Rich Field Army Air Base
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In the midst of war, some towns stay far removed from the action. For Waco in 1917, this was far from the case. Engineers and workers broke ground for Camp MacArthur training base in July, famously taking up over 10,700 acres of the small Texas city. But its smaller counterpart, Rich Field Army Air Base, had just as much to offer. After studying meteorological reports, topography, and location, the War Department and the Military Committee of the Waco Chamber of Commerce approved the 690-acre plot in August 1917.
Rich Field was born from an explosion in aeronautics. After a poor performance of US planes in Mexico, President Woodrow Wilson realized that American aircraft were disturbingly inferior to their European counterparts. American planes were slower, had no mounted weaponry, and lacked performance characteristics. Therefore, when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Wilson approved $640 million to expand the air division of the army (the air force as a separate military unit did not yet exist). The money would fund the building of 6,000 pursuit planes, 3,000 observation aircraft, and 2,000 bombers. With such an increase in air power, pilots were now in high demand.
Sitting upon the land that is now Extraco Events Center, Waco High School, and Lions Park, the US military named this new sixteen hanger base after Second Lieutenant C. Perry Rich, who died when his plane crashed into Manila Bay in the Philippines in 1912. The first man to arrive was medical officer Major Emory C. Gaffney, followed by First Lieutenant Frederick T. Ealand and Captain J. S. Foster, who were sent to get everything in shape. Within two months, First Lieutenant Lotha A. Smith piloted the first flight out of Rich Field in a J-1 Standard plane with a 100 horsepower A7A Hall-Scott motor. By late November, twenty-five aircraft arrived to the $2 million base, and on a chilly Thanksgiving Day twenty-five eager cadets began their training in Standard J-1s, later to be replaced by Curtiss JN-4s.
While today seeing an airplane may be nothing spectacular, residents of Waco felt quite differently in the 1910s. The Wright Brothers flew for the first time in 1903, and a mere fourteen years later Waco residents marveled at the planes now flying regularly above their homes. They clamored to see the planes practice maneuvers out at the base. On top of free air shows, Camp MacArthur and the air base also bolstered the Waco economy by bringing in 35,000 soldiers and their families, ready to spend their monthly wages at the stores downtown. Waco residents fully supported the construction and operation of both the camp and air base, as it spurred tremendous growth and put Waco on the map.
Rich Field quickly developed a culture of its own. With its own publication, the Rich Field Flyer, enlisted men could keep up with the events of the war, the camp, other aviation training centers, and much more. The publication was intended first and foremost to be a morale booster, its pages filled with humor, cartoons, poems, and “kadetograms” from the men at the base. Kadetograms could be as simple as a shout-out to a friend or poking fun at an officer because they were all anonymous and simply grouped by squadron. The Flyer also had a sports section to keep everyone up to date on the rivalries between the base football teams, especially keeping tabs on Rich Field’s rival, Love Field Air Base in Dallas, Texas. The local YMCA used the Flyer to advertise its programs for the soldiers and encourage activities and attendance.
The three main units assigned to Rich Field were the 39, 150, and 249 Aero Squadrons. Other squadrons were equipped and trained at Rich Field to then be moved to other bases. Others also went straight from Rich Field to the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe and received further training from the Royal Air Force of Britain. In all, four hundred pilots were trained at Rich Field, and only eight training fatalities occurred. Most of the young men who made it through training saw combat in France.
After the war, the airfield stayed in business until the 1940s, much longer than its counterpart Camp MacArthur, which closed in 1919. Yet at the end of World War I, those at Rich Field knew the base would never quite be the same, and to them its future remained uncertain. In the final edition of the Rich Field Flyer, the men paid tribute to Waco:
"No history of Rich Field would be complete without a mention and sincere appreciation of the debt it owes to the citizens of Waco. A hospitable people always, they have left no thing undone to make the lives of the personnel of this post pleasant… We have railed at Waco, but then too ‘I have eaten your bread and your salt, I have drunken your water and wine, the deaths we have died I have watched beside, and the lives that ye led were mine.’ We have laughed together. There has been marriage and giving in marriage. We have carried our dead through your streets. And when this field echoes no more to the cry of ‘Contact!’ and the thunder of half a hundred motors, when we who played here our little parts in the Great Drama are scattered over the seven seas, be sure that each of us carries the most pleasant memories of this post and wherever two or three foregather the name of Waco will be mentioned with affection."
