Selfridge Air National Guard Base
Selfridge Air National Guard Base or Selfridge ANGB is an Air National Guard installation located in Harrison Township, Michigan, near Mount Clemens. Selfridge Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917.
Units and organizations
The host organization is the 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard, but a variety of Air Force Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Army Reserve, Army National Guard, and active duty Coast Guard units use the facility as well. In 1971, Selfridge ANGB became the largest and most complex joint Reserve Forces base in the United States, a position it held until surpassed by NAS JRB Fort Worth in the late 1990s.U.S. Army Garrison-Selfridge serves the Tank-automotive and Armaments Command supporting tank construction in the Detroit area.
The airport is home to the 176th Selfridge Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, the auxiliary civilian arm of the US Air Force, as well as the headquarters of CAP's Michigan Wing.
Selfridge is home to Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines and Marine Wing Support Group 47.
The base is also home to Detachment 1, Company B, 3-238th General Support Aviation Battalion, which currently flies the CH-47 Chinook.
Selfridge Military Air Museum
The on-base Selfridge Military Air Museum is operated by the Michigan Air Guard Historical Association, exhibits photos and artifacts of military aerospace history, and has an outdoor Air Park of over 30 aircraft.History
Selfridge Air National Guard Base is named after 1st Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge. He was detailed for aeronautical duty in April 1908 after being an assistant to Professor Alexander Graham Bell, who was conducting aeronautical experiments in Nova Scotia. Selfridge was killed on 17 September 1908 while flying as a passenger with Orville Wright at Fort Myer, Virginia. He was the first person to be killed in a crash of a powered aircraft.World War I
The origins of Selfridge Air National Guard Base date to 1916, when a large tract of land on Lake St. Clair, Michigan was acquired by the Packard Motor Car Company at the urging of Packard president Henry B. Joy, who took a great interest in aviation and led the company to begin developing aircraft engines for use in aircraft engaged in World War I combat in Europe. In the spring of 1917, lobbying began in Washington to locate a military airfield at the site of the Joy Aviation Field on Lake St. Clair. The United States had just officially entered World War I on April 7. Proponents of the site pointed out the advantages of the field's proximity to the auto capital of the nation and the availability of the lake for practice bombing.In May 1917, it was announced that Joy Aviation Field would be included as a training Camp as part of the expansion of the Air Service, becoming one of only nine military airfields in the country at the time. The United States Army leased the of land, and construction commenced immediately to provide the necessary road and rail access to the site. Within a month, the newspaper was reporting that 1,000 men were at work at the field constructing hangars, barracks, supply depots, machine shops and a school building.
On 9 July, the first training aircraft, a Curtiss JN-4D, arrived at the new airfield, and the base was gearing up to train men in flying, bombing, radio, and photography for the war effort. The first pilots were members of the 8th and 9th Aero Squadrons, and Captain Byron Q. Jones was the first commander at Selfridge. Actual pilot training began on 16 July 1917, three months after war was declared. Some of these students, a few of them from Mount Clemens area, were given a few flights and then, within two weeks, whisked overseas for advanced training and to meet the enemy. During the summer of 1917, 72 men won aviator ratings and, combined, logged over 3,700 flying hours. From that time on, hundreds of young men passed through Selfridge Air Pilot School for the four weeks of training which qualified them for a commission. Then they were on their way as instructors to the front or to the other flying schools. being established throughout the country.
Training units assigned to Selfridge Field were:
- Post Headquarters, Selfridge Field – October 1919
- 40th Aero Squadron, August 1917
- 380th Aero Squadron, January 1918
- Squadron "C", August–November 1918
- Squadron "D", August–November 1918
- Squadron "E", August–November 1918
- Flying School Detachment, November 1918 – November 1919
The training center suffered an early setback in March 1918, as the Clinton River flooded the entire site, and all personnel were evacuated to schools and churches in nearby Mount Clemens.
