Lakeland Army Airfield, was a World War II United States Army Air Force located 5.3 miles southwest of Lakeland, Florida. From 1960 to 2017 it was Lakeland Linder Regional Airport. In 2017 it was renamed Lakeland Linder International Airport.
History
Origins
On May 22, 1941, the Lakeland City Commission passed a Resolution naming the Lakeland Airport No. 2, which was under construction, Drane Field in honor of Herbert J. Drane, one of Lakeland's outstanding citizens.
The city had barely begun work on the new airport when, with war already raging in Europe, it leased the under-construction facility to the War Department. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers improved and expanded the three runways, into a star-shaped pattern of 5000x150 feet (NE/SW), 5000x150 feet (E/W), and 5000x150 feet (NW/SE), along with a series of taxiways, dispersal parking hardstands, hangar ramp, and constructed the necessary buildings to operate a training facility to instruct U.S. Army Air Forces pilots and flight crews to fly combat bombers and fighters.
In early May 1942, enough construction was completed to dedicate the new military base, named Lakeland Army Air Field. The base was assigned to the Third Air Force, III Bomber Command, and the 60th Flying Training Detachment (Medium Bombardment) was activated to manage the base facilities. Lakeland AAF was subsequently assigned as a sub-base to MacDill Field in nearby Tampa.
In May 1942, however, the airfield was not yet ready to support the flying training mission. Construction delays limited the operational use of the field, and Air Service Command (ASC) used the base station as a staging area for organizing, training and deploying Service Groups to overseas theaters.
III Bomber Command
The first flying unit to arrive at Lakeland AAF was the B-26 Marauder-equipped 320th Bombardment Group with three squadrons of aircraft and personnel. It was moved from MacDill Field at the beginning of August 1942 and was sent to Lakeland for 2d phase combat training to alleviate congestion in the Tampa Bay airspace. Training was cut off in late August 1942 and the 320th subsequently deployed to Twelfth Air Force, then located in England, for final training. The unit was urgently needed in England for staging prior to the Operation Torch landings, engaging in combat during the North African Campaign beginning in December 1942.
The next unit, arriving shortly afterwards, was the 322d Bombardment Group, also moving up from MacDill Field for 2d phase combat training, arriving in late September. The 322d remained at Lakeland until November 1942 before deploying also to England and assignment to the Eighth Air Force, attacking Nazi airfields and targets in Occupied Europe.
The 344th Bombardment Group arrived at Lakeland AAF in late December 1942 and was assigned by III Bomber Command to be an Operational Training Unit for the B-26 Marauder school. Throughout 1943, the 344th received new graduates from the Air Training Command's twin-engine flight schools and provided transition and combat training to pilots and new flight crews assembled from various USAAF technical schools. After transition training, graduates were sent to newly-forming units for combat training.
The 557th Bombardment Squadron, which had been transferred from MacDill Field, arrived at Lakeland AAF on 12 April 1943. The 557th had been undergoing training with its parent 387th Bombardment Group at MacDill and was also sent to Lakeland for 2d phase combat training to alleviate congestion in the Tampa Bay airspace. After about a month of training, the squadron left for Godman Field, Kentucky on 12 May to complete its combat training.
In October 1943, the 407th Fighter-Bomber Group (Dive) was moved to Lakeland AAF from the III Fighter Command base at Drew Army Airfield, also located in Tampa approximately 8 miles northwest of MacDill Field. The 407th had been deployed to Alaska in July to engage Japanese Forces in the Aleutian Campaign with Douglas A-24 Dauntless dive bombers, a USAAF version of the USN/USMC SBD Dauntless. The A-24s, although well-suited for naval carrier operations, were not well-suited for Army Air Force missions. Upon their arrival at Lakeland, the 407th was re-equipped with the new A-36 Apache ground attack aircraft, a variant of the P-51 Mustang fighter. The unit was then reassigned to Galveston Army Airfield, Texas, where it became a training unit.