World War II Originally intended by
Cobb County, Georgia, as an alternative
airfield for
Atlanta's
Candler Field, this airfield was constructed in 1941 as
Rickenbacker Field. This was named for the former
U.S. Army Air Corps top
flying ace of
World War I,
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker. The push to build this airport came in 1940 when
President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected General
Lucius D. Clay of the Army Air Corps to be the chief of the new
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), which was engaged in a huge program of airfield construction. About 450 to 500 of these were built in preparation for any possible war against the
United States - from the east (
Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy) or from the west (the
Empire of Japan). In 1940, the CAA offered to build a modern
paved airport in Cobb County if the local governments provided the land. Due to the potential labor force for defense factories in this area, local officials also hoped to attract a large
aircraft factory adjacent to the site. On October 24, the government of Cobb County announced the existence of this airport project, and it also revealed that purchase options had been signed for three prospective sites. The
Atlanta City Council also passed a resolution endorsing this project on January 2, 1941. Since the Army Air Corps had recently taken over part of Candler Field (now
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport), the principal municipal airport for
Atlanta, the new airport in Cobb County was also seen as a reliever airport for Atlanta. In May, the local government issued
bonds to purchase located miles southeast of Marietta along the western side of the new four-lane
superhighway,
U.S. Highway 41, linking Marietta with Atlanta. The CAA next allocated $400,000 for construction of two -long
runways on the land. The W. L. Florence Company of
Powder Springs, Georgia, the low bidder with a bid of $290,000, won the contract. This bid, well below the estimated cost of $400,000, allowed the CAA to add the third runway to this construction project. The construction began on 14 July 1941. In the next month, the
Gulf Oil Corporation and Georgia Air Services agreed to lease the airport, once completed, for $12,000 per year. In September 1941,
Eddie Rickenbacker, America's leading
flying ace of
World War I, and then the president and general manager of
Eastern Airlines, agreed to have this airport named
Rickenbacker Field in his honor. In the same month, the
U.S. Navy requested permission to use this airport for the
flight training of
Naval aviators. (The Navy had established the "Naval Aviation Reserve Base Atlanta", at what is now the
DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, in March 1941.) In October, Georgia Air Services signed a $70,000 contract for two 180x160-ft.
airplane hangars to be built. Although it was far from completion, the dedication of this airfield took place in October 1941 After the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, work on this new airfield accelerated rapidly. In January 1942,
Lawrence Dale Bell, the founder and president of the
Bell Aircraft Company, inspected this site for a proposed government-financed
airplane factory for the
Department of War. Meanwhile, the
Department of the Navy announced its intention to take over the new airfield as an auxiliary
naval air station. The Navy shortly began land-condemnation proceedings. The Department of War, in turn, announced that it would not contest the wish of the Department of the Navy to take over Rickenbacker Field, and that it would build its new factory elsewhere. The Cobb County government appealed to the
Secretary of the Navy,
Frank Knox, urging him to change the Navy's plans. Since other options were available for flight training. Secretary Knox relinquished the Navy's claim on this airfield and left it to the
Army Air Forces. (During
World War II, the Navy established an auxiliary naval air station at
Gainesville, Georgia, just northeast of Atlanta.) On January 23, 1942, the Bell Aircraft Company and the Department of War announced that an aircraft factory employing up to 40,000 workers would be built near Marietta. Also, the Department of War announced on February 19 that "Rickenbacker Field" would be renamed the
Marietta Army Airfield. Although its construction began in March 1942, its official ground-breaking ceremony took place in May 1942, with Captain
Rickenbacker present. Rickenbacker went on to establish and pay for an aviation educational program to train workers for both
civil aviation and
military aviation. Also in 1942, the
City of Atlanta began work on its contribution: a pipeline to supply the new factory with water from the
Chattahoochee River. In addition to taking over Rickenbacker Field, the
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) purchased a parcel of land just north of the airfield for a cantonment area. The Marietta Army Airfield was activated on June 6, 1943, with its personnel housed in tents as part of the
58th Bombardment Operational Training Wing. At the end of June 1943, there were 42
officers and 356
enlisted men stationed here. The mission of the Marietta Army Airfield was acceptance testing of
B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers for the USAAF, the modification of B-29s, and the operation of an Army Air Depot. Barracks for the soldiers reached completion in November 1943. By January 1, 1944, the number of soldiers stationed here had risen to 73 officers and 1,263 enlisted men. For a period of time, the Marietta Army Airfield was assigned to the USAAF's
Second Air Force under the
XX Bomber Command. On 12 April 1944, the Marietta Army Airfield was reassigned to the "17th Bombardment Operation Training Unit". In the spring of 1943 the adjacent Bell Aircraft Company's factory, an additional plant (besides a pair of
Boeing plants
Renton,
Washington and
Wichita, Kansas (former
Stearman Aircraft) and a
Martin plant at
Offutt Field,
Omaha, Nebraska) for manufacturing
B-29 Superfortresses was completed. The "Defense Plant Corporation" of the Department of War paid for the construction of this factory, and the department called it "
Plant #6". Bell Aircraft completed its first B-29 on schedule, and this was first
test-flown on November 4, 1943. The production of B-29s at this factory increased slowly during 1944, and by the fall of 1944, Bell Aircraft's output of new B-29s began to meet and exceed the goals of the Department of War. By January 1945, Bell Aircraft had completed 357 B-29A's. After the completion of the last one of these, the production in Marietta was switched to the B-29B Superfortress, which was a simplified version of the B-29 without the computerized gun system and other components that raised the allowable bomb load from 11,000 to 18,000 pounds. The new B-29B radar, mounted in a wing-shaped radome under the fuselage, gave much better images of the ground. The
315th Bombardment Wing based at
Northwest Field,
Guam, received most of the B-29Bs for night low altitude pathfinder led missions against
Japan. Bell built a total of 311 B-29Bs before the plant closed in January 1946. At its height, the Bell Bomber plant employed 28,263.
