Air Force | |
| Located near: Lakeland, Florida | |
 Lakeland Army Airfield in 1953, at that time unused and in its World War II configuration. |
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 Lakeland Army Airfield
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| Coordinates | 27°59′20″N 082°01′07″W / 27.98889°N 82.01861°WCoordinates: 27°59′20″N 082°01′07″W / 27.98889°N 82.01861°W |
| Site history | |
| In use | 1942-1945 |
Lakeland Army Airfield, was a World War II United States Army Air Force located 5.3 miles southwest of Lakeland, Florida. Since 1960, it has been the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.
On May 22, 1941, the Lakeland City Commission passed a Resolution naming the Lakeland Airport No. 2, which was under construction, Drane Field in honor of Herbert J. Drane, one of Lakeland's outstanding citizens.
The city had barely begun work on the new airport when, with war already raging in Europe, it leased the under-construction facility to the War Department. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers improved and expanded the three runways, into a star-shaped pattern of 5000x150 feet (NE/SW), 5000x150 feet (E/W), and 5000x150 feet (NW/SE), along with a series of taxiways, dispersal parking hardstands, hangar ramp, and constructed the necessary buildings to operate a training facility to instruct U.S. Army Air Forces pilots and flight crews to fly combat bombers and fighters.
In early May 1942, enough construction was completed to dedicate the new military base, named Lakeland Army Air Field. The base was assigned to the Third Air Force, III Bomber Command, and the 60th Flying Training Detachment (Medium Bombardment) was activated to manage the base facilities. Lakeland AAF was subsequently assigned as a sub-base to MacDill Field in nearby Tampa.
In May 1942, however, the airfield was not yet ready to support the flying training mission. Construction delays limited the operational use of the field, and Air Service Command (ASC) used the base station as a staging area for organizing, training and deploying Service Groups to overseas theaters.
The first flying unit to arrive at Lakeland AAF was the B-26 Marauder-equipped 320th Bombardment Group with three squadrons of aircraft and personnel. It was moved from MacDill Field at the beginning of August 1942 and was sent to Lakeland for 2d phase combat training to alleviate congestion in the Tampa Bay airspace. Training was cut off in late August 1942 and the 320th subsequently deployed to Twelfth Air Force, then located in England, for final training. The unit was urgently needed in England for staging prior to the Operation Torch landings, engaging in combat during the North African Campaign beginning in December 1942.
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