Last updated: September 17, 2024
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Calhoun and Ouachita Counties, Arkansas
Calhoun and Ouachita Counties in Arkansas contained important military training and research and development sites during World War II. Camden Airfield in Calhoun County and Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot in Ouchita County made significant contributions to U.S. military preparedness and employed thousands of county residents during the War.
Camden Army Airfield (Harrell Field) was an essential training instillation for U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) pilots and was one of three contract primary flying schools located in Arkansas. Because the primary USAAF training site at Kelly Field in Texas could only graduate 500 pilots a year and the USAAF needed pilots, they contracted with private flying schools to create 22 Contract Primary Flying Schools. The contractors were responsible for constructing the school buildings; providing instructors, mechanics, housing, and meals; and maintaining the training planes. The USAAF provided trainees and planes, and it arranged to buy back the buildings when the need for the flying schools was done.
Camden Airfield opened in August of 1942. To begin their training, cadets took college classes for five months in academic and military subjects at one of several colleges in Arkansas. They then took nine weeks of pre-flight courses at Camden and nine weeks of in-flight training. The remainder of their time was spent in ground school. Successful completion of contract primary flying school was followed by basic flying school and advanced flying school. Once a cadet completed all phases of training, they would earn their wings and be a pilot in the USAAF. Between 1941 and August 1944, when the airfield was closed, Camden Airfield graduated more than 6,000 U.S. Army Air Force cadets.
World War II spurred government investment in new and advanced technologies and in research and development. By 1944, the U.S. Navy had begun using ship-launched rockets to attack land-based targets and needed a new facility to design, test, and manufacture new rocket types. They chose an area in Ouachita County to the east of Camden Airfield as the site of Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot.
Shumaker was an inland naval munitions depot and testing and production facility. The first rockets rolled off the assembly line on April 24, 1945. Production was under the direction of the National Fireworks Company, which had received a contract to operate Shumaker. During the late stages of the War, the Depot played a crucial role in developing and testing innovative rocket technologies for the Navy. National Fireworks operated the facility until December 31, 1945, when it reverted to control of the Navy. With the end of the War, the Depot continued to be maintained, but no manufacturing took place there until the start of the Korean War in 1950.
Calhoun and Ouachita counties commemorate and remember World War II with historic markers and a memorial in Camden and an annual banquet honoring local veterans. In addition, two of the original buildings at the Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot are listed in the National Register of Historic Places - the Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot 500-Man Barracks and the Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot Administration Building and the Shumaker Naval Ammunition Depot Laundry Building is listed on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places.