According to information acquired by Forks High school and UW graduate and historian Harvey Green it was nearly a year before the Japanese attacked Pear Harbor, the tensions between the U.S. and Japan heightened and the United States began a search for suitable sites to construct airfields. These fields would provide protection, and training facilities for the Armed Forces, should war occur. Construction was soon under way on a number of air bases throughout the 48 states and in the offshore territories. Of the many airfields constructed by the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, one airfield would stand out as the most difficult and challenging, the Quillayute Air Station. The only other readily usable site in the area was a municipal emergency field at the town of Forks. This site was found too small. In making his recommendation the Commanding Officer of Naval Air Stations pointed out the satisfactory gunnery areas elsewhere were not available ant that Quillayute might have tactical advantage in putting Squadrons aboard of taking them off carriers as they went to sea or returned through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
First started by the U.S. Army, and later taken over by the U.S. Navy, the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Quillayute was located on the Olympic Peninsula on the remote Quillayute Prairie, a short distance from the Pacific Ocean and the Native American Reservation at La Push, and approximately 10 miles west of Forks.
From this location, aircraft such as the Grumman F-4F Wildcat (Fighter aircraft), Grumman TBF Avenger (Torpedo bomber) and the later Grumman F-6F Hellcat (Fighter aircraft) could be flown to the aircraft carriers as the left the Strait of Juan de Fuca and headed out to the Pacific Theater of War. Upon their return from duty, the above mentioned aircraft could be flown from the carriers to Quillayute Air Base where they could be dispatched to their final destination.
Preliminary negotiations for the purchase of the property on the Quillayute Prairie were authorized in November 1940 and within eleven days a recommendation for the purchase of 520 acres at an estimated cost of $24,400 was returned to the Bureau of Aeronautics. On the same day, notice was given to the Clallam County Board of Commissioners that the Navy would not lease the emergency landing strip at Forks because of the lack of space for expansion, but would probably develop a new airfield on the Quillayute Prairie. Appraisals of the value of land to be purchased were completed in March 1941. Private appraisals placed a value of $19,075 on the 520 acres. The land was acquired on March 31, 1941. Field work began on May 2, 1941, by a private contractor, Austin Company. The amount allotted for Quillayute was $20,825.
The first development at Quillayute, completed on October 24, 1942, was a graded and graveled landing strip 300 feet wide and 4,290 feet long. There were no housing facilities, but farm buildings left by the former owners were cited as available to remodeling to house 25 officers and 50 men. The airstrip was soon increased to one 6000 foot runway and two 5000 foot runways. At that time the base was a joint use facility by both Navy and Army personnel.
The station was built in 1943 to meet 1942 planning for protection against enemy air attacks, with housing units a mile and a half away from the hanger, gasoline storage tanks scattered around the perimeter of the field, and some two miles of concrete taxiway.
The Army, and later the Navy, worked under difficult conditions. Roads were few, narrow, and either just oiled or not surfaced at all. The nearest railroad connection was nine miles east from the base. This was a 60 mile logging spur from Port Angeles. All material had to be trucked in, either from the end of the railroad spur near what was later known as Kitchel’s Reload or trucked in from such cities as Seattle, Bremerton and Port Angeles. Electric power had to be developed on the spot, water had to be supplied by digging wells and housing had to be provided for civilian workers as well as military personnel. Also there was a lack of workmen as many were recruited from distant places.
More information acquired by Harvey Green is as follows. The Army had at various times planned to build two or possibly three runways at the Quillayute Air Station, but the work completed at the time of turning it back to the Navy consisted of one concrete runway 150 feet wide and 5000 feet long with surrounding taxiways, hard standings, and parking area. The Army also completed a cantonment of 21 buildings in the extreme northwest corner of the station which included a mess hall, dispensary, officer’s quarters (50 men), heads, and barracks (400 men); strung 9 miles of power line; erected a 36,000 gallon water tank; partially fenced the station and constructed several small buildings for administration, shops, etc.
Official action leading to the relinquishing of Army improvements to Navy owned fields in the State of Washington began in October, 1943, when the Fourth Air Force notified the Pacific Division of the U.S. Engineers that no further new construction would be processed under the supervision of the Army. The Navy CO’s of Quillayute made a request of permission to use Army buildings at Quillayute and the Commanding Officer, Army Air Commanding General, Fourth Air Force, was notified of this action January 17, 1944, with the explanation that the Army would be enabled to withdraw its guard detachment. The change in the was situation was the reason the Army withdrawal from Navy bases. It was recommended that the Army facilities be transferred to the assignment and control the Navy.
Official transfer of Army installations at Quillayute was not completed until December 18, 1944. The delay was apparently not a result of any desire of the Army to hold the installation, but rather resulted from efforts to clarify the Navy’s plan for reimbursement to the Army for money expended.
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