History Lessons: Bradley Field

Part One: The Events Leading Up To The Selection of Windsor Locks As The Site Of An Army Air Corps Air Base

Less than one hundred years after a small village along the Connecticut River was incorporated as the Town of Windsor Locks, it became the setting for an event that would alter its landscape and command its fortunes to the present day. The establishment of an airport in the western part of the town known as Bull Run would transform Windsor Locks from a close-knit and bustling industrial and farming community to a very different place by the close of the 20th century.

In the spring of 1940 many of the 4357 residents of Windsor Locks were employed in the mills situated along its 19th century canal or in the fields of corn, squash and tobacco that fanned out across the expanse of flat land that distinguished the town’s southern and western sections. Others worked in the many shops and small businesses that were located along the community’s busy Main Street. Some of its young men, like my father, were members of the Civilian Conservation Corps, carving out trails and constructing public camping and picnic grounds in Connecticut’s parks and forests. In their spare time, the citizens of Windsor Locks fished for the bountiful shad that each year returned to spawn in the Connecticut River, paid 15 cents to attend dances at the Italian Progressive Club and lined up to see the latest picture show at the town’s movie theatre, the Rialto.  

That same year officials in Hartford had approved a plan to do away with the trolleys that operated in the city and replace them with buses. Residents from other towns in Connecticut and neighboring states flooded into the city to take jobs with the Hamilton Propeller Works and the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft engine plant, precipitating a housing shortage and straining already overwhelmed city services.

In order to build on the economic growth sparked by the city’s burgeoning war industries, Hartford’s capable and politically adept mayor, Thomas Spellacy, proposed that the city and the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertake a project to construct an additional runway and other improvements to Hartford’s airport, Brainard Field. The municipal airport was important to the cash-strapped city’s reviving economy. It served private and commercial aviation and housed the Federal Weather Bureau and the Connecticut National Guard. American Airlines, one of the commercial carriers using Brainard, strongly supported the addition of a third runway. 

Federal dollars would pay for 75 percent of the runway project and the city would contribute the remaining 25 percent. In the late spring of 1940 Hartford sought a waiver from the WPA for the city’s share, contending that the new runway was necessary for national defense. Despite political pressure from Connecticut’s Congressional delegation, WPA would not budge from its decision that the city was responsible for one-quarter of the cost of the project. Hartford eventually capitulated and agreed to pay its share from city funds after hearing testimony from an American Airlines representative and others that the additional runway was needed.

In October 1940, shortly after the 25 percent contribution for the runway project was authorized by Hartford’s Board of Aldermen, the War Department announced it intended to acquire Brainard and make it the headquarters for the Army Air Corps Northeastern District. Brainard would also serve as the base for a pursuit group and other air units as well as a training facility for pilots and other personnel. Connecticut’s representatives in the U.S. Congress embraced the War Department’s plan, citing the economic benefits to the state if the air base was located in Connecticut.

The War Department had selected Brainard because of its geographical proximity to the numerous industries producing military equipment and materials in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. An air base in Hartford would be close enough to protect vital war industries and provide logistical support for transporting military supplies and troops. It would be less costly for the Army Air Corps to modify Brainard for military operations than build a completely new air base. Another advantage was that the City of Hartford owned the land adjacent to Brainard, which could be leased from the city at no cost to the federal government and used for barracks and other facilities. Hartford officials welcomed the announcement of the future Army Air Corps air base for many reasons. Chief among them was the Air Corps takeover of Brainard would relieve the city of its 25 percent contribution to the runway project.

But it was not all smooth flying for the proposed air base. First, there was the thorny problem of civil aviation at Brainard. Civilian flight operations might have to be curtailed or eliminated entirely. This possibility did not sit well with American Airlines and the other commercial carriers as well as the civilian pilot training services whose businesses depended on having Brainard open to civilian aircraft. There was no alternative civilian airport that was available in the area.

Over the next few months confusion existed about whether or not the War Department would permit civilian aviation activities at the air base, perhaps because the Department was being pulled in two directions: It had a legitimate concern that civil aviation might disrupt military operations at the air field, while at the same time it had to contend with the strong political pressures exerted at both the state and federal level to allow civilian aircraft to continue to use Brainard. 

Second, the companies operating at Brainard had leases with the city and these businesses would need to be compensated if the leases were terminated. There were other drawbacks to the planned air base as well. The city would lose the income generated by the private leases. Futhermore, it would receive no compensation for Brainard Field or the adjacent city-owned land from the federal government. Both Brainard and the land would each be leased to the War Department at a nominal rental of $1 a year. It was unlikely that the state would indemnify the city for its lost revenue after the airport and adjoining property changed hands. Then there were the additional expenditures to provide schooling and other city services for the families of Army Air Corps officers, with no reimbursement from the federal government. 

In view of these mounting concerns, Mayor Spellacy and other city officials may have begun to have second thoughts, fearing that Brainard’s conversion to a military air base would become a drag rather than a boon to the city. 

It was at this time that in a remarkable twist of fate, the Army Air Corps began to seriously consider the very unremarkable town of Windsor Locks as the site of its future air base. But was it really fate? Or were ambition and hubris at work in the decision to locate the air field in Windsor Locks? 

Part Two of the history of Bradley Field, How Windsor Locks Came To Be The Site Of An Army Air Corps Air Base will follow in several days.

Note: The term “defense” would not be substituted for “war” until after World War II.

Note:  I have requested permission to reprint the Hartford Courant articles upon which this post is based on this blog, but there is no certainty I will receive permission. These articles can be accessed free of charge from the Historical Hartford Courant online database on the Connecticut State Library website by anyone with a State Library card. The card is easily obtained from the State Library.