Ladd Field - View this location on map Begun in 1938, this was the first Army airfield in Alaska; the first Army Air Corps troops arrived in April 1940. Its World War II facilities were designed to fulfill 3 missions: cold weather experimental station; air depot for repair and testing of aircraft; and principal base in Alaska for the Air Transport Command. Beginning in 1942, nearly 8,000 military aircraft from the United States were transfered from Ladd Field to Russian aircrews for use on the Russian Front. Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks, Alaska Historical

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