Northeast Florida (Jacksonville area) was mostly known for its heavy Naval Air Station presence during WWII. Besides Camp Blanding, the Navy gets most of the attention in these parts. There were many Navy facilities, including NAS Jacksonville, NAAS Green Cove Springs (Lee Field), NAAS Cecil Field, NAAS Lake City, NAAS Imeson Field, Mayport, and countless associated outlying fields. Lesser known however is the foothold that the Army Air Forces also had in the area at three lesser known airfields. They were Alachua AAF (Gainesville Regional Airport), Kay Larkin AAF (Palatka City owned airport), and finally, Keystone AAF located in Keystone Heights and presently the location of the Keystone Air Park. Keystone AAF is really intriguing to me. I have desired to write something about it for quite some time. However, there just isn’t much information available about Keystone AAF that is accessible to me without a trip to some archival collection in a faraway land. There is the obligatory Wikipedia (see link) article where I have gained the little knowledge I have about the place. From what I have learned, there were three outfits located there during the field’s short wartime life from Dec 1942 to Jan 1945. Their mission centered around training crews for reconnaissance and observation type missions. They flew a variety of planes out of Keystone including the F-3A Havocs, P-39 Aircobras, P-40 Warhawks, P-47D Thunderbolts, and a few other types. The design of the airfield itself was very distinctive and remains the same today (see photos). Airfield construction seemed like a significant investment by the Army and featured three main runways, numerous concrete taxiways, and parking hardstands randomly scattered around the field. The administration/living quarters area was a scattering of wooden buildings adjacent to the large aircraft hangar. I believe I have seen other Army Airfields in Florida with this triangular design, but I can’t be sure. The random parking hardstands used by the Army stands in stark contrast with the Navy’s tendency to park all their aircraft together with seemingly little regard or fear from attack. Keystone AAF was located on the southwest side (and adjacent to) of the much larger and overshadowing Army presence at Camp Blanding. I believe there were roads between the two facilities and they shared a fence line. Surely, personnel assigned to Keystone AAF took advantage of the great support facilities and recreational opportunities available at Camp Blanding. I have to believe they did. Camp Blanding has arguably a first class museum dedicated to the camp’s great history and the storied units who trained there during numerous conflicts, especially WWII. I find it highly unusual that there is zero mention Keystone AAF at the Camp Blanding Museum. I have asked volunteers who work at the museum about Keystone AAF, only to be greeted with blanks stares. This is very puzzling and bothersome to me. Hundreds of airmen spent a significant part of their war time years at Keystone AAF and yet nothing seems to document their life there. If anyone has any more information about Keystone AAF, please share it here. Whether it be second hand stories, news articles, personal anecdotes, etc., all are welcomed. I have cobbled together a few pictures of Keystone AAF as well as wartime aerial imagery (that I am very grateful to have). Within the last few years another museum has sprung to life at the the Keystone Airpark. I believe it is called “Wings of Dreams” museum or something similar. The last time I checked, they were soliciting information about the field’s wartime history and had very at that time. Link to wikipedia article:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Army_Airfield
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 17:08:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015