Dover Air Force Base: The Early Years!

Dover Air Force Base: The Early Years

After the United States entered World War II in late 1941, the newly completed Dover municipal airfield was leased to the U.S. Army Air Corps and assigned to the Eastern Defense Command as a coastal patrol base. At this time a handful of soldiers were assigned to the growing Dover Army Air Field, with the C-47 arriving in 1943 to patrol Delaware’s coastline for enemy submarines. Later in the War, the base hosted Air to Air missile testing and pilot training squadrons in addition to safeguarding the eastern seaboard.