Misplaced Pages

#957042

77-533: The base was closed in 1993 and is currently being redeveloped for civilian uses. Chanute Field was named in honor of Octave Chanute (1832–1910), a pioneer aeronautical engineer and experimenter, a friend and adviser to the Wright Brothers . Chanute's biplane glider (1896) with "two arched wings held rigidly together by vertical struts and diagonal wire bracing" (the principle of the Pratt truss used in

154-676: A triplane , but he was killed in a glider crash in October 1899 before he could attempt to fly it. In 1900, Wilbur Wright read Progress in Flying Machines and contacted Chanute. Chanute helped to publicize the Wright brothers' work and provided consistent encouragement, visiting their camp near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina , in 1901, 1902, and 1903. The Wrights and Chanute exchanged hundreds of letters between 1900 and 1910. Chanute freely shared his knowledge about aviation with anyone who

231-918: A 6-month quasi-military academy program, the Lincoln's ChalleNGe Academy , is run for troubled youths, ages 16–18, by the Illinois Army National Guard and the Illinois Air National Guard in other former Chanute AFB facilities. Portions of the base were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Chanute Field Historic District . In 2019, the World Championship Punkin Chunkin announced its intent to hold that year's competition at

308-561: A ceremony marking the complete transfer of the former Chanute Air Force Base back to the community. Parts of Chanute AFB have been converted to civilian and other alternative uses. Many of the Air Force base's buildings and facilities have found new life with purposes that range from motels, retirement communities, restaurants, a fitness center, a prominent data center and several light manufacturing facilities. The golf course, once only available to service members and their guests,

385-472: A critical housing shortage. The new 15,000-man quarters built during Chanute's "Great Renaissance" proved insufficient to accommodate the large influx of new personnel. Many soldiers were housed temporarily in large tents. Chanute's student load continued to grow until it reached a peak of 25,000 in January 1943. The Women's Army Corps School was established in early 1944. Along with the military at Chanute,

462-422: A functional arrangement which placed basic military and aviation mechanic training under one command and remaining specialties under another, the first district included Scott Field, Lowry Field, and Fort Logan; the second district was composed of Chanute Field, Keesler Field, Sheppard Field, and Jefferson Barracks. This organization was abandoned on 1 November 1941 when Air Corps Technical Training Command revised

539-471: A gymnasium, and a network of concrete runways were also added. These projects were completed in 1941, just months before Pearl Harbor. Scott Field, Illinois , came under the jurisdiction of the Chanute school in 1939. The Department of Basic Instruction, inaugurated in 1935 at Chanute, relocated to the new location. The department returned to Chanute, however, when Scott became a radio school in 1940. Four of

616-653: A hangar located on the flight line. After the deactivation of Chanute AFB, ICBM maintenance training was transferred to Vandenberg AFB , California. An Air Force Technical Training Instructors Course was conducted as well. Additionally, Chanute AFB was the site for training USAF firefighters, life support specialists (ejection seat, aircrew survival equipment, aerospace ground equipment {AGE}, etc.), welders, non-destructive inspection (of materials), airframe repair and most of vehicle maintenance (general purpose, special purpose, fire truck maintenance, materiel handling equipment maintenance) technical schools. On 29 December 1988

693-895: A mission of technical training. Also, because technical schools did not require flying facilities, the Army Air Forces took over a total of 452 hotels, as well as warehouses, theaters, convention halls, athletic fields, parking lots, and various other structures to accommodate student classroom space. The number of hotels at the peak of training included 337 in Miami Beach, Florida ; 62 in St. Petersburg, Florida ; 46 in Atlantic City, New Jersey ; three in Chicago, Illinois , and two in Grand Rapids, Michigan . The heavy burden of

770-577: A museum dedicated to both Octave Chanute and the Tuskegee Airmen . The historic bathing pavilion was designed by architect George Washington Maher . He is represented in the Frieze of American History detail The Birth of Aviation , in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC. Technical Division, Air Training Command#Origins The Technical Division, Air Training Command

847-414: A result, the radar school didn't open at its new location until early 1948. Austere postwar military budgets led to additional consolidations and all of the technical programs suffered from shortages of instructors—problems that existed been with the schools throughout the postwar era. The last half of 1949 was an exercise in austerity. President Harry S. Truman decided that the country could only afford

