Bartow Air Base

Bartow Air Base, is a former United States Air Force base, located 4.9 mi northeast of Bartow, Florida. It was closed in 1961. Today the facility is known as Bartow Municipal Airport

History

World War II

In early 1942, local officials persuaded the United States Army Air Forces to develop a military air base at the site of the Bartow Municipal Airport, built in the 1930s. The War Department and the city of Bartow agreed to a lease and The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improved and expanded the three runways, into a star-shaped pattern of 5000×150(NE/SW), 5000×150(E/W), 5000×150(NW/SE) along with a series of taxiways, dispersal parking hardstands, hangar ramp and constructed the necessary buildings to operate a training facility.

The new airfield was assigned to Third Air Force, based at MacDill Field in Tampa, Florida. Initially planned on being a III Bomber Command training station, the need for fighter pilots in 1942 was greater and it was transferred to III Fighter Command, headquartered at Drew Army Airfield, also near Tampa.

Military airbase

An military airbase (sometimes referred to as a military airfield, military airport, air force station, air force base or short airbase) is an aerodrome used by a military force for the operation of military aircraft.

Airbase facilities

An airbase typically has some facilities similar to a civilian airport—for example air traffic control and firefighting. Some military aerodromes have passenger facilities; for example RAF Brize Norton in England has a terminal used by passengers for the Royal Air Force's flights by TriStar to the Falkland Islands. A number of military airbases also have a civil enclave for commercial passenger flights, e.g. Beijing Nanyuan Airport (China), Ibaraki Airport (Japan), Burlington International Airport (USA).

Some airbases have revetments, hardened aircraft shelters, or even underground hangars, to protect aircraft from enemy attack. Combat aircraft require storage of aircraft ordnance. An airbase may be defended by anti-aircraft weapons and force protection troops.