Wetumpka Municipal Airport Listed as Historical Landmark

The Wetumpka Municipal Airport, formerly known as Elmore Auxiliary Training Field #2, is now listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage by the Alabama Historical Commission.

According to the Commission, the site qualified because it served as an auxiliary training field during World War II.

With the outbreak of the war, and the desperate need for a trained military force, the War Department established airfields throughout the country. In 1942, the Elmore Auxiliary Training Field #2 was established on 320 acres acquired by the government to handle takeoffs and landings during high­tempo training cycles in conjunction with activities at Gunter Army Airfield in Montgomery, which was established in 1940. The Elmore field was one of seven airfields serving Gunter and is the only one still active today.

Several pilots lost their lives at Elmore in crashes during flight training. Many others went on to combat, including Lt. Henry Randolph, who was from Wetumpka, and became an "Ace" for shooting down multiple enemy aircraft as he flew a P­51 Mustang during the last Allied fighter mission in Europe over Bavaria Germany in April 1945.

 

Another local, Hoyt Eason, became an Ace as he flew a P­38 Lightning in the Pacific over New Guinea in December 1942. He went MIA during the Battle of Bismarck Sea in March 1943. Both pilots were awarded the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross.Following the war, the government gave the land to the city of Wetumpka for one dollar.

Today, Wetumpka Municipal Airport is a thriving general aviation airport with nearly 100 planes based here. It is one of the few World War II airfields in the country still in use.

"These selected Alabama landmarks are worthy of both recognition and preservation," according to a Commission statement.

 

The Alabama Historical Commission has issued a Certificate of Register to the Wetumpka Municipal Airport. An historical marker is planned for the site. To view the video, "A Local Airport Matters," click here.  -ECAA, Dave Ramsey