Special to The Star-Herald
A decade before our very own Presque Isle Army Base was selected by the U.S. Government to be the most geographically important military air base in America, the Presque Isle Airport had begun as a cleared field consisting of a few hundred acres just off to the north of the old Mapleton Road in 1930.
Several local merchants held together to investigate the possibility of air service to more so connect Presque Isle with the rest of America. Deemed necessary and doable, the Presque Isle Airport Co. was formed and stock sold and purchased by local people. A sum of $40,000 was raised to acquire the land, construct rudimentary runways (grass) and build a 100-foot by 82-foot hangar to house several airplanes.
The grand design would serve to bring in and send out goods and passengers and perhaps mail at a later date. The first shipment of potatoes by plane from the new airfield occurred when President Herbert Hoover requested and received the potatoes in 1930. Over the next several years, the airport was improved through government projects. In July of 1937, the Presque Isle Airport was approved as a stopping place for airmail. This service brought the town within 3 and-a-half hours from Boston. The government awarded the mail service to Boston and Maine Airways and, amid very impressive ceremonies, arrived that day in July greeted by town officials. In August of the same year, the citizens met in the auditorium (gym) of the high school (later, Cunningham School) and voted to take over the airport property. They voted to pay off an existing mortgage and to construct a new hangar.
But the threat of war looming in Europe in the late 1930s would change forever the history of the Presque Isle Airport. In September of 1939, Hitler invaded Poland and the world was at war. Despite the Neutrality Acts of 1935-1937, which forbade the USA from giving help to either side in the event of war, on March 11, 1941 President Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act. This legislation gave the president the powers to sell, transfer, exchange, and lend equipment to any country to help defend itself against the Axis powers – Germany, Italy and Japan. But, 15 months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war against Germany, the Presque Isle Airport was converted to a military installation. In August of 1940, preliminary work on the now designated Army air base began. On March 15, 1941, the airport was established as the Presque Isle Army Air Field. Months before the United States officially entered World War II, over 1,200 officers and enlisted men were stationed at the base. Their main job was as a technical crew of the chief transfer points of the northeast. They checked British-bound bombers before the planes were turned over to trans-Atlantic pilots. Northern Maine, being geographically the closest land mass in the United States to Europe, Presque Isle was selected as the air base from which to transfer planes and equipment to England under the Lend-Lease Program.
In September of 1941, major construction of the military installation began with the hiring of 800 civilian workers to complete the job. They were to construct 60 various buildings and utilities in 60 days at a 50-cent hourly wage. A technical crew of 48 arrived in the same month and set up 21 trailers located on the Northern Maine Fairgrounds. Soon the base covered 2,000 acres of former potato land and the strength of several thousand soldiers and civilians. Another housing complex, Braden Terrace, was constructed on the fairgrounds. Both of the housing complexes have since disappeared. The Presque Isle Community Recreation Center on the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets was built as a recreational facility for military personnel. After the war, the government turned the facility over to the town.
The so-called Snowball Express was born to ferry new planes to Europe eventually performing 500 crossings per month in addition to ferry combat aircraft overseas. During this period of the war, more planes passed through our local air base than any other in the U.S. Many VIPs passed through to entertain the troops overseas including Bob Hope, Frances Langford, Glenn Miller, Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, Lily Pons and Andre Castalanaz. In 1943, 140 WACs arrived to perform duties of hospital technicians, ward attendants caring for the needs of the base personnel and returning wounded evacuees from Europe, plus administrative and driving duties.
Toward the end of the war in early 1945, the base was mainly engaged in the evacuation of wounded and other personnel from Europe. Plans were to bring all transportable sick and wounded soldiers home within 90 days after VE Day (Victory in Europe). The war was over when the Germans surrendered on May 8, and several months later the liquidation of the base property began. Only a small detachment remained on base from 1947 to 1950 to look after the remaining equipment. In June of 1949, the Presque Isle Army Air Field was redesignated as the Presque Isle Air Force Base.
With the advent of the Korean War in November of 1950, the base was reactivated and in January 1951, the PIAFB was transferred to Air Defense Command. A primary mission at this time was defense of the Northeastern United States and the major Strategic Air Command (SAC) installation at Loring Air Force base.
The world’s first – and only – site for the Snark missile was designated to the Presque Isle base facility in 1957. The Snark was a long-range, air-breathing missile with a high altitude of 50,000 feet. Six hangars were built to house the 30 missiles. The first Snark arrived in May of 1959. Others followed until the last Snark arrived in March of 1960. Before the construction of the last hangar could be completed, President John Kennedy directed to phase out the Snark project because it was “obsolete and of marginal military value.”
In 1959, the Presque Isle Air Force Base was transferred to SAC. In the same year the base became the nation’s first operational intercontinental missile (ICM) base. The base was deactivated in 1961 and property was transferred to the city of Presque Isle. In 1962, the former base complex became the Industrial Park. The city has profited from the operation of the Industrial Park many times over through the years. Larry Clark has been the head of operations for the Park for the last 30-plus years. He has done and is doing an exceptional job.
Allow me to give thanks to the Presque Isle Air Museum which was created in 1998. The Museum has preserved the history (text, photos, static displays) of the base from its inception to present. For every citizen, every visitor, every passenger, it’s a must-see. It certainly should be a stopping point for every elementary-school class tour. A special thanks goes out to Nate Grass, a founder of the Museum, who provided me with much of the Museum’s written history. The Museum is accessible at all times that the Presque Isle Air Terminal is open.
Photo courtesy of the Presque Isle Air Museum
THIS PHOTO FROM 1945 shows Presque Isle residents – young and old alike – attending an air show at the Presque Isle Army Air Base giving people an up-close look at some of the aircraft used during World War II. The water tower in the distance still stands today.
Photo courtesy of the Presque Isle Air Museum
THESE HOSPITAL FACILITIES were used in 1945 at the Presque Isle Army Air Base just west of what is now Presque Isle Middle School.
Photo courtesy of the Presque Isle Air Museum
AN EARLY PRESQUE ISLE AIRWAYS hangar in about 1936.
Photo courtesy of the Presque Isle Air Museum
ON THEIR WAY to Europe to entertain the troops, Bob Hope and Frances Langford stopped over at the Presque Isle Army Air Base in 1944 and signed a few autographs.