On April 1, 1918, preparations got underway for the opening of a new gunnery school at the airport. Instructors were borrowed from the French, British, and Canadian flying corps. By July 1918, Selfridge had reached its peak performance in gunnery training. Over 250 students were enrolled at one time, and on one occasion 52 planes were in the air over the field simultaneously. Classes were so filled that 150 Lewis air guns, 60 Lewis ground guns, 80 Marlin air guns, 90 camera guns and 10 aerial cameras were in use daily. By the end of World War I, the young base had 1,028 enlisted men and 200 officers. It had trained 72 pilots and 700 mechanics, and 1,002 men had attended gunnery school.
The 1918 Armistice with Germany ended World War I. The end of the war, however, produced some major changes. From a training field producing mechanics and gunners, Selfridge became a pursuit field, but men who had enlisted for the duration of the war were being discharged, and no new students were being trained.
Inter-war period
Beginning 27 June 1919, Selfridge became the home of the 1st Pursuit Group, currently the oldest combat group in the Air Force. The group was organized in France during World War I and like many others, was demobilized after the war then re-created in 1919. It remained based at Selfridge for approximately 20 years. Many notable names are included in the group's roster including George H. Brett, James "Jimmy" Doolittle, Carl A. Spaatz, Curtis LeMay, Frank O. Hunter, Emmett "Rosie" O'Donnell, Earle E. Partridge, Paul Wurtsmith and over 100 men who rose to the rank of Air Force general.The uncertain future of Selfridge Field, however, caused the 1st Pursuit Group to be moved to Kelly Field, Texas, shortly after its return. On 28 August 1919, following an order from Washington, all but 40 men left for Texas airfields. Finally reduced to a staff of only 14 civilians, Selfridge Field for all practical purposes ceased to exist for government officials.
Until 1921, the government leased Selfridge Field from Henry B. Joy. That year, Joy offered to sell the property for $190,000, a price government appraisers felt was too high. But when the National Aeronautics Advisory Committee pointed out the field's proximity to the mechanical and industrial centers of Detroit, the price was paid. The field sprang back to life on 1 July 1922, when the 1st Pursuit Group, which had gone from Kelly Field to Ellington Field outside Houston, Texas, in 1921, returned to make Selfridge its home for almost the next 20 years. In 1922, Selfridge was declared a permanent installation under command of Maj. Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, who later became Chief of Staff for the Air Force.
Air races at Selfridge from 1922 through the 1930s included the first John Mitchell Trophy Race, the Pulitzer Trophy Race, and the Curtiss Trophy Race and Boeing Trophy. Charles A. Lindbergh was assigned to Selfridge in 1927, returned in July 1927 m and returned again 10 November 1927 to become a member of the 1st Pursuit Group and complete his reserve training.
In 1925, planes equipped with ice skids left Selfridge for Camp Skeel in Oscoda, Michigan to determine the usefulness of airplanes in harsh winter. Squadron commander Thomas Lamphier declared the test a success and proclaimed that similarly planes could be used to in Arctic regions.
During the 1930s and 1940s, squadrons "from Selfridge performed maneuvers over Detroit, local citizens." In 1935, Selfridge became part of the top-level General Headquarters, Air Force, along with five other strategically located installations: Mitchel Field in New York, Langley Field in Virginia, Barksdale Field in Louisiana, March Field in California and Hamilton Field in California. A large expansion program was launched in 1939 to train four new pursuit groups at Selfridge for eventual assignment to other GHQ fields. Many of the temporary frame buildings still in use today were built at that time, when a $13.5 million construction program was started at Selfridge.
The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 again brought many changes to Selfridge Field. The 17th Pursuit Squadron, a member of the 1st Pursuit Group since June 1918, was reassigned to the Philippines. More Selfridge pilots left for the Pacific in a surprise move early in 1940, when 40 pilots and mechanics volunteered to serve with Gen. Claire Chennault and his Flying Tigers. They left for Rangoon early in the summer.