SECTION 10

#1732779891958

924-462: A weekly payroll reaching US$ 96,000 (equivalent to about $ 2,283,000 in 2023). The construction of Chanute Field was an economic boom for the small town of Rantoul; money and people flowed into the village at a rapid rate, with both workers and visitors coming to see the large construction spectacle. Chanute Field's first commander, Captain Charles C. Benedict, arrived in late June, and on 4 July,

1001-660: Is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was assigned to the Air Training Command , stationed at Scott Air Force Base , Illinois . It was inactivated on 14 November 1949. Technical training in the Air Service began about the same time as pilot training. In order to keep its airplanes operational, there was a need for skilled mechanics and other technicians. At first, men who already possessed some mechanical experience received training at civilian trade schools and state universities. Problems arose and

1078-422: Is named after Chanute. Three small towns in southeast Kansas were vying for the railroad's land office and Chanute suggested that they incorporate, to make the larger town more attractive to the railroad. The former Chanute Air Force Base near Rantoul, Illinois , was started in 1917 by the U.S. Army as Chanute Field. The base was decommissioned in 1993 and converted to peacetime endeavors. One of these endeavors

1155-460: Is now privately owned and open to the public. The housing on base, once comprising homes for airmen with families, is now occupied by civilians. Many buildings still remain unoccupied and are slowly deteriorating due to lack of maintenance. White Hall was demolished in December, 2016. Widespread use of asbestos and the discovery of toxic chemical dumps have forced the condemnation of certain parts of

1232-756: The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics presented the Chanute Flight Award for an outstanding contribution made by a pilot or test personnel to the advancement of the art, science, and technology of aeronautics . In 1963, Chanute was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. In 1974, Chanute was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame . In 1978,

1309-784: The Hannibal Bridge with Joseph Tomlinson and George S. Morison . In 1869, this bridge established Kansas City, Missouri as the dominant city in the region, as the first bridge to cross the Missouri River there. He designed many other bridges during his railroad career, including the Illinois River rail bridge at Chillicothe, Illinois , the Genesee River Gorge rail bridge near Portageville, New York (now in Letchworth State Park ),

1386-651: The Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum , was also located on the former Chanute AFB site, commemorating much of the installation's military history as Chanute Field and Chanute AFB, but it closed in the winter of 2015. In 2016 the museum’s archival records, including blueprints, maps, publications, oral histories, photographs, scrapbooks, videotapes, and administrative records were sent to the Champaign County Historical Archives for public access and research. Finally,

1463-841: The Sibley Railroad Bridge across the Missouri River at Sibley, Missouri , the Fort Madison Toll Bridge at Fort Madison, Iowa , and the Kinzua Bridge in Pennsylvania . Chanute established a procedure for pressure-treating wooden railroad ties with an antiseptic that increased the wood's lifespan. Establishing the first commercial plants, he convinced railroad men that it was advantageous to expend funds treating ties to extend their service life, thus reducing replacement costs. To monitor

1540-574: The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, Chanute collaborated with Albert Zahm to organize a highly successful International Conference on Aerial Navigation. Chanute was too old to fly, so he partnered with younger experimenters, including Augustus M. Herring and William Avery. In 1896, Chanute, Herring, and Avery tested a design based on the work of German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal , and of hang gliders of their own design. The testing

1617-772: The Wright brothers . At his death, he was hailed as the father of aviation and the initial concepts of the heavier-than-air flying machine. Octave Chanut was born in Paris to Elise and Joseph Chanut, professor at the Collège de France . Octave and Joseph emigrated to the United States of America in 1838, when Joseph was named Vice President of Jefferson College in Louisiana. Octave attended private schools in New York. He added

SECTION 20

#1732779891958

1694-432: The "e" to his last name in his adult life. In 1857, he married Anne Riddell James, with whom he had a son and three daughters. Chanute began his training as a civil engineer in 1848. He was widely considered brilliant and innovative in the engineering profession. He designed and constructed the two biggest stockyards in the United States, Chicago Stock Yards (1865) and Kansas City Stockyards (1871). He designed and built

