Stallings Air Base was a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

base operational from 1944 to 1957. It later reopened as Kinston Airport and is now known as Kinston Regional Jetport.

History

Stallings Air Base originally was built in 1944 by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. It opened in October as a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

flying training airfield known as Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Kinston, being an auxiliary field to

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...

. Construction involved building runways and several aircraft hangars, with three concrete runways, several taxiways, a large parking apron and a control tower. Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled. Most base buildings, not meant for long-term use, were constructed of temporary or semi-permanent materials. Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen, most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper. Naval Aviation Cadets received V-5 flight training along with basic flying indoctrination at the airfield until the facility was closed on 31 October 1945. As a result of the Cold War and the expansion of the

, Kinston Air BaseAir Training Command applied the "Air Base" designation to private contractor-operated flying training bases in continental United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. With the advent of the jet-powered Cessna T-37, Northrop

T-38 Talon The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twinjet supersonic jet trainer. It was the world's first, and the most produced, supersonic trainer. The T-38 remains in service in several air forces. The United States Air Force (USAF) operates the mos ...

, and the establishment of the Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) system whereby prospective USAF pilots would receive all initial flight training at a single base, the USAF contract flying training program was deemed superfluous. All stateside air bases conducting such contract flying training were phased out and closed by the early 1960s, the facilities transitioning to either auxiliary fields of active air force bases or to civilian airport status. was reopened on 17 October 1950 by the USAF

Air Training Command Air Training Command (ATC) is a former United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command designation. It was headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, but was initially formed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It was re-designated as A ...

, as a contract flying training school. The 3308th Flying Training Squadron (Contract Flying) was the operational training unit at the base, with ground and flight training being supplied by the Serv-Air Aviation Corporation. Training at Kinston began on 17 October 1951. In May 1952, Air Training Command renamed Kinston Airfield as Stallings Air Base in memory of Kinston natives Lt Bruce Stallings, a

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

pilot killed in March 1945, and his brother, Lt Harry Stallings, a

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 ...

navigator killed in April 1945. The base conducted flying training and contract flying training initially with Link T-8 and T-18 trainers, later being upgraded to Beechcraft

T-34 Mentor The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is an American propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Bonanza, Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the ...

and North American

T-28 Trojan The North American Aviation T-28 Trojan is a radial-engine military trainer aircraft manufactured by North American Aviation and used by the United States Air Force and United States Navy beginning in the 1950s. Besides its use as a trainer, ...

aircraft. In April 1957, ATC proposed that the contract training at Stallings AB be closed. This recommendation was approved in September and on 1 October flying training ended at Stallings AB. The base was formally inactivated on 27 November 1957.

Notes

References

* Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas *

External links

* {{Portal bar, Aviation, United States, World War II Installations of the United States Air Force in North Carolina Airports in North Carolina Airports established in 1944 Buildings and structures in Lenoir County, North Carolina Military installations closed in 1957