PORTLAND, Ore. -- This month marks the 100th anniversary of the naming of Pearson Field in Vancouver, Washington. While this may seem a Southwest Washington-related event, we should remember that Pearson Field played a part in the establishment of Oregon’s first military aviation unit, the 123rd Observation Squadron, the 123rd Fighter Squadron (Redhawks) today, as well as the establishment of Portland Army Air Base, now known as Portland Air National Guard Base.
Pearson Field
On May 7, 1925, the U.S. Army’s Vancouver Barracks Aerodrome in Vancouver, Washington, was renamed Pearson Field in honor of Army Air Service First Lieutenant Alexander Pearson, Jr. (1895 – 1924) who was a prominent military pilot who set several flight records, including a world speed record in 1923.
Originally from Kansas, Pearson studied at the University of Oregon before joining the Army in World War I. He returned to complete his studies in Eugene and earn a Bachelor of Science degree after the war. Lt. Pearson then served as an Army test pilot and aviation pioneer, becoming the first pilot to fly into the Grand Canyon and survey its suitability to support air operations in 1921. Unfortunately, Lt. Pearson was killed in the crash of the Curtiss R-8 racing aircraft he flew on September 2, 1924, at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio in the workup for the 1924 Pulitzer Trophy Race. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
On September 16, 1925, a formal dedication took place at Pearson Field which saw 20,000 people in attendance, as well as over 50 aircraft on display performing in the air along with some parachutists.
321st Observation Squadron - 123rd Observation Squadron
Fast forward to 1941 and note that the “founding father” of the Oregon Air National Guard, G. Robert Dodson (1904 – 1958), was in the Army Air Corps Reserve’s 321st Observation Squadron, which was based at Pearson Field from 1923 to 1941. Dodson, an executive with Jantzen Knitting Mills and an aviation enthusiast, enlisted in the 321st Observation Squadron in February 1938. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in May 1938 and became a pilot in the squadron.
The experience he gained fueled his desire to see the creation of a military aviation squadron for the Oregon National Guard. His efforts found support in Oregon and in the National Guard Bureau. Dodson was promoted to First Lieutenant in the 321st Observation Squadron prior to his transfer the Oregon National Guard. The move took place in February 1941 and he was promoted to the rank of Major to serve as the first commander of the 123rd Observation Squadron when it was activated on April 18, 1941. Perhaps his assignment in the 321st Observation Squadron influenced the numerical designation of the 123rd Observation Squadron.
Along with him from the 321st squadron, Dodson brought Lt. Wallace J. O’Daniels, who eventually succeeded Dodson as the commander of the 123rd squadron after the war began in December 1941 when Dodson was taken up to the staff of the 70th Observation Group.
Portland Army Air Base
Portland Army Air Base was activated on April 13, 1941, even as the base was still being constructed. In addition to the building being erected for operations, maintenance and support facilities, establishing PAAB also meant strengthening and widening the Portland-Columbia Airport’s original runways to handle heavier and larger military aircraft, and a new flightline parking ramp on the south side of the runways. These improvements and enhancements were not yet ready when the first aircraft assigned to the base arrived. These were one Northrop A-17 single-engine attack plane and a lone Douglas B-18 Bolo twin-engine bomber which were based at Pearson Field until the improvements at PAAB could be completed. To learn more about Portland Air Base’s early history, see the four-part series “The Birth Pangs of Portland ANG Base,” with Part I at: https://www.142wg.ang.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/864342/the-birth-pangs-of-portland-ang-base-part-i-origins/
Vancouver Barracks
In addition to Pearson Field, the adjacent Vancouver Barracks served as the quarters for many personnel newly assigned to PAAB, pending the completion of barracks at the new air base. The 43rd Air Base Group (about 250 personnel) traveled up to Portland from Hamilton Field in California starting on April 18, the same day the 123rd Observation Squadron was activated.
Men of the unit arrived over the next couple of days to report in at Portland, only to find the barracks weren’t ready to accommodate them yet. An excerpt from the 43rd Air Base Group’s 44th Air Base Squadron historical report for the period conveys the squadron’s surprise:
“To everyone’s dismay, the officers and enlisted men discovered they would be stationed temporarily at Vancouver Barracks, Washington. Vancouver Barracks is across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon and is a distance of about eight miles. The only living quarters available were tents and they were none too good. There was a new building for a mess hall and the downstairs of another barracks was used for the orderly rooms. The quartermaster Corps and Signal Corps were already there, previously coming from McChord Field, Washington.”
The men had to commute by truck from Vancouver Barracks to PAAB each day via the Pacific Highway Interstate bridge (I-5 bridge) for work, with some remaining at Vancouver Barracks “…doing fatigue and other details.” This condition lasted until May 13 when these units moved to newly completed permanent barracks at PAAB.
As PAAB was established, an improvised infirmary was set up by members of the base medical detachment in one of the first barracks completed. But any patients who needed extensive treatment or to be hospitalized were transferred to the Vancouver Barracks station hospital. The station hospital also provided specialized training to air base medical personnel, which enabled them to then open the PAAB hospital, though surgical patients were still transferred to Vancouver Barracks in those early months.
Some of the personnel assigned to PAAB were married and/or had families, though no family housing was ever built at PAAB. Still, there were some accompanied personnel who obtained housing on the local economy. In May 1941 air base officers’ wives who were meeting in Vancouver organized a PAAB Ladies’ Auxiliary. This kind of voluntary service organization proved helpful in the establishment of the new air base.
Vancouver Barracks also served as a springboard for personnel directly assigned to PAAB. For example, in October 1941 the 86th Army Air Force Band for was activated for the air base and its first cadre came from Vancouver Barracks. When the 255th Separate Quartermaster Company was activated in August 1940 up at McChord Field, some men from Vancouver Barracks were assigned to it. They may have still been in the ranks when the company was reassigned to PAAB in April 1941 and briefly quartered again at Vancouver Barracks.
PAAB staff made arrangements with Vancouver Barracks to make use of the Camp Bonneville rifle range about seven miles north of the Columbia River starting in the spring of 1942. The base received many new recruits to military service directly and organized a basic military training course for them. Learning to use firearms was part of the basic training hence the need to find suitable training facilities in the area.
And just north of Pearson Field, tucked away in a corner of the Veterans Administration Vancouver campus on the grounds of the former Vancouver Barracks, is a small brick aviation communications building completed in 1940, which survives until this day. It originally supported Pearson Field, but when the 321st Observation Squadron was brought onto active duty after the start of the war in December 1941, military flying at Pearson Field stopped and PAAB became the focus of military flying operations in the area. It’s unclear if the building supported PAAB’s flying operations. Today the communication building is home to a Veterans Museum.
Thus, in several important ways, Pearson Field and Vancouver Barracks contributed to the establishment of military aviation in Oregon in 1941. On this 100th anniversary of the dedication of Pearson Field, we remember this enabling role it served. This military aviation is now in the form of the Oregon Air National Guard, which continues to serve community, state and country.