Later Waco Municipal Airport, the former Rich Field offered flying lessons and even ten minute flights to downtown and back for one dollar. One airline even operated limited commercial passenger service to Waco until the beginning of the Second World War. After World War II, the air base closed for good, as it was not large enough to accommodate the newest commercial planes now in use. The Heart of Texas Coliseum (Extraco Events Center) claimed some of the available land in 1951, and the city constructed Rich Field High School on the grounds in 1960, later to be renamed Waco High.
Rich Field blessed and invigorated the small town of Waco at a time when America needed it most. Though it was war that brought the men to Waco, the resulting growth and prominence changed the face of Central Texas forever.
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Rich Field Pilots
Rich Field pilots once wrote a poem for Texas: “When we came down to Texas, a year ago today, they said that in November, the days resembled May. In May the heat and sunshine, gave vision to our fears, of things we might encounter, when days had turned to years. But now in wet November, this have we learned anew, if in May you stick to Texas, in November it sticks to you!” | Source: Lee Arbon Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Map of Waco and Rich Field
Rich Field was located west of Waco, but that did not stop the Waco economy from booming with the influx of people and money. The construction of the air base also provided 3,400 jobs in the short term, including work for 1000 Mexican laborers for clearing trees, making roads, building barracks and hangars, and planting grass. | Source: Freeman, Paul. “Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Texas: Waco Area.” Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Texas: Waco Area, 15 July 2018, www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_Waco.htm.
Aerial View of Rich Field
The aerial view of Rich Field shows the simple layout: barracks and administrative buildings on the right, hangars on the left next to the open field where the planes would take off and land. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 4, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Before Runways
It was not until 1942 and the beginning of the Second World War that the airfield constructed official runways in the shape on an X. Before that time, the planes took off and landed on a large dirt field. This photo not only shows airplanes ready to take off, but also a great deal of lines scrawled in the dirt from planes getting in formation, taking off, and landing. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 4, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Hanging Around
Considering that the Wright Brothers successfully flew for the first time in 1903, the fact that young men in Waco were training for aerial combat by 1918 remains impressive. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 8, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
When Pigs Fly!
When the first cadets arrived, groups of five were assigned to a civilian flight instructor. According to one cadet after his first flight, “I thought that contraption made up of wood, canvas and wires, with a whirling blade and howling motor in front of my face would shake itself to pieces before it ever got back to solid ground. One of the biggest lies I ever told in my entire life was my answer to the instructor when he asked me how I liked it…I told him I liked it fine and hope the Good Lord has forgiven me.” | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 5, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Commander Whiteside
Commanding Officer Major John G. Whitesides led operations at Rich Field. Whitesides attended West Point in 1891 and served in the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1907 and to captain in 1910. He assumed command of Rich Field on August 23, 1918. The Rich Field Flyer described him as “honorable and upright, steady and keen in his judgement, unbiased and fair in all matters, and free from those radical preferences which always tend to unfairness… A true soldier, a staunch friend, and a zealous patriot, John G. Whitesides is every inch an American.” | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 8, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Cadet Line Up
Here cadets are lined up for either roll call or inspection. Three officers stand at the end of the line on the left, as can be seen by their overcoats. These coats, along with the more uniform color of the outfit, distinguished officers from cadets. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 7, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Curtiss in Formation
The cadets considered themselves lucky if they got to fly twice a day because of the unpredictable Texas weather, each flight lasting only about fifteen to twenty minutes. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 5, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Ready for Take-off
The Curtiss JN-4s quickly earned the nickname Jennys and served almost exclusively as the aircraft at Rich Field. | Source: Lee Arbon papers, Box 1, Folder 4, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Photo Mid-flight
Sgt. William F. Cottrell, or Pinky, of Rich Field captured on camera from another plane flying his JN 4D Jenny with a 90 Horsepower OX 5 engine. | Source: Lee Arbon papers, Box 1, Folder 4, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Say Cheese!
