Bakalar Air Force Base is a former U.S. Air Force base located 4.4 miles (7.1 km) northeast of Columbus, Indiana. During World War II, the base was known as Atterbury Air Field and Atterbury Army Air Base, but it was renamed Bakalar Air Force Base in 1954 in honor of First Lieutenant John Edmond Bakalar, USAAF. Established in 1942, the airfield served as a training base for medium-range C-46 Commando and C-47 Skytrain troop carrier planes and glider pilots. It also was used for training B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder bomber crews. Reactivated during the Cold War, it was used as an Air Force Reserve training base for troop carrier, tactical airlift, and special operations flying units. The military base was closed in 1970. The present-day facility operates as the Columbus Municipal Airport.
Jeep being dropped by Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar, AF Ser. No. 52-6024 of the 434th Troop Carrier Wing, Bakalar AFB, Indiana, circa 1954 (note that the parachute has not yet opened).
Atterbury Army Airfield, 25 November 1943
World War II Postcard
William Wallace Atterbury
William Wallace Atterbury was a brigadier general in the United States Army during World War I, who began his career with the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1886 and rose through the ranks to become its tenth president (1925–1935). As director-general of transportation in France during the war, the New Albany, Indiana, native and Yale University graduate was instrumental in reorganizing railroad traffic for more efficient transportation of troops and supplies for the American Expeditionary Forces. He was also known as "The Railroad General". Under his leadership after the war, the Pennsylvania Railroad undertook a $250 million project to electrify major portions of its main line that ran between New York City and Washington, D.C. He also assisted in development of the company's first M1-class steam locomotive.
Atterbury circa 1913
General John J. Pershing decorating Brigadier General William W. Atterbury with the Army DSM at the headquarters of the Services of Supply at Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France, January 18, 1919.
Atterbury on the cover of Time Magazine in 1933.