"Back at the Gap" Major General Frank H. Smoker, Jr. (USAF, Retired) I-81 almost drove away Gap expansions 30th in a series In the mid-1950s, the 148th Fighter Squadron of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, then equipped with F-51 aircraft, was faced with the situation that its home base, Reading's Spaatz Field, did not meet the runway length criteria for that unit to make the transition to jet aircraft and remain at that base. With the mountain to the east of the airfield, it was not feasible to construct a longer runway that would meet the Air Force safety criteria. Federal funding was available, so the Air Guard leadership was searching for another airfield within central Pennsylvania that had an area where a runway could be constructed to meet the criteria or at least had an existing runway that could be lengthened to the required 10,000 feet. Numerous sites were examined but were rejected for many reasons. One main consideration was to select a site that could support recruiting for a larger Air Guard unit. Eventually, a study determined that it would be feasible to construct a new Air National Guard base at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation. This site could easily support the necessary recruiting and other criteria. Most importantly, land was already available on the military reservation on which a 10,000-foot, east-west runway could be built along the southern boundary of Indiantown Gap Military Reservation but north of and paralleling Route 22. But before this plan could be implemented, it was announced in November 1957 that a four-lane interstate highway connecting Harrisburg and Scranton was being proposed -- the route for which would run through the middle of the sprawling, 19,000-acre IGMR. Maj. Gen. Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, then-adjutant general of Pennsylvania and a member of Gov. George Leader's cabinet, immediately voiced strong protests. He said that the state Highway Department plan would seriously handicap the military training programs for the Pennsylvania National Guard and other units. "I was never consulted on the matter," Biddle said, "but on personal investigation found the department was considering putting this four-lane road down on what is now Fishing Creek Valley Road, then easterly down the ridge of Blue Mountain. The result would be to cut off one part of the Gap from the other." Biddle said he first became aware of the plan several months earlier when he noticed surveying teams working on the reservation and learned airplanes had flown over the Gap taking survey pictures. "I immediately went to Governor Leader and explained to him the federal government has invested at least $100 million in the reservation, and any highway through the Gap would certainly be detrimental," Biddle said. "I told him the overall effect on the future of the Gap as a military training base should certainly be considered." Leader promised to investigate the situation. Biddle said the Highway Department was also considering an alternative to locate the highway parallel to Route 22 to skirt the south boundary of the Gap to Lickdale and then into Swatara Gap. Such a plan would thereby bypass the military reservation, and Biddle favored it. This plan to circumvent IGMR was the one eventually adopted, and the resulting highway was designated I-81. But there went the Air Guard's chance for a base at IGMR. This little-known part of the Gap's history has never been previously made public. To complete the story, in 1961, the Air Guard unit was redesignated as an aeromedical airlift unit with transport aircraft and was transferred from Spaatz Field to Olmsted Air Force Base (now Harrisburg International Airport), where it remains today as the 193rd Special Operations Wing flying the EC-130 aircraft. In later years, other opportunities for expansion of Air and Army Guard facilities at IGMR did occur. In 1972, the Air Guard organized and activated the new 201st Red Horse engineering unit in Area 1. The 211th Electronics Installation Squadron, the 271st Combat Communications Squadron and the 203rd Weather Flight were moved into Area 2 from the Harrisburg International Airport. Construction began immediately to create suitable training facilities for this large contingent of Air Guard units which were to be permanently located at the Gap. In July 1973, Pennsylvania National Guard Army Aviation was the recipient of important federal funds to build a huge helicopter facility. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for a new $3 million helicopter complex to be erected in the central area of the reservation, north of the airstrip on Muir Field and south of the small arms ranges. Gov. Milton J. Shapp was joined in the groundbreaking ceremony by Frank C. Hilton, secretary of the Department of Property and Supplies, and Maj. Gen. Harry J. Mier Jr., then-adjutant general of Pennsylvania. This facility, scheduled for completion in early 1975, included a 45,000-square-foot hangar, which was large enough to enclose three football fields side by side. It would be capable of housing and maintaining 77 helicopters with 107 full-time military technicians employed. The entire complex would cover 72 acres and include six underground fuel storage tanks holding a cumulative total of 110,000 gallons of aviation jet fuel as well as a large ramp capable of accommodating ground pads for another 58 helicopters. When completed, this facility would be the largest Army Aviation installation in the United States other than Fort Rucker in Alabama (it remains so today) and would consolidate Guard aviation units located in Allentown, Lancaster and New Cumberland. At that time, the Lancaster and Allentown units used rented facilities. The New Cumberland detachment's state-owned complex would be turned over to the State Bureau of Aviation. Consolidation of these three units into a single base would save about 20 percent per year in operation and maintenance and rental costs from the current total for the three separate bases. By 1976, this new hangar was completed and, together with the new control tower and construction of three simulator buildings, the Army Aviation facility, consisting mainly of two organizations, was in full operation. Most importantly, all this new construction, new missions and increased new full-time Guard technician positions created a massive economic boost to the local community. The Army Aviation Support Facility (AASF) was charged with the responsibility of directing and coordinating operations, training and standardization for approximately 900 Pennsylvania Army aviation personnel while maintaining the assigned helicopters. AASF was also responsible to provide air-traffic control service and training-area flight following services, weather observation and forecasting, airfield security and support for the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site. EAATS was tasked by the National Guard Bureau to conduct utility- and cargo-helicopter training for aviators, enlisted crew members and instructor pilots. In addition to actual helicopter flight training, three state-of-the-art helicopter simulators are used on a full-time basis. More than 1,500 air crews are trained each year from Guard and Reserve units throughout the United States, and some from foreign countries are trained by EAATS. These facilities are a national asset providing unique training not available elsewhere except at the regular Army Aviation post at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Today, all of this Army Aviation activity at the Gap annually generates more than 80,000 aircraft movements, making Muir Airfield one of the busiest airfields in Pennsylvania. Published in the December 29, 2004 edition of the Lebanon Daily News © 2004 Frank H. Smoker, Jr. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the author. Go "Back at the Gap" Index