Payne Field

Payne Field
West Point, Mississippi
Payne Field - parked Curtiss JN-4 Training Aircraft, 1918
Payne Field
Coordinates	33°39′56″N 88°37′57″W / 33.66556°N 88.63250°W / 33.66556; -88.63250 (Payne Field)Coordinates: 33°39′56″N 88°37′57″W / 33.66556°N 88.63250°W / 33.66556; -88.63250 (Payne Field)
Type	Primary pilot training airfield
Site information
Controlled by	Air Service, United States Army
Condition	abandoned fields
Site history
Built	1917
In use	1918–1920
Battles/wars	World War I
Garrison information
Garrison	Training Section, Air Service

Payne Field is a former World War I military airfield, located 4.3 miles (6.9 km) north-northeast of West Point, Mississippi. It operated as a training field for the Air Service, United States Army between 1918 until 1920.

The airfield was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established in 1917 after the United States entry into World War I. It was the first airport constructed in Mississippi.

Payne Field was named in memory of Captain Dewitt Payne. A native of South Bend, Indiana, Payne graduated from the University of Michigan in 1912 and the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois, where he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant and sent to Hazelhurst Field, Long Island, New York. Promoted to captain in October, 1917, Payne was transferred to Taliaferro Field, near Fort Worth, Texas. There, on 1 February 1918, Payne was flying to the aid of a pilot who had crashed into the top of a tree and crashed his own plane in the process. He died from the injuries sustained in the crash.

During World War I, Payne Field was used as a training facility for military pilots. In November 1917, the Department of War sent a cadre of officers to the Columbus, Mississippi area to survey sites for an aviation school. The group decided on a location about 5 miles northeast of West Point, Mississippi. An agreement to lease the land for the Army was concluded.

The field consisted of 533 acres and was constructed at a cost of $891,340 and could accommodate up to 1,000 personnel. Dozens of wooden buildings served as headquarters, maintenance, and officers’ quarters. Enlisted men had to bivouac in tents. The commander of Payne Field was Lt. Col. Jack W. Heard. Heard was a career army officer, a West Point graduate (class of 1910), and the son of Medal of Honor John W. Heard, a native of Woodstock, Mississippi. After graduation from West Point, Heard was assigned to the 7th Cavalry (George Custer’s old regiment) and was sent to the Philippines. It was here that Heard first became interested in the new phenomenon of flying, and after several applications for transfer he was finally approved for the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and earned his pilot’s certificate. Quickly rising in the ranks of the Air Corps, he went on to command three training bases during the First World War: Kelly Field in Texas, Scott Field in Illinois, and Payne Field.