Chapter II (continued) Redstone Army Airfield Through the years as Redstone Arsenal evolved into the complex which exists today, the installation's airfield also expanded to keep pace with the numerous changes affecting the center of the Army's rocket and missile development programs. Despite all of the realignments and redesignations that have occurred, the airfield's primary responsibility has remained basically the same: to provide the essential flight support necessary to achieve the arsenal complex's assigned missions. Organization In the past 40 years, Redstone Army Airfield has undergone several organizational changes, in keeping with the realignments affecting the entire arsenal complex. The first of these changes was preceded by MG John B. Medaris' decision in November 1955 to create an Aviation Section within ABMA, the new Army organization to be located at Redstone Arsenal. Medaris, the new agency's first commanding general, made this decision 2 months before he actually began directing the long-range missile development projects at Redstone Arsenal.
After ABMA was activated on 1 February 1956, General Medaris ".... requested that the Arsenal air strip be completely turned over to [ABMA] as the responsible agency for operations and security," since it was the only organization "...operating aircraft from the air strip physically located at Redstone Arsenal." In response to this request, the Redstone Arsenal Commander, BG Holger N. Toftoy, turned over the airfield to ABMA, along with the "structures thereon and appurtenances thereto," effective 1200, 15 February 1956. The airfield became part of the Aviation Section which had been established in the early months of the agency's operation by MAJ Henry R. Del Mar, Chief of the ABMA Transportation Branch, Headquarters Commandant. In May 1956, the Aviation Section was moved from the Transportation Branch and became a separate element under the jurisdiction of the Headquarters Commandant. As previously mentioned, AOMC was activated on 31 March 1958 with ABMA as one of its subordinate elements. On 1 May 1958, Del Mar was named as Chief of the AOMC Transportation Office. Most of the functions of the branch which he had headed at ABMA were transferred to AOMC on 9 May 1958. As part of this realignment, the Aviation Section was assigned to the AOMC Adjutant General for administration, although it was placed under the operational control of the AOMC Transportation Office. The latter organization actually provided military air transportation services and operated Redstone Army Airfield for the command. Effective 15 April 1960, the mission and functions of the Aviation Section, AOMC Adjutant General, were transferred to Redstone Arsenal, less operational control of such missions and functions retained in AOMC Headquarters. This activity was established as an organizational element of Redstone Arsenal and reported directly to the Deputy Commander. Redesignated the USAOMC Army Aviation Division, the organization was responsible for providing military air transportation service for the installation as well as operating the airfield. During the first half of 1961, the Military Air Office was transferred from the Post Transportation Division to the USAOMC Army Aviation Division. Later that same year, on 1 November 1961, the Aviation Division was placed under the jurisdiction of the Post Transportation Division, another element of the Army Ordnance Missile Support Agency which had replaced Redstone Arsenal as the support element of AOMC. Renamed the USAOMC Army Aviation Branch, the organization was charged with administering and maintaining assigned aircraft and Redstone Army Airfield, providing military air transportation service, and operating the airfield for the command. On 20 November 1961, the Aviation Branch was assigned the additional function of scheduling military aircraft. The latter change was made in conjunction with verbal orders of the AOMC Commander directing that those technical service functions (engineer, signal, transportation, etc.) directly related to post or installation functions at Redstone Arsenal be transferred from AOMC Headquarters staff offices to AOMSA. By the first half of 1962, the Aviation Branch consisted of four sections: Operations, Maintenance, Supply, and Schedule. Later that same year, however, the USAOMC Army Aviation Branch was redesignated the Army Aviation Branch, and its four sections were merged into two: Supply and Maintenance, and Schedule and Operations. On 20 December 1966, the MICOM Staff Aviation Office was provisionally established. The new element, which functioned as a Special Assistant, served as the principal staff advisor to the Commander, exercising staff supervision and coordination over MICOM's aviation activities. This office assumed the staff aviation mission and functions formerly assigned to the Installation and Services Office. LTC Samuel E. Tillery, Jr., who headed the Army Aviation Branch under the Post Transportation Division, was dual-hatted as the Chief of the Staff Aviation Office, which became permanent effective 21 May 1967. During the closing months of 1969, however, the Staff Aviation Office ceased to exist as a separate Special Assistant, even though the head of the Army Aviation Branch continued to serve as the Staff Aviation Officer. With the establishment of the Redstone Arsenal Support Activity (RASA) on 4 January 1971, the Army Aviation Branch became the Flight Operations Division and consisted of three branches: Flight Operations and Administration, Air Traffic Control and Operations, and Supply and Maintenance. The chief of the new division remained dual-hatted as the Staff Aviation Officer. During the MIRCOM/MIRADCOM split from 1977 to 1979, Redstone Army Airfield, along with the rest of RASA, fell under MIRCOM's jurisdiction. In FY 1987, the Flight Operations Division became the Flight Operations Directorate as part of RASA's compliance with the Army’s Standard Installation Organization (SIO) structure.