1771-462: The 1890s. Chanute introduced the "strut-wire" braced wing structure that was used in powered biplanes of the future, not seriously challenged until the pioneering efforts of Hugo Junkers to develop all-metal cantilever airframe technology without external bracing from 1915 onward. Chanute based his "interplane strut" concept on the Pratt truss , which was familiar to him from his bridge-building work. The Wright brothers based their glider designs on

1848-466: The 1970s Chanute provided training for thousands of USAF airmen for service in Vietnam. The base invested heavily in quality-of-life programs, building new student dormitories and other support facilities. Due to the cessation of aircraft support requirements for Chanute's training mission, the Air Force closed the base's remaining active runway in 1971. In 1977, Chanute became the prime training center for

1925-556: The Air Corps established the Technical Training Command on 26 March 1941, headquartered at Chanute Field. The new command was responsible for the orientation, classification, basic, and technical training of enlisted men and the training of non-rated officers at officer candidate and officer training schools and in technical subjects like armament, engineering, communications, and photography. The headquarters of

2002-496: The Air Force passed control of the program to ATC on 1 July. At that time, the training program covered 59 languages. Air Training Command subsequently assigned management responsibility to the Chanute Technical Training Center. This program provided language instruction for USAF personnel. In the 1960s Chanute became the prime training center for one of the most important missile programs in history,

2079-402: The Air Force. By 1 January 1950, the wing possessed 37 detachments: 15 bomber, 7 cargo, and 15 fighter. This unit, which eventually grew to over 170 detachments, was to become the nucleus of a new field training program at Air Force Bases worldwide. Effective 24 June 1957, ATC discontinued the 3499th Mobile Training Wing and activated the 3499th Field Training Wing at Chanute. The new wing operated

2156-572: The Air Service Technical School, re-designated the Air Corps Technical School in 1926, with the former separate schools becoming "Departments". From 1922 to 1938, Chanute Field provided all technical training for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Chanute Field's "Great Renaissance," as the period came to be known, brought the construction of many new buildings. Since most of the base was of wooden construction,

2233-658: The Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM). The base was also involved in the Ground-Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) and MX missile programs. In September 1978, Air Training Command announced project Able Avionic which restructured and consolidated avionics specialists for F-111, F-15, and F-16 aircraft. With the introduction of modular F-100 engines used in the F-15 and F-16 aircraft, new Chanute training courses emerged to keep abreast of

2310-501: The Army Air Forces reduced the size of these training programs in January 1944. The Central Technical Training Command in St. Louis was discontinued 1 March 1944. All schools previously in the central command, with the exception of Keesler Field, became part of the eastern command. Keesler went to the western command. Simultaneously, the headquarters of Eastern Technical Training Command moved from Greensboro, North Carolina, to St Louis. With

2387-572: The Base Units were discontinued, and ATC established new Technical Training Wings at each base. This new plan made the training organizations uniform with the other major commands throughout the Air Force. Boca Raton Field was severely damaged by several hurricanes in the fall of 1947. It had already been targeted for closure, but the hurricanes accelerated the move of what could be salvaged of its facilities to Keesler. It took Keesler personnel several weeks to dry out and repair radar equipment. As

Chanute Air Force Base - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-463: The Chanute "double-decker", as they called it. A new design of a biplane glider was developed and flown in 1897. Chanute corresponded with many aviation pioneers, including Otto Lilienthal , Louis Pierre Mouillard , Gabriel Voisin , John J. Montgomery , Louis Blériot , Ferdinand Ferber , Lawrence Hargrave , and Alberto Santos Dumont . In 1897, he started a correspondence with British aviator Percy Pilcher . Following Chanute's ideas, Pilcher built

2541-657: The Department of Defense recommended Chanute's closure as part of the 1988 Base Realignment and Closure Commission . The subject of base closure had been considered numerous times during Chanute's 75-year history. The end of the Cold War and the reduced threat of future conflicts prompted the government to downsize the armed forces. In October 2023, U.S. Air Force representatives joined Village of Rantoul leaders and residents, and other state and federal officials to celebrate 106 years of partnership, support and friendship during