Along with training pilots for combat, Rich Field also trained aerial photographers. More than capturing historic images of cities, these pilots were vital to the reconnaissance effort during World War I. Pilots were already a novelty, as it was the first war to see use of aircraft on any substantial level, so these aerial photographers were rare and the first of their kind. Aerial photography began with the Germans, but the Triple Entente forces soon figured out the technology. The Rich Field Flyer stated, “The aerial photograph makes permanent what the observer sees, and many things he does not see.” Aerial photos also solved many problems previously associated with creating maps. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 8, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Young, Eager Cadets
Though not everything is known about exactly what kind of entertainment took place at Camp MacArthur and Rich Field, testaments to a Rich Field Orchestra continue to circulate. This orchestra group created a vaudeville show complete with other elements like a jazz band, a juggler, and even an artist drawing on stage with Crayons. They debuted at the City Auditorium in Dallas. Due to men being deployed, the acts changed frequently, but the men continued to perform because their efforts went to fund the $10,000 swimming pool at Rich Field. The eclectic acts were later pared down to only musical numbers, but these numbers told stories of enlisted life at Rich Field. From narrating a young flyer’s life from his physical exam at the base to his death at seventy-five, to a cadet’s love story, to a comedic tale of mishaps among the older cadets like getting their beards stuck in the controls, the vaudeville show helped to encapsulate and communicate the experiences of young pilots preparing for war. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 7, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Women Watching Planes
Not only did the population of Waco explode with the coming of the soldiers at Camp MacArthur and Rich Field, but so too did the pool of eligible bachelors. The people of Waco already hung around the air base to watch planes fly, but young women also stayed around to meet the pilots. A poem in the Rich Field Flyer said it best: “I have gone without sugar, in coffee and tea—If Tuesday were wheatless ‘twas nothing to me; in fact all such rules I obeyed like a child—but these Kadetless week-ends have driven me wild!” | Source: Lee Arbon papers, Box 1, Folder 4, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Looping Jenny
Pilots practiced many different kinds of maneuvers, such as the looping seen in this image. Pilots had to be extremely comfortable in their planes to be ready for any situation. The Waco Times-Herald reported one incident in which Sergeant H. H. Sheffield Jr. of Rich Field was flying at about five thousand feet when his plane caught fire. Sheffield intentionally dove down to one thousand feet, quite a risky move, but the wind extinguished the flame. A team from Rich Field dispatched to collect the damaged plane and lucky pilot. Sheffield had also recently had a run-in with a chicken coop as well when flying to Hillsboro to visit his aunt. | Source: George H. Williams papers, #3297, Box 179, Folder 5, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Things Do Not Always Go As Planned
Though fatalities were uncommon, crashes occurred more often. As one cadet recalled, “It was strange how quickly the victim of a plane crash would be identified. I recall one time a plane spun in and banged into the ground in a cloud of dust and the word flashed among the rest of us that it was McMichael. His own group watching their plane spread the word. The plane hit no more than about 200 yards from the flight line, where we were all assembled awaiting our own turns to fly. Only certain people were designated to approach a crash. They made a beeline for the scene in motorcycles. About the time they reached the crumpled plane we saw a figure emerge from the wreckage and loud and clear we all heard ole Mac cussing a blue streak—a happy sound. He became a good pilot incidentally. The rule after a crash was to put a man right back in a plane. It seemed to work.” | Source: Lee Arbon papers, Box 1, Folder 5, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Base Kitchen
The kitchen at Rich Field served far fewer men than the one at Camp MacArthur, but it remained a vital part of the camp no less. During the influenza outbreak of 1918, men were required to use the same dishes and utensils during every meal to try and stop the spread of the deadly disease. Soldiers were spread at least five feet apart in the mess hall and began to sleep head to foot as well. | Source: Wilton Lanning papers, Accession #4039, Box 10, Folder 14, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Mess Hall
Commanders especially worried about influenza spreading in close quarters, as the men slept and ate next to each other daily. Yet more than that, the world outside the base was the bigger threat. At the height of the flu outbreak, Rich Field was quarantined and the men forbidden from leaving the base. According to the Rich Field Flyer, to keep boredom at bay the men “turned to the development of varied kinds and forms of mustaches, every size, color, shape, and all stages of growth.” The medical personnel took great pains to keep the men’s mustaches sanitary by spraying them daily with antiseptic solution. The quarantine was lifted in late October 1918, but still no more than 50 percent of the command was allowed off the base at one time, and all visitors were to be sprayed upon arrival (whether with water or antiseptic solution is unknown). Even after the quarantine ended, everyone was to avoid crowded places and use every necessary precaution. | Source: Wilton Lanning papers, Accession #4039, Box 10, Folder 14, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Hostess House