Personnel As previously mentioned, Medaris inaugurated the ABMA Aviation Section in November 1955 with two pilots and one airplane. Shortly thereafter, two more pilots and an L-20 cargo plane were added. The first officer to head ABMA's Aviation Section was CPT William H. Ballard, who was appointed to this position in May 1956. At that time, all of the other personnel assigned to the Aviation Section were also pilots. CPT John K. Self served as the operations officer; CPT Loren L. Glen was the section's maintenance officer; and LT Leonard B. Cram served as the assistant supply officer. There was also one U.S. Navy pilot, Lieutenant Commander Simon J. Burtschell, Jr., stationed at Redstone Army Airfield. By January 1958, less than 2 years after Redstone Army Airfield had been reactivated, the Aviation Section had grown from 2 pilots to 9, with 29 ground employees including maintenance and ramp men as well as tower and GCA operators. As activity at the airfield continued to increase, the number of personnel needed to handle the additional traffic expanded to meet the demand. B. J. Richey, a correspondent with The Huntsville Times, noted in a 1968 article on Redstone Army Airfield that, "On days when all four military services are using the airfield as refueling stops, just about all of the 63 personnel assigned to the branch stay busy." Personnel reductions caused by budget cuts, as well as reductions in air traffic as a result of escalating fuel costs, have been responsible for the declining number of airfield employees in the past two decades. As of 30 September 1988, RASA's Flight Operations Directorate was assigned 56 employees (4 officers, 3 warrant officers, 34 enlisted, and 15 civilians). The following fiscal year (FY), the directorate lost 11 enlisted personnel positions. This cut, along with other changes in airfield personnel, left the organization with a total of 44 employees (4 officers, 4 warrant officers, 24 enlisted, and 12 civilians) at the end of FY 1989.
RSA Pilots. During the years since the reactivation of Redstone Army Airfield in 1956, the aviators who have served at Redstone Arsenal have been some of the Army's best. In September 1959, MAJ Don R. George, head of the AOMC Aviation Section, related that the organization's 12 Army aviators' combined experience [added] up to 130 years and 42,000 hours of flying time--over 3,000 of those hours in combat in World War 11 and Korea." Of those 12 pilots, 8 were helicopter qualified; 2 were instrumented flight examiners; and 6 held special instrument certificates. All of the fixed-wing pilots were instrument rated, while all eight helicopter pilots were qualified as flight instructors. Experience continues to be a key trait among the Army aviators operating out of Redstone Army Airfield. During a newspaper interview in March 1988, MAJ Charles D. Richmond, then the MICOM Staff Aviation Officer and Director of Flight Operations, revealed that, "All but three of our [11] pilots have combat experience. Our flying hours range from 700 hours to a high of 17,000 hours. Among our pilots there is a total of 178 years of flying experience."
The Flying Generals. Three of the Army pilots who have operated out of Redstone Army Airfield in the past were better known for the high profile positions which they held while at Redstone Arsenal than for their abilities as aviators. MG John B. Medaris, MG John A. Barclay, and MG August M. Cianciolo constitute Redstone's trio of flying generals.
Medaris, who received his silver pilot's wings from the Army Aviation School at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in June 1957, was one of the Army's highest ranking officers to complete flight training. In his 4 years as the Commanding General of ABMA and later AOMC, he piloted Army aircraft a total of 1,237 hours. Of those hours, 67 were flown at night, while 196 were flown under instrument flying conditions. As the Army's senior pilot, Medaris "...spent nearly 52 full, 24-hour days in the cockpit of his Army plane..." before he retired on 31 January 1960. Barclay, ABMA Commander from 1958 to 1960 as well as Deputy Commanding General of AOMC from 1960 until his retirement in June 1961, was the second of Redstone Arsenal's highest ranking officers to win his pilot's wings. After he graduated from the Army Aviation School at Fort Rucker in 1958, he became ". . .one of the most active pilots..." on the airfield's roster of aviators. An avid flyer, Barclay, like Medaris, was "...usually at the controls on his trips about the country." The last of Redstone Arsenal's flying generals, Cianciolo served as MICOM Commander from July 1988 to September 1989. Unlike the arsenal's other two high-ranking aviators, however, Cianciolo earned his pilot's wings before he was assigned to Redstone Arsenal. His broad background as an Army aviator included combat experience gained during two tours in Vietnam. Among the awards and decorations received by Cianciolo are the Air Medal with "V" device and the Master Army Aviator Badge. While Commander of MICOM, Cianciolo served as a "fill-in pilot" and assisted with helicopter cargo flights being handled by Redstone Army Airfield.
Facilities Before ABMA. Between October 1945, when the 618th AAF Base Unit was removed from Huntsville Arsenal, and February 1956, when ABMA assumed operational control of the airstrip, Redstone Army Airfield was "...largely vacated." Although the airstrip, with its 5,000-foot runway, continued to function as a landing field, there were no planes or ground crew assigned to it during this period. Contemporary accounts of the visit to Redstone Arsenal made by Army Chief of Staff GEN Matthew B. Ridgway in January 1954 reveal just how primitive the arsenal airstrip was at that time. Various arsenal officials and other important visitors gathered at the airfield on the appointed day to greet Ridgway and his party. But the group waiting on the ground at Redstone Arsenal became concerned when the general's pilot initially headed for the Huntsville Airport rather than the installation's landing strip. "The Constellation [carrying Ridgway's party] was first sighted over Huntsville Airport, giving quite a fright to the waiting dignitaries" at Redstone, who feared that the pilot would land at the civilian airport. Since the arsenal airfield had no radio with which to communicate, there would have been no way to redirect Ridgway's plane to the correct field had another plane not been on the arsenal's landing strip at the same time. As it turned out, however, the pilot of a Globemaster on the ground at Redstone Arsenal used his radio to contact Ridgway's plane and redirect it to the right course.
|
