Qualla: Columbia Army Air Base https://qualla.com/columbia-army-air-base en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/n/3/columbia-army-air-base-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Columbia Army Air Base https://qualla.com/columbia-army-air-base Columbia Army Air Base: Introduction https://qualla.com/columbia-army-air-base/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, Public domain. On February 9, 1942 - sixty-three days after Pearl Harbor - the 17th Bombardment Group landed at Columbia Army Air Base with B-25 Mitchells flown across the country from Pendleton Field, Oregon. The crews thought they had come to South Carolina to fly antisubmarine patrols over the Atlantic. Within a week, a request circulated through the group: volunteers for an extremely hazardous mission, specifics not provided. Twenty-four full combat crews stepped forward without knowing what they were stepping into. On February 17 they were detached, transferred to Eglin Field in Florida for three weeks of carrier-deck takeoff practice, then to Alameda, then to the deck of USS Hornet. They were Jimmy Doolittle's Raiders, and the only piece of Columbia in their story is the moment they raised their hands.

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/n/3/columbia-army-air-base-wp/dnn3-columbia-army-air-base-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Columbia Army Air Base: From County Airport to Army Field https://qualla.com/columbia-army-air-base/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, Public domain. Before the war the field was Lexington County Airport, a modest civilian strip just outside Columbia. The Army Air Corps eyed it as early as 1940, and the 105th Observation Squadron began flying Douglas O-38s and North American O-47s out of the unfinished facility in September 19...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/n/3/columbia-army-air-base-wp/dnn3-columbia-army-air-base-from-county-airport-to-army-field.mp3 0:06 2 full Columbia Army Air Base: B-25 School https://qualla.com/columbia-army-air-base/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, Public domain. By spring 1942 the antisubmarine work had been transferred to Charleston, which sat directly on the coast and made more sense for it. Columbia's role became combat-crew training for the B-25 Mitchell, the twin-engine medium bomber that would serve in every theater of the war. The...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/n/3/columbia-army-air-base-wp/dnn3-columbia-army-air-base-b-25-school.mp3 0:06 3 full Columbia Army Air Base: Lake Murray https://qualla.com/columbia-army-air-base/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, Public domain. Twenty-three B-25s went into Lake Murray during the war. Most went in at night, with crews who had been in the cockpit of a Mitchell for only a few dozen hours, practicing the kind of low-altitude work the bomber demanded. Engines failed. Inexperienced pilots stalled in turns. Ma...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/n/3/columbia-army-air-base-wp/dnn3-columbia-army-air-base-lake-murray.mp3 0:06 4 full Columbia Army Air Base: After the War https://qualla.com/columbia-army-air-base/ Photo credit Bwmoll3, Public domain. Columbia Army Air Base was inactivated on November 30, 1945, and turned over to civil authority. The runways and taxiways became Columbia Metropolitan Airport - airline code CAE, ICAO KCAE. A reserve squadron, the 350th Bombardment, was nominally based there from 1947 to 1949 but...

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]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/n/3/columbia-army-air-base-wp/dnn3-columbia-army-air-base-after-the-war.mp3 0:06 5 full