Turner Field (1941–1946) In mid-1940 the
U.S. Army Air Corps approached the city of Albany about the possibility of building a training base near Albany. The city raised the necessary money and purchased 4,900 acres of land which was then leased to the Army for $51 a year. Construction of the base and airfield, named Air Corps Advanced Flying School, Albany by the
United States Army Corps of Engineers began on 25 March 1941. On 21 July 1941, the field was named Turner Field in honor of Lt. Sullivan Turner, a Georgia native killed in a midair collision. Once operational, Turner Field was used for acclimatization training (for foreign trainees) and advanced flight training as part of the
30th Flying Training Wing. Primary flight training in the
Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Kaydet was done at
Darr Aero Tech also in Albany. Under the
Arnold Scheme some 5,000
Royal Air Force trainees were trained at Turner Field and Darr Aero Tech between 1941 and 1943. In 1944 Turner Field began training
Free French Air Forces pilots to fly the
North American B-25 Mitchell of which more than 100 were based at Turner Field. Turner Field was deactivated on 15 August 1946 and maintained in caretaker status. In 1950 the base was transferred from
Continental Air Command (CAC) to
Strategic Air Command (SAC). The
40th Air Division was based at Turner from 14 March 1951 to 1 April 1957. The
508th Fighter-Escort Wing (later renamed the 508th Strategic Fighter Wing) was based at Turner from July 1952 until 11 May 1956. One of the component units of the 822nd Air Division was the
4138th Strategic Wing which was activated at Turner and received its first combat aircraft when the
336th Bombardment Squadron, equipped with 15
B-52 Stratofortresses moved to Turner from
Biggs AFB, Texas. In February 1963, the 4138th Strategic Wing and 336th Bombardment Squadron were inactivated and the
484th Bombardment Wing was activated at Turner to assume the mission, aircraft, personnel and equipment of the 4138th wing. With the impending closure of
Naval Air Station Sanford, Reconnaissance Attack Wing One moved to NAS Albany and it became the main operational base for the Navy's
North American RA-5C Vigilante until 1974 when operations were moved to
NAS Key West, Florida.
Miller Brewing Company (1979–present) In 1979 the
Miller Brewing Company purchased part of the former base as a site for a new brewery. ==References==