2618-587: The LGM-30 Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile. The Minuteman ICBM became a key missile deterrent against the Soviet Union for America and her western allies. In September 1970, ATC transferred Chanute's Minuteman missile launch officer course to Vandenberg AFB, California. Beginning in the late 1960s Chanute also trained thousands of allied airmen from Asia and the Middle East. During

2695-755: The U.S. Postal Service commemorated Octave Chanute with a pair of 21-cent airmail stamps. In 1996, the National Soaring Museum honored the 100th anniversary of the glider flying experiments in the sand dunes along Lake Michigan as National Landmark of Soaring No. 8. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach , in Daytona Beach, Florida , has an off-campus residence hall, the Chanute Complex. for upper-class students. The Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium , in Gary, Indiana , houses

2772-583: The Wrights. I feel friendly toward them for the marvels they have achieved, but you can easily gauge how I feel concerning their attitude at present by the remark I made to Wilbur Wright recently. I told him I was sorry to see they were suing other experimenters and abstaining from entering the contests and competitions in which other men are brilliantly winning laurels. I told him that in my opinion they are wasting valuable time over lawsuits which they ought to concentrate in their work. Personally, I do not think that

2849-707: The base. In every odd-numbered year the base hosts the Half Century of Progress, the largest working antique tractor show in the world. On October 25, 2023, the Department of the Air Force handed over control of the final buildings and properties to the Village of Rantoul, IL. B-52 Hangar MX operates an indoor motocross track inside one of the large hangars at the facility. Chanute has been designated an EPA Superfund site, citing areas of contamination with volatile organic compounds, SVOCs, dioxins and furans, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls, and metals detected in

2926-592: The changing equipment students would encounter in the field. The Jet Engine Branch received four J-85 engines during 1983 to familiarize students with engines used in the T-38 pilot trainer aircraft and the F-5 aggressor aircraft. In 1982 the 928th Tactical Airlift Group proposed the establishment of drop and landing zones at Chanute. The zones would be used to conduct short-field landings and air drops to help C-130 pilots and navigators maintain proficiency. Additional benefits of

3003-446: The city of Rantoul mobilized during the war, with family opening their homes on holidays and aggressively participating in war bond and defense stamp drives. To help provide recreational opportunities for the large number of students at Chanute, local organizations such as the St. Malachy Catholic Church and Masonic Lodge opened servicemen's centers. Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC) moved helicopter training to Chanute Field at

3080-404: The command's extensive field training program. Effective 1 September 1959, ATC discontinued the 3499th Field Training Wing when ATC decided that there would be less duplication of effort if field training responsibilities were reassigned to the technical training centers. The North Korean invasion of South Korea on 25 June 1950 soon affected the training workload at Chanute Field. In October 1949,

3157-503: The communications school at Fort Sill , Oklahoma, both joined the mechanics course at Chanute, grouping all technical training in the Air Service at that location. In 1922, funds were appropriated to construct nine steel hangars on the south edge of the original 1917 airfield. The completion of Hangar 10 in 1923 represented the last major construction at Chanute until 1938. By 1923 these nine hangars had been converted to classrooms. The three previously autonomous schools consolidated to form

Chanute Air Force Base - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-716: The consolidation of the Aircraft Environmental/Pneudraulics and Electrical Systems Division on July 1, 1985. Chanute AFB eventually served as a major training facility for Air Force aircraft maintenance officers; Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps meteorology personnel (officer and enlisted); and enlisted technical training for Air Force fire fighters, aircraft maintenance, flight simulator maintenance, fuel system maintenance and ICBM missile maintenance. Chanute AFB also contained training ICBM launch facility ("silos") for Minuteman ICBM maintenance personnel. These training facilities were housed at

3311-640: The courts will hold that the principle underlying the warping tips can be patented." The friendship was still impaired when Chanute died, but Wilbur Wright attended Chanute's memorial service at the family's home. Wright wrote a eulogy that was read at the Aero Club meeting in January 1911. When the Aero Club of Illinois was founded on February 10, 1910, Chanute was its first president until his death. Chanute died on November 23, 1910, in Chicago , Illinois, after battling pneumonia . Wilbur Wright attended his funeral in his honor. The town of Chanute, Kansas ,