Post-war Marietta Army Airfield remained open after the war and became the home of
Georgia Air National Guard (ANG) and
Air Force Reserve units. The first post-war ANG unit, the
128th Fighter Squadron, activated at Marietta on 20 August 1946, with
P-47 Thunderbolts. This was followed by the activation of the headquarters of the
116th Fighter Group on 9 September and the activation of the headquarters of the
54th Fighter Wing which commanded 56 units of the
Air National Guard throughout the
Southeastern states. In 1948, part of the land and
barracks at the original
Naval Air Station Atlanta in nearby
Chamblee were given to the state for the purpose of creating an
engineering technology school that could rapidly train returning soldiers for civilian work in various technical fields. Also in 1948 the airfield became
Marietta Air Force Base as a result of the creation of the
United States Air Force. In 1950, the Air Force renamed the base
Dobbins Air Force Base in honor of Captain Charles M. Dobbins of
Marietta, a World War II transport pilot. Captain Dobbins died near
Sicily on July 11, 1943, when US Navy gunners who had earlier suffered a
Luftwaffe (German air force) attack mistakenly downed his C-47. He was flying his third mission of the day, dropping paratroopers. Following the war, the Bell Aircraft Plant #6 remained closed for five years. In 1951,
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation took over the plant to modify B-29s for the
Korean War. Lockheed also went on to build 394
B-47 Stratojets at the plant under license from Boeing. Additionally, Lockheed also conducted a B-47 modification program at Marietta. To handle the B-47 production and modification work, the airfield received a 10,000 × runway. Over the years, the Lockheed plant constructed the
Lockheed JetStar business jet (C-140),
C-130 Hercules,
C-141 Starlifter, and
C-5 Galaxy. In 1957,
Naval Air Station Atlanta (NAS Atlanta) at the present day
Peachtree-DeKalb Airport in nearby
Chamblee moved to Dobbins AFB. The Navy constructed a cantonment area on the southwest portion of Dobbins AFB for their use. In 1962, the
Southern Technical Institute (now part of
Kennesaw State University) began classes on land given to the University System of Georgia by Dobbins AFB four years prior. In June 1992 the official name was changed from Dobbins Air Force Base to
Dobbins Air Reserve Base (Dobbins ARB). In 2003, the
Air Force Reserve Command changed the name again to
Dobbins Joint Air Reserve Base (Dobbins JARB). However, with the closure of the NAS Atlanta on 29 September 2009, the name reverted to Dobbins Air Reserve Base once again. In September 2005, the
53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunter aircraft flew out of Dobbins JARB after
Hurricane Katrina did major damage to their normal home at
Keesler Air Force Base in
Biloxi,
Mississippi. Numerous
evacuees also came to
metro Atlanta through Dobbins JARB, including many
medevaced medical patients taken in by local hospitals. Over the years, a wide variety of U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Air Force aircraft have been stationed at Dobbins AFB with the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard, including the
P-51 Mustang,
F-51 Mustang,
F-84 Thunderstreak,
F-86 Sabre,
C-97 Stratocruiser,
C-123 Provider,
C-124 Globemaster II,
F-100 Super Sabre,
F-105 Thunderchief,
F-4 Phantom II,
C-7 Caribou,
C-130 Hercules and the
F-15 Eagle. Naval aircraft have included the
A-4 Skyhawk,
A-7 Corsair II,
A-6 Intruder,
F/A-18 Hornet and
C-9 Skytrain II of the U.S. Navy and
OV-10 Bronco,
AH-1 SeaCobra,
UH-1 Huey and
F/A-18 Hornet aircraft of the U.S. Marine Corps. ==Current and future use==