The attack on Pearl Harbor

Sunday, December 7, 1941, was sunny and peaceful in Lee County. The news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor stunned the nation.

Our country was quick to respond. On February 19, 1942, the 618-acre field was leased from Lee County for use as a base and quickly gained the nickname "Palmetto Field" for then obvious reasons.

The first Army Air Force unit to occupy Page Field was the 98th Bombardment Group which was equipped with B-24s. They arrived March 31, 1942, traveling from Barksdale Field, Louisiana in 18 railcars which carried 400 men and supplies. The unit was known as Col. H. A. Halverson's "Halpro." They were met at the station by Mayor Sam Fitzsimmons, County Commissioner Harry W. Stringfellow and Dave Shapard, now representing the Chamber of Commerce.

According to "The History of Page Field--1942," seventy-five of Fort Myers' "local belles" entertained 400 soldiers of this field at a dance held at the former municipal pier on April 3. "Early in the morning of April 4, 1942, the citizens of Fort Myers were awakened by the mighty throbs of B-24s on their first flying mission."

The first major problem the 98th faced was the discovery by the Ordnance Detachment that Lee County sand was too light. Our sand, when poured into the shell of a 100-pound practice bomb, would constitute a weight of only 85 pounds. The problem was solved by trucking sand from Avon Park.

After six weeks of training the 98th was replaced by the 93rd Bomber group, headed by Col. Ted Timberlake.

On May 21, 1942, the Lee County Commission adopted a resolution changing the name from Lee County Airport to Channing Page Field. Although the community, according to the military history, "had changed the name of the field to Page Field, this was not acceptable to the Army which continued to operate under the name of the Fort Myers Army Air Base."

Meanwhile, National Airlines had once again appeared on the scene. Once the runways had been lengthened, National reinstated regular flights. This is not to say wartime travel was simple for civilians. While National's service was commercial, W. H. Marcum, retired manager of Page Field, remembers that National also carried supplies needed for the military and its planes were allowed to land on runways there.

Commercial passengers were often bumped because of military priorities. Military passengers were identified as AA (which was just one step below Air Force One) down to DD which identified military family members.

The thrust of the training program at Page Field was changed on February 12, 1943 when P-39-1s arrived transforming the base into a training ground for "high tech" pursuit fighter planes. Hundreds of P-39s were sold to the Russians and many Russian flight instructors came to Fort Myers to receive their training.

Two days later, on February 14, 1943, work on the target range at Sanibel was started.

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