3388-483: The departments—mechanics, communications, photography, and armament—taught both officers and enlisted personnel. The commandant of the Air Corps Technical School at Chanute had final authority for curricular development and supervised technical training in all Air Corps schools, but he lacked command authority over the schools and the installations where they were located. To rectify this problem,

3465-409: The end of 1944 so it could consolidate the flying training operation with helicopter mechanic training. Helicopter pilot training remained at Chanute until 1 June 1945 when it transferred to Sheppard Field , Texas. After September 1945, Chanute Field became a primary separation center for the armed forces, processing about 100 men per day from the armed forces back to civilian life. On 22 March 1941,

3542-748: The end of the war in September 1945, on 15 October Training Command delegated all stations and activities of the Western Technical Training Command to the jurisdiction of the Eastern Technical Training Command, which it re-designated as Technical Training Command . Its headquarters was moved to Scott Field, Illinois. Most training schools were closed as part of the demobilization of the armed forces. Technical Training Command retained seven bases as training schools: On 1 July 1946, with

3619-597: The establishment of subordinate commands, three for flying training and three for technical training. The five districts that had belonged to Technical Training Command were disbanded and realigned. The Third District at Tulsa, Oklahoma was divided between WTTC and CTTC. The Fifth District in Miami Beach was absorbed into the ETTC. Requirements in the combat theaters for graduates of technical training schools and even pilots proved to be smaller than initially expected, so

3696-549: The establishment to Air Training Command , Technical Training Command was re-designated as Technical Division, Air Training Command . Also, the training schools at the bases which remained open were consolidated into the Army Air Forces (later Air Force) base units. After the establishment of the United States Air Force in September 1947 and the implementation of the Hobson Wing-Base plan in 1948,

3773-630: The expansion of the Air Corps after May 1940, technical training was expanded rapidly. By early November 1941, students were entering technical training at the rate of 110,000 per year, and after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the student flow rose sharply: 13,000 men entered technical training schools in January 1942 and 55,000 in December 1942. To accommodate this rapid growth in students, additional installations were established. New technical training bases included Keesler Field , Mississippi, and Sheppard Field , Texas, both activated in 1941 with

3850-644: The expense led the Army to set up two mechanic schools, one at Kelly Field , Texas and another in a large building in St Paul, Minnesota that the War Department took over. During World War I , the school at Kelly Field had trained over 2,000 more mechanics. Though the school in St Paul closed after the end of the war, Kelly remained in operation and trained some 5,000 more mechanics before January 1921. When

3927-527: The field had to be closed to visitors who had become a distraction to the pilots and the operation of the training school. Chanute Field was an Air Service primary flying school, offering an eight-week course to new aviation cadets. It had a maximum student capacity of 300. By the end of the war, the training units assigned there were: As World War I ended in November 1918, Chanute Field had trained several thousand pilots, and pilot training ended. In December,

SECTION 50

#1732779891958

4004-417: The first airplanes arrived at the new facility. Major James L. Dunsworth arrived on 15 July 1917 and took command. He immediately ordered flight training to begin on 17 July, at which point Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" trainers began flying from dawn until dusk. The airfield was completed on 22 July 1917 at a cost of about $ 1 million, and was officially accepted by the Air Service on 31 July. Starting on 20 August,

4081-467: The first all-black fighter squadron was activated at Chanute Field. Formed without pilots with the purpose of training the officer corps and ground support personnel, the 99th Pursuit Squadron was the first unit of what popularly became known as the Tuskegee Airmen . Over 250 enlisted men were trained at Chanute in aircraft ground support trades such as airplane mechanics, supply clerks, armorers, and weather forecasters. This small number of enlisted men

4158-581: The former base. The Chanute AFB airfield and its associated hangars and flight line facilities have been converted into an uncontrolled general aviation airport known as the Rantoul National Aviation Center / Frank Elliott Field . The latter title is derived from the late Major General Frank Worth Elliott Jr. , USAF, former Chanute Technical Center Commander and the Village of Rantoul's Economic Development Consultant following closure of Chanute AFB. An aviation-centric museum,

