Main Street, Wyoming; 503; Casper Army Air Base

Main Street Wyoming is made possible in part by grants from Kennicott energy proud to be a part of Wyoming's future in the uranium exploration mining and production industry. And by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities and ridging lives of Wyoming people through the study of Wyoming history values and ideas. I went to Manteo Utah to see if there was going to be another graft and they said in the near future pretty near We're going to have somebody go and I says Get me on that list. When my mother got that thing she says you've got to go to the service. But she didn't know that I volunteered to go. Over one hundred and forty thousand passengers annually use than a Trona County International

Airport Wyoming's largest air terminal before serving Wyoming However this Caspar airfield served the nation. I'm Deborah Hammond and this week Main Street Wyoming visits the past and looks at the future of this airport. During World War Two thousands of combat crews trained here before being sent overseas. Well as you can well imagine this big flat surface out here. Was nothing but. Bush's. There were no trees. There was some grass and it wasn't farmed it was just a prairie land really. And wide open spaces. And they had to have a level area in which to Stark. And it was very desolate. In fact we had moved our offices into what had been the old city

hall downtown and that's what we work from until they had enough buildings for us to move out here. And have actual on site controlled. And we came out here in the mornings and when I come to work there'd be rabbits on the doorstep for the little muskrat and and there there were snakes all over here they were terrible they would kill him and sometimes the fences out here would have 200 snakes strung across them. The man who is in charge from the seventh Service Command Corps of Engineers was looking for a secretary. And so they were interviewing people. And someone approached me and said Well why don't you go in and talk to him. And I thought well I'm down here to Henning I'm having a ball and meeting all these people and. And I've kept urging me to go in. So I went in one Saturday visited with him and he said would you be at work at 9 o'clock the next morning on Sunday and that's when it happened. The setup for this base was to be about

five months but the base was started and completed in three and a half months. It set quite a record. But see we had no labor problems we didn't have any difficulty everybody was anxious to do something for the war effort. And carpenters and workers came from surrounding states and everybody worked furiously to get this up and we had the finest materials to work with. At the Salt Lake City airbase. I stayed there for I think it was about 10 or 12 days when they called my name and called me in and handed me a piece of paper with 30 mins names on it and said Buchanan you're going to take these men to Casper Wyoming. And I'd heard of the place but I'd never been anywhere near it. But we boarded a train took our duffel bags and all our stuff that they gave us and we boarded the train and went through Denver. We had a layover in Denver for a couple hours and we C'mon into shy and ended up in here. I think it was in the

last part of September. The wind was blowing a little bit and they backed these six by six trucks up against a train where we could unload and get our duffel bags and everything and just out to the Army Air Base. They advertise in the paper for people to pay for sheet metal workers. And there was one class. Before ours. And I answered the ad then they had to take a physical. Past civil service you had to take a test and passed civil service and then they went to their base and went to school for 6 weeks. I didn't know what the word sheet metal meant so I didn't have any idea but it sounded like part of the war effort. That would help. They were saying we need your

help. So I just. Went to work and should. Say when the United States entered World War 2 all occurring was done in the coastal areas. And these men need to learn bomber training and target shooting in the mountains because they drew flew directly from here to the European theater of operations into the China Burma India home. And that was the purpose of this it was to get some training in the mountains and they went all over the general area. Usually there would be four thousand crewmembers coming in and then there was the back up of the military and there were probably 200 of those people that were here all the time to keep things going. I believe there was. Eight girls came out of the same class much younger girls and I come out of the same class that I did and you always worked with a partner. They have a thing called an error. And she and they dry the rivets with the

air. Then you have metal bars all shapes. And so it was my job to put the metal bar. Again the other side of the rivet. Its called bucking the rivets and that was what I did. Back thread. RU Aldrin Grover it's. Always worked harder. The picture that you have can you tell me what work you were doing on that particular plane. If I remember right I'm not really athletic and if I remember rightly it went to land and the whales didn't come. So the pilot rather him non-smelly. And took him and the band of a whole bunch of ribs than the underneath part of it and took the scam off from probably right in front of the wings to back almost the tail gunner's position almost back into it. And then way up the side because when

