Pope Field is a U.S. military facility located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the central business district of Fayetteville, in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. Formerly known as Pope Air Force Base, the facility is now operated by the U.S. Air Force via a memorandum of agreement (MOA) and an interservices support agreement (ISSA) with the U.S. Army as part of Fort Liberty.
History
Origins
In 1918, Congress established Camp Bragg, an Army field artillery site named for the Confederate General Braxton Bragg. An aviation landing field was added a year later. The War Department officially established "Pope Field" in 1919, and it ranks as one of the oldest installations in the Air Force.
Pope AFB is named after First Lieutenant Harley Halbert Pope who was killed on 7 January 1919, when the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny he was flying crashed into the Cape Fear River. After five years, Camp Bragg became a permanent Army post renamed Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty.
Original operations included photographing terrain for mapping, carrying the mail, and spotting for artillery and forest fires. Observation planes and observation balloons occupied Pope Field for the first eight years. In December 1927, Pope Field played a role in the development of tactics that would prove critically important in shortening World War II.
The 1930s saw the first major expansion of the facilities at Pope. In 1935, Pope Field hosted 535 aircraft in one day as the United States Army Air Corps practiced large scale operations along the East Coast. In 1940, paved runways replaced dirt open fields. Much of the parking ramp space remained unpaved until after World War II.
The tempo of activities at Pope quickened with the outbreak of World War II. During the 1940s, the base swelled as a troop carrier training site, and with the institution of paratrooper training at Fort Bragg, Pope began putting the "Air" in "Airborne". Throughout the war, air and ground crews trained here with Army airborne units in preparation for airborne and aerial resupply missions.
Hangars 4 and 5 and the Pope Air Force Base Historic District were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
10th Tactical Reconnaissance Group
After the war, Pope Field became Pope Air Force Base with the creation of the United States Air Force on 18 September 1947. The base served as the home of the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, being activated at Pope on 3 December 1947 as the 10th Reconnaissance Group. It was redesignated as the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in June 1948. At Pope, the 10th flew the P/F-51 Mustang, as well as its photo recon variant the F-6, later redesignated the RF-51. Operational squadrons were: 1st Photographic Reconnaissance 15th Photographic Reconnaissance
4415th Air Base Group
The 10th TRG was inactivated on 1 April 1949 and the host unit at Pope was the 4415th Air Base Group. The base primary mission dealt with training Forward Air Controllers for the Korean War This training was conducted by the following operational units: 502d Tactical Control Group (27 June 1949 – 27 August 1950) 507th Tactical Control Group (2 September 1950 – 1 July 1954)
Headquarters, Ninth Air Force, was located at Pope in August 1950. It was transferred to Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, on 20 August 1954.
464th Troop Carrier Wing
On 21 September 1954, Ninth AF turned Pope over to the 464th Troop Carrier Wing, a Tactical Air Command unit, which transferred from Lawson AFB, Georgia. Known operational squadrons of the 464th were: 776th Troop Carrier Squadron (transferred to Pacific Air Forces in December 1965) 777th Troop Carrier Squadron 778th Troop Carrier Squadron 779th Troop Carrier Squadron
The 464th (on 1 August 1966 all troop carrier units were redesignated as "tactical airlift") provided airlift of troops and cargo, participated in joint airborne training with Army forces, and took part in tactical exercises in the United States and overseas. The wing provided aeromedical airlift and flew humanitarian missions as required. Until it was inactivated, the 464th usually had two or more squadrons deployed overseas at any one time, supporting military operations in Central America, Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, and Southeast Asia.