Trip Report: Kitty Hawk at Last!
First published in 2006. Reformatted 2025. My only previous visits to North Carolina were a couple of quick transits back in the early 1970s when we moved to, and away from, Florida. I was pleased to have the opportunity to visit the state on business, staying and working on Seymour Johnson Air Force base for two weeks. Just a reminder PIN means Permanent Installation Number and ILC means Installation Location Code; I include these for Air Force properties when I know them.Sunday, 30 April 2006
We worked over the weekend, but on Sunday afternoon we quit at a reasonable hour and I had some daylight to play with. In my rented Saturn Ion, I searched for some former off-base annexes of Seymour Johnson AFB. Summerall TACAN Annex NC, ILC WLUH, 35-20-53, 77-55-33. First stop was to the east of the base. This property was activated in November 1959 and inactivated in June 1998. It was declared excess in May 2002. I found the access road with no difficulty, but the fence and building had been demolished sometime in the past few years. The only remnant I found was a power pole about 150 feet north of the former navigational aid.Power pole Paley Transmitter Annex NC, ILC STTT, 35-19-44, 77-57-40. Also east of the base, I found this former communications annex. This facility supported Seymour Johnson AFB from August 1959, until its disposal in August 1989.
General view
General view
Gate
Fence and sign
Fence Neuse Instrument Landing System Middle Marker Annex NC, ILC RMKF, 35-19-48, 77-59-55. Moving to the west side of the base, I found the former middle marker. The fenced compound remains (complete with facility number), but the equipment has been removed. It was designated in October 1958 and declared excess in May 2002. There was an outer marker site that worked in concert with this middle marker but I was unable to find its exact location.
General view
General view
Gate and fence detail
Thursday 4 May 2006
Our hard work paid off, and we finished our mission about lunchtime. Since we had comp time coming for the previous weekend, we enjoyed a day and a half of free time. Saulston Annex NC, ILC UZJM. I had not known the purpose of this annex until I stumbled across a description on a public web page operated by Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. In 1961 a B-52 crashed northeast of the base and one of the nuclear weapons broke apart on impact. The Air Force acquired an easement limiting excavation in the three-acre area to a depth of five feet. The easement has been on the real property account as an annex of Seymour Johnson AFB ever since.General view Jasper Communications Site GWEN 891 NC, ILC LTSX. North of New Bern, this Ground Wave Emergency Network site has the standard 299-foot tower. This site was activated in approximately 1987 and disposed of in January 2000. In ACC documents it is sometimes identified as Beaufort or New Bern.
Equipment shelters
General view
Tower base Stallings Air Base NC, 35-19, 77-37. Now Kinston Regional Jetport (ISO), this was Kinston Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Facility during WWII. Reactivated in 1951 for USAF flight training, it was briefly known as Kinston Airfield before being designated Stallings Air Base--one of several contractor-operated bases designated as "Air Base" rather than "Air Force Base." It remained operational until at least 1957.
Elevated water storage tank
General view
Control tower
Friday, 5 May 2006
Wright Brothers National Memorial NC. Another day off, and I visited the windswept birthplace of powered flight, near Kitty Hawk. The site of the first sustained, controlled flight is an obvious "must see" for anyone immersed in the study of aviation history. Kitty Hawk is on the famed Outer Banks of North Carolina. The pilots reading this might already know there is a civil airstrip, First Flight (FFA), at the memorial, just a few hundred feet away from the location of the first flights. For me, the important place to contemplate is the stretch of ground where the first flights actually took place. Ironically, that is the place most of the tourists bypassed as they trudged from the visitors center to the hilltop memorial. Fine with me, I was alone with my thoughts as I walked from the takeoff point to the distance markers commemorating the four flights the brothers made on 17 December 1903. First flight, 120 feet in 12 seconds, by Orville. Second flight, 175 feet in 12 seconds, by Wilbur. Third flight, 200 feet in 15 seconds, by Orville. Fourth flight, 852 feet in 59 seconds, by Wilbur. Can you imagine how elated they must have felt at the end of that day?First Flight airport
Historical marker
Memorial
Visitor center
Memorial
Hangar
Hangar and quarters
Flight area, hangar, and quarters
Flight area
First flight marker
Second flight marker
Third flight marker
Fourth flight marker
View from fourth flight marker of flight area Barco Flight Strip NC. Following the highway north then west back onto the mainland, I drove through the town of Barco and stopped at the current Carrituck County Airport (ONX). During WWII this flight strip (see this paper for information on the flight strip program) would not have had much in the way of buildings or infrastructure. I was entertained by a Navy T-34 that was working the pattern.
General view
General view
T-34 aircraft Naval Air Station Elizabeth City NC. Continuing west, I turned south at Elizabeth City and drove past the current Elizabeth City Coast Guard Air Station/Regional Airport NC(ECG) (itself a veteran from WWII) to the site of the former naval air station (also known as Weeksville). My objective was the remaining lighter-than-air hangar, Airdock No. 1. It's now on private property, but I could see it from a distance--a steel hangar over 1,000 feet long is hard to miss! The hangar dwarfs a normal-sized water tower next to it. I also explored the remains of the nearby Airdock No. 2, a mere 900 feet long! This one was destroyed in a fire in the 1990s, and only the four corner support towers still stand.
