History
Aviation first arrived at Quantico in July 1918, when two kite balloons were flown to spot artillery fire. These forerunners of today's spotter aircraft were soon augmented with the assignment of four seaplanes, which operated from the muddy junction of Chopawamsic Creek and the Potomac River.
In 1919, a flying field was laid out and the land leased to accommodate a squadron returning from World War I combat in Europe. The facility was later named Brown Field, in memory of 2ndLt Walter V. Brown, who lost his life in an early accident at that location. The present site was selected in 1931, when larger and faster planes brought recognition of the limitations and hazards of Brown Field - its single, crosswind runway, bound by trees, hills, swamp, a high tension line and a railroad.
A new airfield was constructed by changing the course and flow of Chopawamsic Creek and reclamation of the marshland from that area. The new facility was named Turner Field.
By 1939, four squadrons — 68 bombers, scout bombers, fighters, transports, utility and observation planes — were based at the airfield. On December 1, 1941, the field was named Marine Corps Air Station Quantico, and placed under operational control of the Commanding General, Marine Barracks.
In 1947, Marine Helicopter Squadron One was established at Quantico to pioneer an entirely new concept in air operation; to evaluate and test, in coordination with the Landing Force development Center, the theory of carrying troops to the battle zone by helicopter.
By the close of the Korean War, helicopters had gained permanent acceptance by the military for tactical and logistical support operations. Effective 15 November 1976, MCAS Quantico was re-designated as Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF), Quantico, Virginia. MCAF Quantico is currently the home of Headquarters Squadron (HqSqn), Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), and home to Marine One.
HMX-1, in addition to its tactical development mission, flies the President of the United States and provides helicopter support for the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
On 1 October 2005, MCAF Quantico was reorganized under the Commanding General, Marine Corps Installations East, headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Read more about this topic: Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When the landscape buckles and jerks around, when a dust column of debris rises from the collapse of a block of buildings on bodies that could have been your own, when the staves of history fall awry and the barrel of time bursts apart, some turn to prayer, some to poetry: words in the memory, a stained book carried close to the body, the notebook scribbled by hand—a center of gravity.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)