On an ordinary night, the aircraft hangar would have been filled with student pilots and their instructors carrying out the Columbus Air Force Base mission of producing pilots, advancing airmen and “feeding the fight” by preparing airmen for eventual deployment.
But Friday, the hangar was the setting for a dignitary-studded soirée that carried on well into the night as the base celebrated the 70th anniversary of its first graduating pilot class.
For many attendees, the evening was somewhat of a homecoming. The keynote speaker was U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who recalled his first trip to the base as a high school ROTC student. He later trained at the base, serving as an officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1976 to 1980. He became a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1980 and retired from the Reserve in 2003 as a lieutenant colonel.
The base sprang to life in the 1940s, during a time of tribulation and triumph. As such, it is a product of the greatest generation, Wicker said.
On June 9, 1941, the U.S. War Department sent word that Columbus had been chosen as the site for an Air Corps pilot training school. Ground was broken on July 23, 1941, and by December, most of the base construction was complete. On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Three months later, Columbus’ first class of airmen received their silver wings.
But the base didn’t just rise from the fields like magic. It was the result of years of work by community leaders, and Wicker recognized those people Friday night.
“It didn’t have to come here,” Wicker said of the base.
Over the years, CAFB has had an undeniable impact on the community, said Joe Higgins, CEO of the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link. But likewise, he said, the base — and subsequently, Columbus — has impacted the world.
Dai Wilson was just a child when the base was built. At 78, she can’t remember a time when the air was not filled with student pilots performing what sometimes seemed like amazing feats. Her family donated some property to be used as an auxiliary air field, and she can remember crouching in the grass with her friends, watching the takeoffs and landings. Some of her favorite birthday parties were rollerskating parties on the concrete runway.
There was something special about growing up in an Air Force town, she said. Something was always happening. There was always an undercurrent of excitement in the air. Actor Clark Gable passed through town while on a routine pilot training mission. Four space shuttles — Atlantis, Columbus, Endeavour and Discovery — made fuel stops at CAFB.
“Even though there was all kinds of security, on occasions like tonight they welcomed the community and made them feel appreciated,” she said. “The base was always locked down, but (my friends and I) knew all the backroads.”
Her husband, WWII veteran Tandy Wilson, trained at CAFB. He said the day he earned his silver wings ranks as one of the happiest days of his life. And he believes he owes his life to the instruction he received.
He can still remember the night he and a student pilot and an instructor were flying back with a plane full of newly-liberated French prisoners of war. The student pilot became sick with vertigo, and the plane was in danger of crashing.
The crew chief told Wilson to take over and fly them home.
“I can still feel him hitting me on the shoulders,” Wilson said, leaning forward and emphatically thumping his shoulder for emphasis.
Visitors had the opportunity to examine old Air Force memorabilia as well as pose for pictures with four vintage planes — a P-51 Mustang, a Stearman, an AT-6 Texan and a Piper J-3 Cub.
But Caledonia Mayor George Gerhart had another plane on his mind Friday night — the formidable B-52 bomber. He was just a boy, living out on the prairie, but he’ll never forget his first sight of the B-52 when it flew into CAFB.
“I thought the wings were gonna hit the ground,” Gerhart said.
He said he attended the festivities Friday night to show appreciation for the base and the men and women who have called it home.
“The base has meant a lot of jobs, a lot of job security,” he said. “It’s meant a lot to Caledonia.”
According to CAFB statistics, in 2010, the base had an economic impact of $257 million. Last year, 335 pilots earned their wings at the base, and every day, an average of 350 sorties are flown.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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