Posted by mike in scaesar.com
I am seeking information on military installations at Yakutat, Alaska
during world war two and into early 1950's?Hello, yakutat1-ga!
I used to live in Alaska myself so this question piqued my interest! I
managed to find a little bit of information for you which I excerpted
from some very interesting historical pages online. If you have the
time, please read the pages in full.
The major military installation in Yakutat during WWII was a large
airfield, which can still be seen today. There was a small military
post to protect the airstrip.
==
From "Alaska Forts."
http://www.geocities.com/naforts/ak.html
Yakutat Post
(1940 - 1946), Yakutat
"A two-gun 6-inch naval gun battery (partially destroyed) protected
the military airfield. A four-gun 155mm battery on panama mounts was
located at Point Carrow (still intact).
(info courtesy of Colt Denfeld of the Coast Defense Study Group)."
The Yakutat Military Airfield
******************************
From "Yakutat, Alaska."
http://www.alaska.com/places/cities/other_cities/v-page2/story/4565654p-4770291c.html
"During World War II, a large aviation garrison and paved runway were
constructed. Troops were withdrawn after the war, but the runway is
still in use."
==
From "The Northern Missions of Juneau, AK."
http://www.omiusa.org/alaska.htm
"Yakutat is a fishing village in the shadow of the Mt. Fairweather and
the Mt. St. Elias Mountain ranges. It has a very good airport due to
the fact that it was a military field during WWII.
==
From "Population and Settlement in Alaska." The Alaska History Project.
http://www.mehs.educ.state.ak.us/portfolios/shirleenw/projects/akhistory.html
"1939-1945 - World War II- Naval Stations were constructed at Sitka,
Kodiak and Unalaska. Army posts were built at Fairbanks and Anchorage.
Airfields were built at Galena, Gulkana *** and Yakutat. *** The
Glen Highway connected Anchorage with the Richardson Highway, which
made Alaska - Canada Highway open after war. Thousands of
constructions workers had to come to Alaska. After the war years
ended, many people decided to make Alaska their new home
==
From "Elmendorf Air Force Base History
http://www.elmendorf.af.mil/3wing/units/history/webdocs/streets.htm
(Describing how Talley Avenue got it's name)
"Brigadier General Benjamin B. Talley came to Alaska in 1940, as a
captain to supervise construction of Yakutat Airfield."
==
The following excerpts are from the book: "GUARDING THE UNITED STATES
AND ITS OUTPOSTS," by Stetson Conn, Rose C. Engelman and Byron
Fairchild. CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY
From "CHAPTER IX - The Garrisoning of Alaska, 1939-41."
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch9.htm
"In the 1939 planning it had also been agreed that, if the Army were
to fulfill its air mission of assisting in the defense of the new
military establishments to be developed along the southern Alaskan
coast and of supporting the Navy in resisting hostile attempts to gain
lodgment in Alaskan territory, the Army Air Corps must be able to
conduct operations as far west as Kiska and as far south as Ketchikan.
Accordingly, plans were made to build a series of staging fields north
from Puget Sound and out to the Aleutians that would tie in with the
new Anchorage base and with the Navy's fields (which the Army proposed
to use also) at Sitka, Kodiak, and Unalaska.
* The Army proposed to build these staging fields at Metlakatla (near
Ketchikan), Yakutat...
..
"On 19 September, 1940 construction of the Metlakatla (subsequently
known as Annette Island airfield began, and *** a month later
construction of Yakutat airfield was started. ***
"As the prospect of war between the United States and Japan increased
in November 1941, all agencies responsible for Alaskan defense stepped
up their request for air reinforcements, but the War Department was
unable to take any action. As General Arnold said: ". . . we are doing
everything possible we can to increase the number of trained squadrons
and groups available for these missions. At the present time we have
just about hit bottom."
..
"The Joint Board's decision on the extension of Army air power into
the Aleutians came on the very eve of the War Department's warning
that Japan was likely to begin hostilities soon. General DeWitt
promptly ordered General Buckner to put the Alaska Defense Command on
a full alert."
"Thanks to what had been done in the preceding year and a half,
General Buckner now had available a sizable ground force of
approximately 20,000 men. Fort Richardson, the main Army base, had
been completed. The four major airfields in southeastern and central
Alaska-Annette Island (Metlakatla), *** Yakutat, *** Elmendorf,
and Ladd - were in operation."
