The Pennsylvania Air National Guard facility is sited on the location of the former Olmsted Air Force Base, which was closed in 1969. The 193d Special Operations Wing operates Lockheed Martin MC-130J Commando Solo II aircraft. Today the airfield is split between civilian activities, Harrisburg IAP (MDT) and military activities, which now carry the Harrisburg ANGB title. After Olmsted AFB closed in 1970 major civilian air activities moved from Capital City Airport, near Harrisburg over to the former Olmsted site.
Middletown Air Depot
The installation saw its first military use by the United States Army Signal Corps in 1898. The first known use of the field by military aircraft was when Middletown Airfield opened in 1917 as a supply depot and maintenance center for Signal Corps aircraft.
The first airplanes landed in 1918 at Middletown Air Depot, when it was under the administration of the Signal Corps of the United States Army.[2] In 1939, it was still known by this name. Middletown had an abundance of engine and airframe shops and a supply distribution system that made it a significant facility, but a poor runway that, it was felt, would be too expensive to improve.[3] It would involve claiming marsh land and portions of the Susquehanna River (both of which have since been accomplished) and the Air Force leadership at that time determined that more land for supply and maintenance buildings was needed.[3]
After World War I and the reconstitution of the United States Army Air Service in 1922, the facility became a logistics and maintenance support of Air Service aircraft and equipment through its host unit, the Middletown Air Depot (later Middletown Air Materiel Area under the U.S. Army Air Corps). During World War II, numerous U.S. Army Air Forces transport and reconnaissance units were organized and formed at Olmsted Army Airfield. Once equipped, they were reassigned to training bases. The Middletown Air Depot-cum-Middletown Air Material Area was a major support installation to the U.S. Air Force and its predecessor organizations for decades.
Renaming for Robert Olmsted
The installation was renamed in honor of 1st Lieutenant Robert Sanford Olmsted, U.S. Army Air Service, on 11 March 1948. First Lieutenant Olmsted was killed in a ballooning accident over the village of Loosbroek, Netherlands on 23 September 1923 while competing in the Gordon Bennett Cup.[4][5][6] Olmsted remained in the race despite threatening weather which caused some competitors to drop out. Lightning struck the S-6 over Nistelrode, the Netherlands, killing Olmsted.[7]
Beginning on 11 August 1948, the 147th Flight Service Squadron of the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) began operations of the Olmsted Flight Service Center.
During the 1948–1949 Berlin Airlift, the U.S. Supply Depot at Olmsted AFB provided emergency support supplies for the airlift operations.[8]
In 1958, Olmsted was designated as prime support depot for the T-38 Talon advanced jet trainer then under development and the L-27, later designated the U-3 Blue Canoe, support aircraft.
Olmsted AFB and the Middletown Air Depot's last assignment was with Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), and the base and depot were closed on 30 June 1969.
In 1998, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania transferred ownership of the airport to the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority (SARAA).[2] In addition, in 1966, much of the former Air Force property was converted into The Pennsylvania State University—The Capital College, otherwise known as the Harrisburg Campus. This campus was originally chartered as a graduate and upper division school.
The PA ANG's 193d Special Operations Wing consists of:
193d Special Operations Squadron flies the Lockheed Martin MC-130J Commando II, a multirole aircraft.[9] The squadron previously flew the EC-130J Commando Solo, a specially-modified four-engine Hercules transport. The 193d Special Operations Squadron conducted information operations, psychological operations and civil affairs broadcasts.
^Maurer Maurer, "Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919–1939", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1987, ISBN0-912799-38-2, page 174.
^Provan, John, and Davies, R. E. G., "Berlin Airlift: The Effort and the Aircraft", Paladwr Press, McLean, Virginia, ISBN1-888962-05-4, page 40.