4235-576: The globe accessible, bring men into closer relation with each other, advance civilization, and hasten the promised era in which there shall be nothing but peace and good-will among all men. Chanute became interested in aviation after watching a balloon ascend in Peoria, Illinois , in 1856. When he retired from his railroad career in 1883, he devoted some leisure time to furthering the new science of aviation. Applying his engineering background, Chanute collected all available data from flight experimenters around

4312-513: The greatly expanded program for technical training had forced the Air Corps to establish the Air Corps Technical Training Command on 1 March 1941. Temporary headquarters for the new command was established at Chanute Field on 26 March; In September a permanent headquarters for the command was selected at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Further decentralization was achieved by grouping the technical schools into two districts. In

4389-785: The landing zone included opportunities for training experiences for students during drop operations, and increased interface between the active force and the Air Reserve Forces. Chanute's drop zone also improved contingency planning and operations. In the three years from 1983–1985 Chanute training personnel worked closely with HQ USAF and ATC to restructure the Basic Jet Engine Courses to accommodate both conventional and modular engine technology. The center received four F-100 PW 200 engines and six F-110 GE 100 engines for updated training programs in 1985. Chanute's continuing drive to enhance technical training resulted in

4466-480: The last Aero Squadrons were demobilized and the airplanes flown out to other airfields. The base became a storage depot for OX-5 aircraft engines and paint, with a staff of about 30 personnel. When World War I ended in November 1918, the Army Air Service, along with the rest of the Army, faced crucial reductions. Thousands of officers and enlisted men were released, leaving only 10,000 men to fly and repair

4543-497: The longevity of railroad ties and other wooden items, he introduced the railroad date nail in the United States. Chanute retired from the Erie Railway in 1883 to become an independent engineering consultant. ...let us hope that the advent of a successful flying machine, now only dimly foreseen and nevertheless thought to be possible, will bring nothing but good into the world; that it shall abridge distance, make all parts of

4620-416: The new command moved from Chanute to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1941. With Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, citizens flocked to Chanute Field in large numbers to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Forces. Chanute's transition from peace to war became apparent immediately following Japan's surprise attack. The technical training mission remained; however, a massive influx of new recruits and volunteers led to

4697-475: The new facilities in Denver. In 1939, Scott Field , Illinois, came under the Air Corps Technical School when the Department of Basic Instruction, responsible for the basic training of all new recruits, was established at Scott. It moved to Chanute in 1940 when Scott became the Air Corps Radio school. On 1 June 1939, the Air Corps Technical School at Chanute Field was elevated to the Command level, being re-designated as Air Corps Technical Training Command . With

SECTION 60

#1732779891958

4774-407: The planes and engines left over from the war. Hundreds of small flying fields closed, forcing consolidation of supply and aviation repair depots. In November 1918, the first talk of base closure occurred and in August 1919, the recommendation was made in Washington to close Chanute Field. However, on 11 February 1920 Congress approved funding to buy Chanute Field. The state of the facility, however,

4851-412: The railroad bridges which Chanute constructed) served as a prototype design for airplanes. To increase U.S. air strength after its late entry to World War I in 1917, Congress appropriated $ 640 million to build up the Air Service. The War Department immediately opened ground schools at eight colleges and established twenty-seven flying fields to train pilots. The War Department selected Rantoul because it

4928-483: The required technical curricula to support them. One of the first generalized courses was airplane and engine mechanic, jet propulsion, which opened at Chanute on 17 September. By mid-1948 this course made up almost 50 percent of Chanute's student body. In October 1949, Air Training Command organized the 3499th Training Aids Wing, the purpose of which was to provide training in the field for maintenance personnel assigned to work on various types of aircraft in general use in

5005-446: The soil and/or ground water/leachate. The State of Illinois has also documented contamination at the site. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency Octave Chanute Octave Chanute (February 18, 1832 – November 23, 1910) was a French-American civil engineer and aviation pioneer. He advised and publicized many aviation enthusiasts, including

5082-527: The student load had been 5,235 but by 1953 almost 12,000 students were at Chanute for critical training. Air Training Command also had to in-process thousands of volunteer reservists. Between late July and the end of October 1950, the command brought on active duty about 20,000 reservists. Most of this work was done at Chanute. In early 1960, HQ USAF suggested the foreign language training program, conducted at 22 colleges and universities, be transferred from Air University control to ATC. After considerable study,