it landed on the skin of an airplane is real thin aluminum. And when it landed it pushed up and buckled the sides. So we had put in all new sides and all new ribs and the whole thing knew the bottom knew. How long did that take. I believe it was about 30 days. But we worked on that. Yes. Was anyone injured. If I remember rightly eight of the boys was killed. Eight. Of them. There would be eight to 10 people. And there would be the pilot and the copilot and the navigator and the turret Gunner's and the belly gunners and people like that. The pilot and the copilot were usually commissioned officers and the other. People in the plane would be non-coms.

Or privates. How did the servicemen themselves react when they first arrived here in Casper. Well they were horrified to see that a lot of them were. From larger towns and cities and they'd never been in an area like this where it was so bleak. And as we came in this morning right outside the building here there were 11 am. I was watching them till you appeared. And they became fascinated with the wildlife that was here and they enjoyed Casper Mountain literally to go up there. And it took them a while to adjust. But then when they realized how much people loved them and wanted to do things for them then they and they enjoyed it. My first job the next morning after we had been in the barracks overnight and I went to the headquarters was the lieutenant says you can you come with me. I didn't what he was going to do with me but I went in there with him and he says we're going to make you a private show for the

base commander Colonel Moore. And I kind of looked at him a little bit and he says you look like a pretty clean cut guy and he says this is what we're after. He says Would you take the job. And I said Yes sir I will. So. I ended up driving Colonel Moore for about three and a half four months after I left got out from driving Colonel Moore I went into motor me to answer the motor pool dispatch. I was a dispatcher at the motor pool for quite some time. We would dispatch trucks to town and to two other squadrons for cleanups and the whack department we dispatched trucks down there they'd have to go to town to get laundry or food or whatever it was and I would work from sometimes eight in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon and then I would change shifts and I'd be on from 4:00 in the afternoon to Levon and then we would go from live until 7:00 in the morning sometimes but we don't we run this motor pool clock around.

This building in which we are now seated was the serviceman's club and they could come over here and read and write letters and different bands would come and played we had us old downtown a lot of those girls would come out here and dance with the soldiers. We would go over there at nights and we had a lot of us would play cards and some of us would shoot craps and some would read books. There was a piano in there and sometimes you'd run on to a guy that was a pretty good piano player and he'd play songs a bunch of us and seeing. We had good times in the sewers come out here. It was a nice place to go. A lot of the black ladies would command. Sometimes this guy would play the. Piano and we would dance a little bit. But it was a it was a nice place to go in the evening. Well as I say this was such a desolate area. And the commanding officer who was then Colonel Moore approached. The officer who was in charge of Social Services and asked him if they knew what they could do to make this building more

attractive and more homey. So he talked with the man who worked for him most of whom were artists and and things like that and. They decided to do the history of Wyoming on the walls of this field. And so they visited with the Indians and they visited with the Mormons and they visited with other church groups and they went down to the state office and Cheyanne a talkfest people layer and finely put together the whole history of Wyoming from the beginning when the Indians were first here. And then they painted this whole story around the walls and over the windows and over the doors of this particular building and it ended up with a flyboy looking up into the sky which was appropriate at that particular time. The people in Casper really treated us good out there with them. The people from the air base they were all foreign and they had open houses

out there one time and there was a five mile car length of cars coming out there to see what was happening at the airbase and how it was being done. I was always been done in certain ways and looked at the planes and everything. You know we worked on another airplane for quite a long time putting away and some of it had dipped down and tore a wing off. And that was about the second or third accident for that ship. So when we got it all fixed up after all these hours they had a test pilot coming in from Texas and he looked it over and he said this is a lemon and it will always be a lemon. And you watch me. So we all go out on the ramp to watch him. He took it just as high about as he could. And here

come his parachute down and the plane went straight into the ground. Who said that's not going to kill any more kids. It was. Just couldn't folks it just never was a success. So that test pilot fixed it. And I was fine. Well I've been kind of a junk collector all my life I guess. Always saving stuff. Got too much to keep in the garage so it has someplace bigger for. Those sickly they were just maintenance hangers you know basically built. The same. Probably 90 percent of the hires built in World