==
From CHAPTER X - Alaska in the War, 1942
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch10.htm
"All these planes were for use at Elmendorf Field and beyond, since by
this time the Royal Canadian Air Force had two squadrons of fighter
planes at the Annette Island base in southeastern Alaska (and near the
British Columbia port of Prince Rupert)
*** and the intermediate Yakutat base had no planes assigned.
The total Army strength in Alaska by 1 June was about 45,000 officers
and enlisted men, of whom about 13,000 were at Fort Randall and the
Aleutian bases."
==
From "Joe McCusker's list of Air Force Bases."
http://www.airforcebase.net/usaf/joeslist.html
"This is an annotated list of Air Force installations in the United
States and elsewhere that were closed or redesignated between
1948--when the Air Force Base (AFB) designation first came into
use--and August 1, 2001. It is supposed that the gentle reader bears
a warmth for the subject, and a fondness for the old Air Force.
..
"Web searches have turned up three places shown as Air Force bases in
Alaska. These are Kougarok AFB, Circle Hot Springs AFB and ***
Yakutat AFB. *** All appear on an Army Corps of Engineers site
describing environmental cleanup projects at former military
installations. These probably were Air Force auxiliary fields and
never Air Force bases."
=
The following excerpt is taken from the book, "The Army Air Forces in
World War II - Plans and Early Operations January 1939 to August
1942."
From "Chapter 5: Deployment of the AAF On the Eve of Hostilities."
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/I/AAF-I-5.html
"The remainder of the air defense program met with little opposition.
Airfield construction was proceeding under the direction of Army
engineers and the Civil Aeronautics Administration, although in the
colder areas of Alaska the work was impeded by arctic conditions.
Heavy rainfall, particularly along the southern and western coast
line, prevented uninterrupted work. Every advantage had been taken of
the summer months, and by the fall of 1941 Elmendorf, Ladd, Kodiak,
*** Yakutat, *** and Nome fields were capable of supporting tactical
operations by at least one squadron each, while more than a dozen
additional fields of various sizes were nearing completion."
Air Support Units at Yakutat during WWII
*****************************************
From "Air/Air Support Units (in Alaska during WWII)
http://www.geocities.com/tempelhof.geo/nfupt1.html
11th Fighter Control Squadron: Elmendorf Field, Attu; detachments at
Naknek, Umnak, Yakutat
11th Weather Squadron: Elmendorf Field; detachments Amchitka, Attu,
Cordova, Chuginadak, Fairbanks, Naknek, Nikolski, Port Heiden, Port
Morrow, Umnak, Yakutat
==
From "Chapter 12 - Drawing the Battle Line in the Pacific." The Army
Air Forces in World War II - Plans and Early Operations January 1939
to August 1942. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/I/AAF-I-12.html
"From early April, the garrisons in Alaska had been alerted to expect
attack at any moment upon one of the naval operating bases at Kodiak,
Sitka, and Dutch Harbor, and Generals Butler and Buckner had pressed
hard for reinforcements as they moved what planes could be spared out
to Fort Greeley on Kodiak, Cold Bay on Alaska Peninsula, and Fort
Glenn on Umnak, at the expense of some of the fields in the rear
area.118 On 26 May, a flight of ten B-26's of the 77th Bombardment
Squadron moved to Cold Bay. By 1 June a naval squadron of twelve
F-4F's was en route to Kodiak; *** the Canadian Western Air Command
had dispatched one squadron of bomber reconnaissance Bolingbrokes to
Yakutat,..."
==
From "Annette Island, Alaska in World War II," by Murray Lundberg.
Explore North. http://www.explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-Annette.htm
"The responsibilties of the Eleventh Army Air Force in Alaska were
determined to be defense of 7 key locations:
Anchorage;
Kodiak;
the port at Dutch Harbour and air base at Umnak Island;
Yakutat;
Annette Island;
Naknek;
Cold Bay
==
While online sources will not be as complete as historical documents
that may exist in local Alaskan libraries, I do hope that this
information provides you with a good overview concerning the military
installations that existed in Yakutat during the WWII era.
Sincerely,
umiat
Search Strategy
Yakutat Alaska AND WWII
Yakutat military airfield WWII
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