Dobbins Joint Air Reserve Base
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| Dobbins Joint Air Reserve Base | |
|---|---|
| Georgia, United States | |
| Type | Air Force Reserve Base |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1941 - present |
| Controlled by | Air Force Reserve Command |
| Commanders | Colonel (United States) Heath J. Nuckolls |
Dobbins Joint Air Reserve Base (KMGE) is a United States air reserve base located in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb about 20 miles or 30 kilometers northwest of Atlanta. It serves as the home station of the 94th Airlift Wing and its fleet of Hercules C-130 aircraft, and is the headquarters for Twenty-Second Air Force. It is also home to the Army Aviation Service Facility #2 (AASF#2), the Georgia Army National Guard and their fleet of UH-60 Blackhawks. Dobbins is also home to Marine and Navy Reserve units. It has IATA airport code MGE, and ICAO airport code KMGE. It has two runways. 11-29 is the primary runway and it is 10000 feet long and 300 feet wide with directions 110 and 290. The second runway, called an Assault strip is a 3500x60 foot runway referred to as 110-290 which is parallel to 11-29.
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[edit] History
[edit] War years
Originally intended by Cobb County as an alternative to Atlanta's Candler Field, it began in 1941 as Rickenbacker Field. It was named for former army pilot and then-current Eastern Air Lines president Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, for whom Miami's Rickenbacker Causeway (over Biscayne Bay to Miami Beach on Key Biscayne) is also named.
The boost needed to build the airport came in 1940 when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt selected General Lucius D. Clay to head a new Civil Aeronautics Administration program of airstrip construction, some 450 to 500 being built in preparation for possible war. Clay Street in Marietta (now South Marietta Parkway, State Route 120 Loop) was named after him, in honor of his work in bringing the base and plant to the city. In 1942, with U.S. entry into World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. War Department announced on February 19 that it would become Marietta Army Airfield under the U.S. Army.
A Bell Aircraft Corporation factory for the Boeing-designed B-29 bomber was built next to it, beginning operations in the spring of 1943. Production of B-29s ended in 1945 at the conclusion of the war. The factory has since been purchased by Lockheed Corporation and still exists. It can be seen in the upper right (southeast) of the FAA airport diagram.
Originally the base had three runways, arranged in the triangular pattern common to air facilities from the 1940s. Because of airspace constraints two of these runways are no longer servicable. Runway 21 can be seen in use in the lead sequence of the 1940s Bell Aircraft documentary B-29's Over Dixie.
[edit] Post-war
After the Air Force was split from the Army due to its noble performance in the war, the airfield became Marietta Air Force Base. It was renamed Dobbins Air Force Base in 1950 in honor of Captain Charles M. Dobbins of Marietta, whose airplane was shot down during the war near Sicily.
The aircraft plant was reopened in 1951 by Lockheed-Georgia (now Lockheed Martin), and has been operating ever since.
In 1948, part of the land and barracks at the original Naval Air Station Atlanta in Chamblee were given to the state, for the purpose of creating an engineering technology school that could rapidly train returning soldiers for civilian work in various technical fields. The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta created the Southern Technical Institute (now Southern Polytechnic State University), which was moved to land given by Dobbins AFB in 1958. NAS Atlanta also moved next to Dobbins around that time, leaving the original site to DeKalb-Peachtree Airport.
Other development has steadily encroached upon the base since the war. 1989 A-7 Corsair II and 1993 C-130 Hercules crashes into residential areas near the base raised questions of safety in having a base in such a densely-populated suburban area.
Until the late 20th century, the oldest building on base was part of the Lockheed complex, and was built before the Civil War. Legend has it that the only reason the building wasn't burned to the ground during Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's "March to the Sea" in 1864 was because the building's owner, a British citizen, had flown the British flag during the occupation of Marietta.
[edit] Current and future
Like most U.S. bases, Dobbins has had to fend off several attempts at closing it, as part of streamlining the country's military and reducing unnecessary spending. These have been thwarted so far by powerful local politicians, such as former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn in 1995. However, some have proposed that it again become a commercial airport, as it was originally envisioned. Dobbins will be the only U.S. military facility left in northern Georgia if the 2005 BRAC final recommendations are enacted.
In 2003, the Air Force Reserve Command changed the name of Dobbins Air Reserve Base to that of Dobbins Joint Air Reserve Base.
Lockheed Martin still operates a plant (USAF # 6) at Dobbins.
In September 2005, the Hurricane Hunters flew out of Dobbins after Hurricane Katrina did major damage to their normal home at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. Numerous evacuees also came to metro Atlanta through Dobbins, including many medical patients taken in by local hospitals.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from Dobbins Air Reserve Base, a public domain work of the United States Government.
[edit] External links
- Dobbins Air Reserve Base (official site)
- Dobbins Air Reserve Base at GlobalSecurity.org
- Georgia Encyclopedia article
- Unofficial Site For 1/171 AVN REGT, GA National Guard
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