War 2. Were all built from the same prince. The hangar 5 down there is a little different it's still basically the same design but it's bigger and this one asked. But. Most of it's built by hand. Holes were old rule by hand and a lot of hand work in them but the nice part is that. The wood in and you can even buy wood you Caspar like that anymore they think you'd want to be building a grand piano instead of a hanger. There's very few knots in it really well constructed. The doors you can push those doors open by hand. One person it's. Well-built. Tell me about the planes that you have here. And we have to make 15s. They're really the Polish model they call them a lamb too. There were surveillance used for surveillance and ground

attack. Airplanes and also to upgrade into the supersonic jets there from the Polish military. They had to get rid of so many for the. Arms agreements and that. This is some of the stuff that they phased out really come home Warsaw to an Poland to the coast. On trucks and then they were put on a barge there. And went to. Bremerhaven Germany and were put on a sea going vessels there and shipped to Houston Texas. Then put back on a truck again and hauled up here. On trucks. Well the ones. Ready to run. It hadn't been painted yet. But. It's it could be done you know in a short period of time for just had the time to. Work on it now. Everything else is pretty hectic around here getting ready to race and stuff.

Well it's. Designed in about 1938. And the original. Design of this is a 1945 model here. It's a Navy Model S NJ five. Airforce models of T six of the same airplane. And almost all the free world to use these as either an advanced trainer or gunnery trainers. And things like that. They used all these smoke rockets and things in Korea to mark the targets for the ground attack airplanes things like that. Can you describe. How the race works. Well it's. Starts like a NASCAR start. And everybody's line abreast on a pace plane for six airplanes that race one pace play and after he starts the race you're usually

about a thousand feet above the ground. And you pass in front of the crowd down to about 40 foot. The pylons are 40 foot tall and it's usually three to five mile course. And it's an oval Morse like a. Regular racetrack going. It doesn't have to be any set shape other than for safety of the crowd. What were some of the characteristics of the military planes of that age. Most airplanes are like there some are have some you cue your. Bad habits that you might bring out in him but most of you fly about Same with some light around the controls and others react faster and things like that basically the same. Spatially warbirds. B-17 it's. So easy airplane to fly that. They almost had to make them.

Thurl easy to fly because most people don't have that much experience or time you know on an airplane. They'd move them up pretty fast so. They had to be pretty forgiving. We've almost always got some kind of wind here but it usually. Down the runway because they have a lot of runways too so. It's not all that bad really. I think it's a real good training there for. That. Purpose. A little of everything here. Tried to have something for everybody to. Have something to look at and enjoy. Never throw anything away. The thing. As in any. Economic center you either you either continue to upgrade.

Your facility or. You start going in reverse. As with most communities this airport is one of the economic engines. It's. The front door to the community. The last time we took a survey were there are about 400. People employed at the airport and their livelihoods are. Connected in some way to the airport. And. The flight service station is basically charged with giving pilots whether they be private pilots or professional pilots whether an aeronautical information that they should know prior to taking off. And that would include basically weather advisories for turbulence or icing conditions or areas. Low ceilings or restricted visibility. Also we can give them radar reports just by looking using our different functions on our

monitors here they can tell us where the large areas of precipitation is occurring that is thunderstorm use or what have you. Also we give them information on notices to airmen that is aeronautical information that is important to the flight such as if a navigational aid is out of service or for runway is close or if an airport is closed. Things of that nature. And armed with this information the pilot is prepared to taxi out and conduct a safe flight or so you can your I don't please on my own. You know are like in Miami. Number 5 0 0 0 to 5000 then broken visibility 9 or zero temperature 68 dew point

