Reading Regional Airport - History

History

Opened as a civil airport in April 1938, Reading Airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces First Air Force as a training airfield during World War II.

Reading Army Airfield was opened on 1 June 1943, with the 309th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron as its host unit. The mission of the airfield was to train tactical reconnaissance units. The 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was activated on the airfield the same date, with the 37th, 39th, 40th and 91st Photo Reconnaissance Squadrons.

Aircraft used by the group for training were the Curtiss O-52 Owl; Douglas O-53 Havoc; Douglas O-46, and the Stinson O-49 Vigilant. The 72d Liaison Squadron, flying the Aeronaca O-58 Grasshopper arrived on 7 June and remained assigned to the station until 29 July 1943 when it was assigned to Camp Mackall, North Carolina.

On 11 November 1943, the 26th was reassigned to Camp Campbell, Kentucky to train with the 101st Airborne Division before deploying to England, and engaging in combat operations as part of Ninth Air Force. It was replaced by the 11th Photographic Group on 1 December 1943. The 11th Photo Group used Reading as its worldwide headquarters, as its reconnaissance and photo squadrons were deployed to various parts of the world.

On 1 January 1944, Reading AAF was reassigned to Air Technical Service Command and became a sub-base of the Middletown Air Depot near Harrisburg. The mission of the station became to repair and overhaul aircraft and return them to active service. The 11th Photo Group moved out to MacDill Airfield, Florida.

On 1 June 1944, the 309th Air Base Squadron was re-designated as the 85th Army Air Force Base Unit. The activity at Reading was phased down during the summer of 1945, and with the war ending, it was inactivated as an active military airfield on 26 February 1946 and the airport was designated as an Air Force Reserve base. On that same date, the field was turned over to Air Defense Command, Eleventh Air Force as a reserve airfield, and the 2237th Air Force Reserve Training Center was activated to coordinate reserve training. The 438th Army Air Forces Base Unit was activated on 15 December for coordinating operations of the airfield and control of the military base facilities. On 1 January 1948, jurisdiction of the field was transferred to the ADC First Air Force.

During the late 1940s, a series of reserve bombardment groups were assigned to the airport, these being:

• On 24 May 1946 the 148th Fighter Squadron, Pennsylvania Air National Guard was assigned to the Airport. It was formerly the Twelfth Air Force 347th Fighter Squadron which was inactivated on 7 November 1945 prior to being re designated and turned over to the Air National Guard. The squadron was activated at the airport on 22 April 1947 with P (later F-47) Thunderbolts under the 112th Fighter Group at Pittsburgh Airport. On 10 February 1951 the squadron was federalized due to the Korean War and brought to active duty at Dover AFB, Delaware. It was released from active duty on 1 November 1952 and was re-equipped with the F-51 Mustang for interceptor duty. In 1956, as propeller driven F-51 Mustang fighters faded into history, the unit was re-designated the 140th Aeromedical Transport Squadron, flying the C-46 Commando and later the C-119 Flying Boxcar. In 1964, the unit relocated to its current location at Olmsted Air National Guard Base (present day Harrisburg International Airport)

• 322d Bombardment Group (Light), 9 August 1947-27 June 1949, Flew the A-26 Invader

59th, 451st and 452d Bombardment Squadrons. Also had the 55th Troop Carrier Group assigned, but never equipped.

• 319th Bombardment Group (Light), 27 June-2 September 1949, Flew the A-26 Invader

49th and 51st Bombardment Squadrons

• 512th Troop Carrier Group (Combat Cargo), 2 September 1949-1 May 1950, Flew the C-46 Commando

1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Combat Cargo Squadrons

Due to budgetary cutbacks, the Reserve Training Center at Reading was inactivated on 1 May 1950 and reassigned to New Castle County Airport, Delaware. The Air Force closed its facilities at Reading airport and it was returned to full civil control.

In the 1950s Reading Air Services sponsored the National Maintenance & Operations Meeting, better known as the Reading Airshow, and later Reading Aerofest. The annual airshow was one of the largest in the United States through the sixties and seventies peaking at 100,000 in attendance in 1976. The show expanded to a week long trade and airshow, then declined and ended in 1980 as infastrcture was overwhelmed and prices escalated. It was revived again in 1985 as a smaller airshow, the Reading Aerofest, ending in 1998.

On 5 December 1984, Reading Airport was dedicated as Carl Andrew Spaatz Field. Carl Spaatz was a nearby Boyertown, Pennsylvania native and a World War II General. General Spaatz was the first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force.

Since the 1950s, the airport has also been home to the Reading Composite Squadron (Pennsylvania Wing designation Squadron 811) of the U.S. Civil Air Patrol.