Thursday, March 20, 2014

Dale Mabry Airfield Project Paper #15

1 The long and interesting history behind things, places and people is often unknown; the Dale Mabry field for example. It is most likely unknown to many what the Dale Mabry field was or who Dale Mabry even was for that matter. The Dale Mabry field was a World War II training base for pilots during World War II located in what is now TCC’s campus.

 Pilots from places such as France and even Chinese trained on this field. But what about the history behind the name, who is Dale Mabry? Dale Mabry was a Tallahassee native, and an extraordinary World War I pilot. What about the history of the field? Well, before it was the base for the pilot training, it was the first airport in Tallahassee created in 1929 and transported to places such as Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tampa, exc. It closed as the airport in 1941 when it turned into the army base. The base became what seemed like a town of its own with shops, barracks, and many things that a town would contain including a church, and even still served as the Commercial airport again until the Tallahassee Regional Airport opened in 1961. The before is not the only part of history in the case of the Dale Mabry field; the after is still history to the present of which is probably an unknown topic as well. 

After the Dale Mabry field closed, it housed male students from the University of Florida’s program in Tallahassee, and the students attended the Florida State College for Women.The fact that FSU and UF once had a real connection at all is most likely news to majority of both FSU and UF students. With both genders attending FSCW, it was then changed to Florida State University. All of these events lead back to the Dale Mabry field and the number of people who knew this information is scarce.

 The story doesn’t end there; after the Regional airport opened, the Dale Mabry field, or Tallahassee Commercial Airport was then closed and destroyed. Tallahassee Community College now resides where this historical landmark once was located. Some of the original asphalt still remains at TCC, a piece of history the students obliviously walk over daily not even knowing the significance of it.

 The fact that there are pieces of history from World War II right on the very campus makes it almost impossible to not basically see the planes landing when looking around the campus. History is everywhere.

"Historical Markers – Dale Mabry Field." Historical Makers. The Florida Channel, 2011. Web.05 Mar. 2014.

Freeman, Paul. "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Florida, Tallahassee Area." Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Florida, Tallahassee Area. N.p., 2002. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.

"Dale Mabry Army Airfield." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.