5159-453: The supply depot at Love Field , Dallas, closed in 1921 and moved to Kelly, the Air Service mechanics's school was forced to move to Chanute Field , Illinois. In 1922, the school was expanded when the photography school at Langley Field , Virginia, and the communications school at Fort Sill , Oklahoma, both joined the mechanics course at Chanute, congregating all technical training in the Air Service at that location. The facility at Chanute

5236-621: The threat of fire became Chanute's greatest enemy during the early thirties. After several fires the Army Air Corps named Chanute as one of four bases to be rebuilt. In late summer 1938 work began on two massive hangars. By the following year the headquarters building, hospital, warehouses, barracks, officers' quarters, test cells, a fire station, and a 300,000 gallon water tower were all finished. The total expenditure amounted to $ 13.8 million with most of it being funded by President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA). Two additional hangars, theaters, numerous barracks and family housing units,

5313-410: The two districts and announced that four technical training districts would be established on a geographical basis to manage the expansion. These were: Later, in November 1942, a Fifth Training District with headquarters at Miami Beach, Florida , was created to supervise the numerous technical training activities in Florida. On 31 July 1943, the Army Air Forces reorganized AAF Training Command with

5390-417: The world and combined it with the knowledge gathered as a civil engineer in the past. He published his findings in a series of articles in The Railroad and Engineering Journal from 1891 to 1893, which were then re-published in the influential book Progress in Flying Machines in 1894. This was the most systematic global survey of fixed-wing heavier-than-air aviation research published up to that time. At

5467-400: Was in the dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan near the town of Miller Beach , Indiana , just east of what became the city of Gary . These experiments convinced Chanute that the best way to achieve extra lift without a prohibitive increase in weight was to stack several wings, an idea proposed by the British engineer Francis Herbert Wenham in 1866 and realized in flight by Lilienthal in

5544-444: Was interested, and expected others to do the same. He encouraged colleagues to patent their inventions. His open approach led to friction with the Wright brothers, who believed their ideas about aircraft control were unique and refused to share them. Chanute did not believe that the Wright flying machine patent, premised on wing warping , could be enforced and said so publicly, including a newspaper interview in which he said, "I admire

5621-514: Was less than optimal. The facility was constructed rapidly due to the pressing need to train pilots during World War I, and by 1920, the facility was falling into disrepair. On 4 January 1921, Chanute was given a mission and the Air Service Mechanics School was transferred to Chanute from Kelly Field , Texas, followed by the entire Air Corps Training School. In 1922 the photography school at Langley Field , Virginia and

5698-834: Was one of the few level sites in Illinois in close proximity to the Illinois Central Railroad and the ground school at the University of Illinois . The village of Rantoul would also be a source for electricity and water. The contract to build Chanute Field was given to English Brothers Construction of Champaign, Illinois on 22 May 1917, with the expectation that construction would be complete in 60 days. Building material began arriving on site on 25 May, and work began in earnest on 4 June. At its peak construction, 2,000 men, 200 teams of horses, 3 steam shovels and multiple steam tractors were working on Chanute Field, with

5775-461: Was re-designated as the Air Corps Technical School in 1926, with the former separate schools becoming "Departments". In 1930, two more Departments were established at Chanute, the Department of Clerical Instruction and the Department of Armament. Technical training expanded in 1938 at Lowry Field , Colorado, when the Photography, Armament and Clerical instruction were moved from Chanute to

5852-692: Was the now-closed Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum , which detailed the history of Chanute Air Force Base and of aviation in general, and included a replica of Chanute's 1896 glider. The location of the base is now the Chanute Field Historic District, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . In 1902, the Western Society of Engineers began to present the Octave Chanute Award for papers of merit on engineering innovations. From 1939 to 2005,

5929-487: Was to become the core of other black squadrons forming at Tuskegee Field and Maxwell Field in Alabama—the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Following World War II, on 14 January 1948, Chanute Field became Chanute Air Force Base with the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate military service. At this time, Chanute was also undergoing a major technological shift with the introduction and adoption of jet engines and

#957042