is to 6 when 3 5 0 and 5 Rock Springs altimeter is 3 0 to 9 and for airport advisory you can contact Rock Springs or you know come on one to two point eight over 100. Were affected heavily by the state of the economy in the community and in the state. If. If the economy goes down businesses change their travel. Methods and. And their frequency and. People's discretionary income goes down and they stop their recreational travel and. The. You know freight stops moving. In almost all of those things when the economy goes down we go down right with it. It's. Happening very quickly. Besides commercial flights What other kinds of activities do you have

here. We have. Two fixed base operators that operate from. From this airport. They. Do a variety of things such as charter and. And. Aircraft servicing and that sort of thing. But. One of the features that we have at the facility is a. Foreign trade zone and we have. For many years. Marketed that. Facility and and there are some opportunities for manufacturing here. In fact. The last two major companies that moved to the community both identified the foreign trade zone as one of the things that made the community attractive to them. Last September. Got Federal Express in here to run and a ramp operation and and that's a very exciting project that's one that we have worked on for 10 years and. Finally it paid off in fact for the last three or four

years they've been telling me that oh in September we're coming and it's going to be great and finally last September they came in and frankly it is great. They fly. A 727 from Memphis into here. And. That arrives. To route five in the morning. And. Then there is a fleet. Of. Cessna tour weight caravan. Cargo airplanes based here. There's seven of those. And. A third child of twenty seven that is based here as a result of Federal Express and. I mean it's quite an operation going on and. They look forward to the day when they have a little larger airplane. To. Accommodate their lift needs here. But the business continues to boom and and with the. New.

Mines opening up in Rock Springs and Gillette they are looking at having to put extra flights in there daily and so that means there'll be more craft based here. More pilots. It's really. A great operation. We like it we're. Tickled we got it. The the. With was. Originally this was Casper Army Air Base. Can you tell me what buildings remain from that period of time. You know a couple of things that are of great interest. One of them is they enlisted man's club. For the noncommissioned officers club I guess. And it's it has murals in it and it really is quite a fantastic place. And that's been. Been rented by. Several dance. Square dance clubs over the years and

they really have. Done their best to ensure that those murals were well taken care of them. And we've been very happy to have them in there because they have been tremendous caretakers. And so I think that that is. Is certainly something of interest. You know. The problem that we have is whether or not. This is the appropriate place to display that. That particular building. It might make more sense. To. Put it somewhere where. There are. Caretakers around all the time where the public has better access to it. What do you think the future looks like how are you planning for that. At this particular time within the master plan that we're doing we're doing a historical survey of all of the buildings and all of the facility that existed during World War Two. And. And that

has been accomplished at this point. Next step will be. To see what the results of that are and and are there any recommendations as far as. You know where is there anything worse worse really preserving or or whatever. Out here. Just in the 1st of July this year a lady called me and she had been one of the lacks the Women's Army Corps who'd been stationed here and she had met her husband who was a tailgunner returning from Italy and stationed here and 50 years ago the first of July they were married in our base chapel. That chapel now is the Lady of Fatima and Caspar and they moved that whole building in there and inside structurally it's just exactly as the way it was out here. So they went out to the church and got to go through it and renew their vows and they were both just ecstatic. Others have come man and I have pictures of some of the men and a crew that's leaving

overseas and they pointed themselves out to me and it's been it's been a real fun experience. And of course they all remember this billing and the fun times they had over here. And they all want to know about it. And sometimes we can find someone to lead us in and other times we can't. So some of them got to see that but not all of them. The roots of this airport reach all the way back to a time when our nation had one purpose to win the war. What we have today and what we hope the future holds for all made possible by the sacrifices of that generation of Americans our profound thanks to all of them. I'm Deborah Hammond.

Main Street Wyoming is made possible in part by grants from Kennicott energy proud to be a part of Wyoming's future in the uranium exploration mining and production industry. And by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities and ridging lives of Wyoming people through their study of Wyoming history values and ideas.