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Sanitary conditions were probably never very good. The sewerage system was inadequate and drainage was poor. The field was somewhat lumpy, so good landing spots were hard to find, and a severe mosquito problem made life at the base frequently unbearable. Flying instruction was good, but the airplanes used to train pursuit pilots proved inadequate for truly valuable combat training. The school for training flight instructors worked impressively well. The bureaucracy had some problems, but the base was usually well-managed.
372:, a British troopship, off the coast of Ireland. Among the dead were about twenty-seven men of the 158th Aero Squadron. They had trained at Gerstner Field and had left the base less than four weeks before. The second came from a hurricane that struck Southwest Louisiana on August 6, 1918. The storm killed three and injured eight at the field and destroyed ninety-six airplanes. The only building to survive at the Big Lake gunnery school was the mess hall, which was used as a temporary hospital.
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convinced the Air
Service to establish a flying training field. The airfield was located about eleven miles southeast of Lake Charles and consisted to two separate facilities. The base was quite large, containing twenty-four hangars, twelve barracks for enlisted men, twelve buildings to house officers, twelve mess halls, four large warehouses, and numerous workshops and offices. All buildings were painted green with white trimming.
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397:, with Old Camp Road being the northern boundary of the base. Woods and brush have taken over the west side. where at least a dozen aircraft hangars once stood. Outlines of walls and hangar foundations can be seen in aerial images, the airfield now being an agricultural field. A few isolated concrete foundations are all that remain of the station area to the east side of the road.
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flight training on 11 November 1918 were allowed to complete their training, however no new cadets were assigned to the base. Also the separate training squadrons were consolidated into a single Flying School detachment, as many of the personnel assigned were being demobilized. Finally, flight training activities ceased on
November 8, 1919.
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The first unit stationed there was the 45th Aero
Squadron, which was transferred from Essington. Some Curtiss JN-4 Jennys to be used for flight training were ferried into Gerstner from Kelly Field, south of San Antonio, Texas, however most of the planes to be used for flight training were shipped in
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In
December 1919 Gerstner Field was deactivated as an active duty airfield, and a small caretaker unit was assigned to the facility for administrative reasons. But by 1921, the decision had been made to phase down all activities at the base in accordance with sharply reduced military budgets. and it
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The base was intended for 2,000 men, but reached a maximum of almost 3,000, requiring tents and improvised messes to accommodate them. The first troops arrived in
November 1917, before construction was completed. Guards from a national guard unit in Mississippi were followed by airmen and equipment
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Beginning in June 1917, Lake
Charles had tried to acquire an army training camp, but the Army rejected the area as too flat for training foot soldiers. Nevertheless, local officials continued to lobby for a military facility in the area to support the war effort. In August 1917, they successfully
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With the sudden end of World War I in
November 1918, the future operational status of Gerstner Field was unknown. Many local officials speculated that the U.S. government would keep the field open because of the outstanding combat record established by Gerstner-trained pilots in Europe. Cadets in
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Gerstner Field flight operations suffered tremendously from blowing sand that hampered flying and destroyed airplane engines. A chronic lack of spare engines and parts prevented many repairs, thus leaving men idle and, at one time, as many as two-thirds of the camp's airplanes out of commission.
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was closed. The War
Department had ordered the small caretaker force at Gerstner Field to dismantle all remaining structures and to sell them as surplus, and Gerstner never was used again as a civil airport or a military airfield.
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National
Archives of the United States: Records of the Training and Operations Group (Air Service) and the Training and Operations Division (Air Corps) Records of the Army Air Forces (AAF), (Record Group 18) 1903-64 (bulk
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Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the First World War, Volume 3, Part 3, Center of
Military History, United States Army, 1949 (1988 Reprint)
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Gerstner Field suffered two incidents of massive destruction in its history. The first occurred on February 5, 1918, when a German submarine sunk the
360:**Was formed as 2d Reserve Aero Squadron, July 1917 at Chandler Field, Pennsylvania. Re-Designated upon transfer to Gerstner Field in November, 1917.
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Gerstner Field was named for Fredrick J. Gerstner, who drowned 31 December 1914 when his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean near
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Today, little evidence of its existence remains. The station apparently straddled both the east and west sides of
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Making a reading at the end of the first minute of a pilot-balloon run at Gerstner Field, Louisiana.
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143d Aero Squadron (Service), November, 1917 (Transferred from Chandler Field, Pennsylvania)
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Flying School Detachment (Consolidation of Squadrons A-F), November 1918-November 1919
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Gerstner Field Louisiana, 1918, looking west to east along old camp road.
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wooden crates by railcar. Training units assigned to Gerstner Field:
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established in 1917 after the United States entry into World War I.
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Location of U.S. Aviation Fields, The New York Times, 21 July 1918
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military airfield, located 11.1 miles (17.9 km) southeast of
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493:"Southwest Louisiana Historical Association Gerstner Field"
222:, Louisiana. It operated as a training field for the
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in Essington, Pennsylvania, which was being closed.
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Re-designated as Squadron "B", July–November 1918
347:Re-designated as Squadron "G", July–November 1918
337:Re-designated as Squadron "F", July–November 1918
317:Re-designated as Squadron "D", July–November 1918
307:Re-designated as Squadron "C", July–November 1918
287:Re-designated as Squadron "A", July–November 1918
327:Re-designated as Squadron "E", July–November 1918
279:Post Headquarters, Gerstner Field - December 1919
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407:List of Training Section Air Service airfields
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228:one of thirty-two Air Service training camps
444:, Oryx Press, Phoenix, Ariz., 1991, p. 147.
226:between 1917 until 1919. The airfield was
548:World War I airfields in the United States
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282:45th Aero Squadron (II)**, November 1917
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442:Directory of Military Bases in the U.S.
553:World War I sites in the United States
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302:64th Aero Squadron (II), April 1918
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428:Air Force Historical Research Agency
312:75th Aero Squadron (II), March 1918
242:, while participating in the annual
342:196th Aero Squadron, December 1917
332:195th Aero Squadron, December 1917
292:63d Aero Squadron (II), April 1918
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352:Squadron "H", July–September 1918
454:Fredrick J. Gerstner (1891-1914)
422: This article incorporates
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224:Air Service, United States Army
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126:Pilot training airfield
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558:Airports in Louisiana
465:Find a grave memorial
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240:Oceanside, California
99:30.11583°N 93.08000°W
440:William R. Evinger:
197:Garrison information
104:30.11583; -93.08000
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160:Site history
28:, Louisiana
26:Lake Charles
250:World War I
216:World War I
191:World War I
173:In use
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77:Coordinates
542:Categories
503:2013-03-24
413:References
108: (
89:93°04′48″W
86:30°06′57″N
246:contest.
176:1918–1919
152:Condition
530:1917-47)
401:See also
370:Tuscania
202:Garrison
376:Closure
234:History
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395:LA 27
259:from
165:Built
168:1918
123:Type
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521:^
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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