Qualla: South Carolina World War II Army Airfields

South Carolina World War II Army Airfields: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In 1941, South Carolina had a handful of municipal airstrips and a long Atlantic coastline. By 1943, it had dozens of military airfields scratched into pine flats and pastureland, training tens of thousands of pilots, bombardiers, gunners, and navigators - and listening for German submarines off Charleston harbor. Most of those fields still exist in some form. Shaw became Shaw Air Force Base. Charleston became Joint Base Charleston. Some sank back into farmland. One, south of Orangeburg, taught Free French pilots how to fight their occupied country's war from across the Atlantic.

South Carolina World War II Army Airfields: The Lowcountry on Alert

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Charleston Army Airfield, ten miles northwest of the old port city, was running antisubmarine patrols within weeks of Pearl Harbor. The 16th Antisubmarine Squadron flew B-18s and B-25s east over the Gulf Stream looking for U-boats, which were sinking American merchant ships in si...

South Carolina World War II Army Airfields: Training the Aircrews

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Most of the South Carolina fields were training stations. Columbia Army Air Base, southwest of the capital, trained the 309th and 329th Bombardment Groups before becoming Columbia Metropolitan Airport. Greenville Army Air Base, south of Greenville, became Donaldson Air Force Base...

South Carolina World War II Army Airfields: The Free French at Orangeburg

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

South of Orangeburg, a contract civilian flight school called the Hawthorne School of Aeronautics took over a curious mission in 1942: training Free French Air Force pilots. After France fell in June 1940, French aircrews who had escaped to British or American territory needed so...

South Carolina World War II Army Airfields: What Remains

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The story of these fields is half military history and half archaeology. Myrtle Beach Army Airfield became Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, closed in the 1993 BRAC round, and reopened as Myrtle Beach International Airport. Congaree Army Airfield southeast of Columbia is now McEntire ...