Sounds Magazine, Volume 19, Number 1, Spring 2005 Page: 30 of 52
52 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 32 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Spring 2005 SOUNDS p. 30
Target Towing Pilots - photo provided by David Stallman
planes at this field. Pilots had to be profi-
cient in instrument flying, radio, radiotele-
phone, oxygen equipment at high altitude,
and first aid. The WASP organization was
to be taken into the army as part of the Air
Corp and commissioned as lieutenants.
Qualification minimums were set at age
18_ and 35 hours flying time. Their aver-
age age was 25 years. Basic pilot training
was seven months. At Camp Davis their
training kept them flying an average of 15
hours per week, sometimes as much as 25
hours with little time for recreation. The
WASP moved up to heavier craft as they
became more experienced: L-4, L-5, and A-
24, then B-34 tow target planes. The tow
target was a cloth sleeve about 20 feet long
towed behind the ship on a cable about
2,400 feet from target to plane.
At the Camp Davis site there are still in
evidence two gigantic airstrips back in the
trees. These runways span at least 100
yards wide and eight-tenths of a mile
long. The airstrips were used for training
pilots and ferrying supplies and personnel
in and out of Camp Davis. They also traf-
ficked airplanes that towed targets for
antiaircraft gunnery practice.
Camp Davis was hot, humid, and full of
mosquitoes. It commanded over 46,000
acres of land including leased land at
Topsail Island, then known as "Sears
Landing" and the "Sand Spit." Camp Davis
exploded into a military base that housed
110,000 at its peak in 1943. It was located at
the edge and extending into swamplands
famous for huge mosquitoes and the poten-
tial for pulling you in if you ever fell into it.X .
~~k t
s wCamp Davis aerial view - photo provided by David Staliman
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Pletl, Connie. Sounds Magazine, Volume 19, Number 1, Spring 2005, periodical, Spring 2005; Hampstead, North Carolina. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth887602/m1/30/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.