Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Originally named Baer Army Air Base (or more colloquially, Baer Field), the base was named after Paul Baer, a Fort Wayne native, born in 1894.Baer, a sixteen victory Flying ace, flew with the Lafayette Escadrille and the 103d Aero Squadron American Expeditionary Force Air Service during World War I.
In 1991 Baer Field was renamed Fort Wayne International Airport; the terminal was renamed to continue honoring Paul Frank Baer. Through the 1990s the airport underwent the largest expansion and revitalization in its history. Between 1994 and 1997, the terminal was again expanded, with design by MSKTD & Associates, Inc.
Fearing the loss of civilian access to Baer Field, city leaders took options to buy 700 acres (2.8 km 2) south of the city should the War Department decide to operate a military airfield in Fort Wayne. Early in January 1941, the War Department informed the city that it would locate a base in Fort Wayne if it could take possession by February 1.
Aviation arrived in 1919 with the opening of the city's first airport, Smith Field. The airport served as Fort Wayne's primary commercial airfield until Baer Field (now Fort Wayne International Airport) was transferred to the city in 1947 after serving as a military base during World War II. [43]
The city of Fort Wayne changed Baer Field Thruway to Airport Expressway, giving the road one name from I–69 to Paulding Road. [2] On October 17, 2007, the expressway was dedicated to honor State Representative Ben GiaQuinta .
La Junta Army Air Field, Colorado, 3 August – 7 November 1945; Stout Field, Indianapolis, Indiana, 9 December 1946; Baer Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1 May 1951; Designated: Fort Wayne Air National Guard Station, 1991 – present
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Indiana for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers.. Most of these airfields were under the command of the First Air Force or the Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC), a predecessor of the current Air Education and Training Command of the United States Air Force.
The 163rd and the 113th Fighter Squadron at Baer Field, Fort Wayne, were the operational squadrons of the 122nd Fighter Group. Its mission was the air defense of Indiana. The 113th flew training missions primarily over the northern part of Indiana, while the 163rd operated from Indianapolis south to the Ohio River border with Kentucky.