Fife Field / Clinton County Army Airfield


Airborne Airpark is an airport rich in aviation history - past and present. Aside from being the "only" privately-owned Category II airfield with a wholly owned Air Traffic Control facility, under the control of the third largest Air Cargo Airline in America, it represents a piece of aviation history going all the way back to 1930.

Fife Field began life as just another Ohio farm field used to grow corn, wheat, or soybean. By early 1930 the field owned by Matthew Fife hosted a few local flyers, such as Corwin "Kersey" Hale. These early "Barnstormers" built a rudimentary hangar to house a WACO 10 biplane purchased from the WACO factory in Troy, Ohio just north of Dayton. In 1933 Kersey Hale erected another hangar on Clinton County Infirmary property across the road from Fife Field where more space was available to suit larger planes. During this time the Civil Works Administration acquired both properties with plans to make the two plots into a municipal airport.

Fife Field circa 1932


Through a concerted effort by local businessmen and county government, American Airlines was enticed to invest $20,000 to enhance old Fife Field into an alternative emergency landing strip. It was used one time when an American    DC-3 landed safely on the sod runway after experiencing a mechanical difficulty. In 1940 additional acreage was acquired from the adjacent Martin and Godlove Farms increasing the original 26 acres to 60 acres allowing for construction of a rotating beacon navigational tower and supply shed. Two concrete runways were laid out: a 3,315 ft north/south runway and a 2,605 ft east/west runway. This runway layout met the military 60,000 lb landing weight requirement of the U.S. Army Air Corps. These improvements proved farsighted for Clinton County after the events of December 7th, 1941.
With the advent of World War II, the newly designated U.S. Army Air Force began to expand its continental airfield infrastructure in leaps and bounds. Wright Field, in nearby Riverside/Fairborn, Ohio, had begun serious research and development into troop carrying gliders capable of hauling a platoon of combat troops or the equivalent weight in material such as a jeep or field howitzer. Designed to be towed to an invasion zone and then released to land into an open area behind enemy lines, the troop glider would prove to be an invaluable asset during the Normandy invasion, in the China-Burma-India theater of operations, and six other major glider missions.

WACO Aircraft of Troy, Ohio designed more glider models than any other manufacturer, and Ford Motor Company built the lion share of the gliders. Glider operations conflicted with power operations, thus Wright Field elected to move its glider test division to another location. What was needed was a remote airfield, devoted solely to gliders, that was in close proximity to Wright Field. In 1942 the USAAF took over Fife field, renaming it Clinton County Army Airfield. The concrete runways at Clinton County were renovated for use by a variety of multi-engine tow planes, to include a rapid construction of buildings to house the influx of military personnel. CCAAF would become the center of invasion glider development for the remainder of the war.

Clinton County Army Airfield circa 1944

 

WACO CG-4A Troop Glider

 Advanced glider tests done at Wilmington included  rocket-assisted takeoff for un-towed glider launch and the C-47 (XCG-17) un-powered glider conversion towed to altitude by another C-47. An interesting side note: tests of many captured enemy aircraft, such as the Messerschmidt Me-262 (German jet fighter-bomber), were occasionally conducted out of CCAAF by Flight Test Division-Wright Field due to its remote location and rural setting. The testing of these captured aircraft could be conducted unrestricted, and literally unobserved.


The next phase of Clinton County Army Airfield history would go beyond glider development, taking on the challenge of powered air transport flight into adverse weather, adding one more page to aviation history.

(For additional information on Clinton County Army Airfield, refer to "The Silent Ones - WW II Invasion Glider Test and Experiment" By Charles L. Day, PO Box 439 Lambertville, MI 48144 - e-mail dayone@bright.net)

 

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