The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) ran the Rich Field Hostess House. The house had various uses, but one particularly important usage was as the meeting place for commanders and their wives during the quarantine. Entertainment was provided to temporarily distract the soldiers and their families from the reality of being “confined to the post.” The Hostess House, meant for comfort, was said to be the finest at any flying field of the time. | Source: Wilton Lanning papers, Accession #4039, Box 10, Folder 13, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Pilot's Log
The Texas Collection at Baylor University holds the records of a young pilot, Greaver Miller. Miller’s pilot log shows a typical week of maneuvers for a cadet in training. | Source: Greaver Lewis Miller Collection, Accession #3804, Box 1, Folder 6, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Reserve Certificate
The air force was created in 1947. Before that, American air power was a function of the US Army, and it fell under the Army Signal Command during WWI. The National Defense Act of 1919 created aviation reserves for the first time, the Signal Officers Reserve Corps, and Signal Enlisted Reserve Corps. Greaver Miller was certified by the army as a pilot but decided to go on Reserve status, meaning that his army responsibilities were part time. He most likely had a full-time job elsewhere and made sure to keep up his certifications periodically so that if he was called to duty out of the reserves, he could serve his country. The signature of Rich Field’s Captain Whitesides can be seen at the bottom of the reserve document. | Source: Greaver Lewis Miller Collection, Accession #3804, Box 1, Folder 2, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Pilot ID Card
Greaver Miller attended the University of Texas School of Military Aeronautics in Austin before coming to Rich Field in 1918. He was promoted to second lieutenant on February 15, 1919. | Source: Greaver Lewis Miller Collection, Accession #3804, Box 1, Folder 4, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Mess Hall Building
All of the buildings of Rich Field were permanent structures, not just tents like parts of Camp MacArthur. Some of these buildings would become part of Rich Field High School after the airfield closed. | Source: Wilton Lanning papers, Accession #4039, Box 10, Folder 14, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Only One Fatality Every 4,000 Hours!
Rich Field served as the catalyst for later commercial air traffic in Waco and Central Texas. Most Americans had never been in an airplane, and for the first time Waco residents could pay to take joy rides to downtown Waco and back. Eventually some planes out of Rich Field served over forty Texas cities for those who could afford the flight. | Source: Freeman, Paul. “Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Texas: Waco Area.” Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Texas: Waco Area, 15 July 2018, www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_Waco.htm.
Reunion
The pilots of Rich Field were bonded as brothers and continued to have reunions years after their pilot days were over. The ninth annual reunion took place in 1955, a decade after the air field closed. | Source: Greaver Lewis Miller Collection, Accession #3804, Box 1, Folder 13, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
Building Rich Field
Waco native and renowned politician William Robert "Bob" Poage recounts his role in helping to construct Rich Field when the United States entered World War I. He later enlisted in the Navy during the conflict. | Source: Poage, William Robert "Bob," interviewed by Thomas L. Charlton and Phillip A. Thompson, March 15, 1979, in Waco, Texas, Baylor University Institute for Oral History. View Full Interview (Interview 2)Rich Field's Development
Famous Waco businessman and banker's son Lee Lockwood describes the creation of Rich Field, the entertainment it provided, and even the requirements Waco had to meet to get the air field approved by the US War Department | Source: Lockwood, Lee, interviewed by Thomas L. Charlton, June 12, 1974, in Waco, Texas, Baylor University Institute for Oral History. View Full Interview (Interview 2)To See a Plane!
Retired police captain Robert Fulwiler tells of the thrill it was to see an airplane on the ground in front of him | Source: Fulwiler, Robert, interviewed by Sean Sutcliffe, May 30, 2004, in Waco, Texas, Baylor University Institute for Oral History . View Full InterviewFirst Female Flight
Adrienne Wilkes Olenbush recalls when her mother was taken up in a plane from Rich Field as a reward for selling the most war bonds in the area. | Source: Olenbush, Adrienne Wilkes, interviewed by Susan Monaghan, November 7, 1975, in Waco, Texas, Baylor University Institute for Oral History. View Full Interview (Interview 3)Mid-air Pranks
Local Wacoan Mary Sendon tells the story of when the Rich Field cadets played a prank on the spectators that often gathered to watch the aerial maneuvers | Source: Sendon, Mary Kemendo, interviewed by Lois E. Myers, January 20, 1994, in Waco, Texas, Baylor University Institute of Oral History. View Full Interview (Interview 6)