WWII M1931 US Air Force Guidon; 3345th Air Base Group, USAF; Chanute AFB, 1948

Description

Post WW2 3345th Air Base Group, US AIR FORCE * 1948
For your consideration is this Post WWII US Air Force Guidon for the 3345th Air Base Group.
This is a theater made piece that dates from 1948.
This 1-sided guidon is made of wool appliqué on cotton bunting. The sleeve is lined with Lea tabs in the upper & lower sleeve. The sleeve is very hard from age.
There is light mothing on the wool lettering.
3345th Air Base Group, 26 August 1948 – 30 September 1993
1948: 3345th ABG : Arsenal
Republic P/F-84 Thunderjet. 1,432 of these straight-wing fighter bombers were built in the 1940s and 50s, forming a large part of the US Air Force’s inventory. P-84B-3-RE (F-84B) s/n 45-59498
3345th ABG was Stationed at Chanute Air Force Base
On 22 March 1941, 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 was to become the core of other black squadrons forming at Tuskegee Field and Maxwell Field in Alabama — the famed Tuskegee Airmen.
History of Chanute Air Force Base
Chanute Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force facility, located south of and adjacent to Rantoul, Illinois, about 130 miles (210 km) south of Chicago. Its primary mission throughout its existence was Air Force technical training. Chanute Field was established on 21 May 1917, being one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I.
HISTORY
:
WWI
Although the United States had been the birthplace of powered flight, the Army Signal Corps paid little attention to it. Even as World War I progressed in Europe, America did little to build its air strength. In April 1917, the United States was woefully weak in the air. The United States possessed only one fully manned and equipped Aero squadron (1st Aero Squadron), and about 250 aircraft outfitted the Aviation Section of the Army's Signal Corps. In comparison, France began the war with over 1,500 aircraft.
To meet the demand, Congress appropriated 0 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 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 materiel 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 a payroll reaching ,000 per week.
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, the first airplanes arrived at the new facility.
Major James L. Dunsworth arrived on 15 July 1917 and took command. He ordered flight training to begin on 17 July and Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" trainers were flying from dawn until dusk. The airfield was completed on 22 July 1917 at a cost of about Million, and was officially accepted by the Air Service on 31 July. On 20 August, the field was closed to visitors as they had become a distraction to the pilot training school.
As World War I ended in November 1918, Chanute Field had trained several thousand pilots, and pilot training ended. In December, 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.
Intra War Period
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 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, 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 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 three previously autonomous schools consolidated to form the Air Service Technical School, re-designated the Air Corps Technical School in 1926.
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. From 1922 to 1938 Chanute Field provided the only technical training for the small peacetime air arm of the U.S. Army.
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, 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 .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, 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 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, 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 non9rated officers at officer candidate and officer training schools and in technical subjects like armament, engineering, communications, and photography. The headquarters of the new command moved from Chanute to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1941.
WWII
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 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 Air Corps School was established in early 1944. Along with the military at Chanute, 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) initiated helicopter training at Freeman Field, Indiana in June 1944. Six months later AAFTC moved the training to Chanute Field 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.
US Air Force
Following World War II, in 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 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 a training aids wing at Chanute. The purpose of the 3499th Training Aids Wing was to provide training in the field for maintenance personnel assigned to work on various types of aircraft in general use in the Air Force. By 1 January 1950, the wing possessed 37 detachments: 15 bomber, 7 cargo, and 15 fighter. This unit, 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 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, the student load had been 5,235 but by 1953 almost 12,000 students were at Chanute for critical training.[8] 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.[7]
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, 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.
Vietnam & Cold War
In the 1960s Chanute became the prime training center for one of the most important missile programs in history, 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 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 the Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM). The base was also involved in the Ground-Launched Cruise Missile (GLCM) and MX missile programs.
History of the Aviation Guidon
The first aviation guidon authorized was for the 1st Aero Squadron in 1916 while in service on the Mexican border.
As aviation was originally part of the Signal Corps, this first guidon was orange with the Signal Corps crossed flags above an outstretched eagle. These two elements were used for an early military aviator badge, the type seen on most photos of General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold.
With rapid expansion of aviation in World War I, the Air Service was created in June 1918 as a temporary separate wartime branch with colors of green piped in black and a winged propeller as the branch insignia.
The insignia was designed by a three-person committee in the Department of Military Aeronautics, including the deputy director, then Col. H. H. Arnold.
Several sketches were sent to a Philadelphia jeweler who finalized the design and sent back a sample for War Department approval. They then cut steel dies and produced collar and shirt insignia for Air Service officers.
This design was officially announced in a special regulations change to the wartime uniform on July 17, 1918, although Chief of Staff Gen. Peyton March had alerted Gen. John J. Pershing of the impending changes in June.
With size and speed of the U.S. Army growth in World War I as well as shortages of cloth and shipping, it isn't clear how many flying units had official guidons or if any units had unofficial guidons made with the Air Service insignia and colors while overseas.
The next published official change to guidons was on July 3, 1919, when the Air Service guidon was announced as green piped in black with a winged propeller and letters and numbers in white.
Green was not a desired color and soon there was internal Air Service correspondence with all kinds of ideas and suggestions. On May 24, 1921, the Chief of Air Service forwarded to the Adjutant General's office a recommendation that the colors for the Air Service be changed to "black piped with golden yellow."
This recommendation was returned on June 21, 1921, disapproved, on the grounds that "a black flag in literature and common opinion is a piratical flag, so its adoption by any branch or the U.S. Army is considered undesirable."
This was followed up with a proposal for midnight blue, which was also rejected. In the end, on Aug. 1, 1922, the Air Service colors were changed to ultramarine blue with golden orange for the insignia and letters and numbers. This design remained in use for 40 years with only minor changes.
Insignia and lettering for Aviation Depot units changed to white in 1931 and by 1945, the color for insignia and letters and numbers on squadron guidons was changed to Air Force yellow.
This design remained in use by the U.S. Air Force even after they became a separate service. It wasn't until Dec. 21, 1962, that the yellow eagle we see today was adopted for use on the guidon in place of the winged propeller.
The winged propeller insignia and guidon in ultramarine blue and golden orange reappeared in the U.S. Army with activation of the aviation branch on April 12, 1983.