History
The airfield was acquired by lease from various owners beginning in 1940, and was constructed the by the 841st Aviation Engineers Battalion in 1943. It was initially called a "T/O training field,supporting the main base of the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Air Base.
Bushnell had a 6,000-foot hard-surface runway and a a 4,000-foot NNE/SSW steel plank landing mat runway but had no radio facilities, no gasoline, and no hangars. The 6,000-foot runway was known as the "bomber runway", while the 4,000-foot strip was known as the "fighter runway". An aircraft parking area was apparently located at the southwest end of the bomber runway.
Bushnell was used extensively in Chemical warfare trials. In 1943 the Dugway Proving Ground Mobile Chemical Warfare Service Unit arrived at Bushnell AAF to begin experiments on non-persistent chemical agents, setting up the Chemical Warfare Service Experimental Station. The airfield was used by the Dugway Proving Ground Mobile CWS Unit as a landing strip for the planes used in the field trials at Withlacoochee Bombing & Gunnery Range. Bushnell was also used by Boeing B-17s from Brooksville AAF, B-25 Mitchells from Montbrook AAF, P-47 Thunderbolts from Cross City AAF, P-38 Lightnings from Lakeland AAF, and B-26 Marauders from Drew Field near Tampa.
Read more about this topic: Bushnell Army Airfield
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“[Men say:] “Don’t you know that we are your natural protectors?” But what is a woman afraid of on a lonely road after dark? The bears and wolves are all gone; there is nothing to be afraid of now but our natural protectors.”
—Frances A. Griffin, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 19, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)