Airdock No. 1 (R) and remains of Airdock No. 2 (L)
Airdock No. 1
Airdock No. 1
Airdock No. 1
Unidentified structure
Remains of Airdock No. 2
Remains of Airdock No. 2
Remains of Airdock No. 2
Remains of Airdock No. 2 Edenton Marine Corps Air Station NC, 36-01-37, 76-34-00. The WWII airfield is now the current Northeastern Regional Airport (EDE) and an industrial park. The Navy flight operations building is now used by a state agency.
Flight operations building
Flight operations building
Saturday, 6 May 2006
Bluethenthal Field NC, 34-16, 77-54. I checked out of billeting and departed Seymour Johnson AFB. In Wilmington, I looked for Wilmington International Airport (ILM). During WWII under the Bluethenthal this was a 1AF base with an antisubmarine mission. From the late 1940s until the late 1990s, it was known as New Hanover County Airport. In the 1960s, an air defense fighter-interceptor facility was built, including four late-type alert hangars within a partial revetment, a maintenance hangar, and a nearby munitions storage area.ADC alert hangar
ADC alert hangar
ADC alert hangars
ADC alert hangars
ADC maintenance hangar
ADC maintenance hangar
ADC munitions storage area
ADC munitions storage area
ADC munitions storage area Wilmington National Guard Armory NC. While driving through the city, I noticed the Art Deco lettering on the armory building and made an impromptu stop.
Building
Building Fort Fisher Air Force Station NC, PIN 3327, ILC HEVT. Continuing south through Wilmington, I made my way down the coast to Kure Beach. This former radar site, in use from about 1955 to 1989, is still partly used by the Air Force as Fort Fisher Recreation Annex. A museum on the annex was not open when I visited.
General view
General view
General view
General view
Building
Building
Building and museum artifact
Building and museum artifacts Fort Fisher Family Housing Annex NC, ILC HEVU. The former housing area is also part of the current recreation facility, with units available for rent.
General view Laurinburg-Maxton Air Force Base NC, 34-47-30, 79-22-00. This is now Laurinburg-Maxton Airport (MEB). A few warehouses and two water towers still stand in the southwest corner of the former base. Farther north, another water tower looks vintage. This field served during WWII as Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base. It was reactivated and designated an Air Force Base in January 1954, then redesignated Laurinburg-Maxton Vehicle Storage Station in October 1956.
Warehouse
Buildings and elevated water storage tank
Elevated water storage tank
Building
Elevated water storage tank
Hangar Knollwood Field NC, 35-14, 79-23. This airfield served the AAF Technical Training Command during WWII. Near Southern Pines, the present Moore County Airport (SOP) is now a busy general aviation field.
Non-historic terminal building
Historical marker Southern Pines National Guard Armory NC. In town, I noticed signs pointing to the NG Armory, so I had to check it out. Sure enough, I found another example of Art Deco lettering on the sign.
Building
Building
Building From Southern Pines, my final objective of the day was just to drive as close as practical to Winston-Salem. I ended up in Kernersburg, a suburb on the west side of Greensboro. This was the longest driving day of this trip, covering 434 miles in just over 11 hours.
Sunday, 7 May 2006
Winston-Salem Air Force Station NC, PIN 3307, ILC ZDKN, 36-02-42, 80-08-07. From Kernersburg, I drove a few miles west to the southeast edge of Winston-Salem, and was greeted by the imposing concrete tower of the AN/FPS-24 radar. Part of this site, operational from 1955 to 1970, is a public park, and part of it is the property of ACRA.AN/FPS-24 tower
AN/FPS-24 tower
AN/FPS-24 tower
AN/FPS-24 tower detail
AN/FPS-24 tower detail
General view
General view
Building
Building
Building
Building
Building
Building Winston-Salem Housing Annex NC. The housing area sits just across the road from the radar station. The homes are lived in and appear well-maintained.
General view Winston-Salem Communications Annex NC. Just a few blocks away I found the former ground-air transmitter-receiver site, now county property.
General view
Building
Gate Smith-Reynolds Field NC, 36-07-30, 80-13-00. This airport in the north part of Winston-Salem was built just before WWII and was used by the AAF as a "safety flight control station" during that conflict. I paid a quick visit in the rain, and the 1941 terminal building was the only structure I saw that looked to be wartime vintage. The terminal has been altered, but the distinctive lines of the WPA Art Deco style remain.
General view
Terminal building
Terminal building
Terminal building
Terminal building
Terminal building Fairchild Aircraft Plant NC, aka Plancor 506, 36-05-52, 79-24-29. Continuing my drive to the east, I wandered into the northern part of Burlington. A rayon plant before the war, this became a Defense Plant Corporation property during WWII. Fairchild Engine & Airplane first produced aircraft here, then Firestone Tire & Rubber produced guns. Sometime after WWII, this became the Tarheel Army Missile Plant. The Western Electric Company operated the plant to produce Nike Ajax and Hercules missiles.
General view
General view
General view
General view
General view
General view Burlington National Guard Armory NC. Just across the road from the plant, I saw my third armory of the weekend. This one also sported the Art Deco font on its front sign.
Building
Building
Building detail Updated March 29, 2025
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