Biancur Field
 Eglin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field #6 | |
|---|---|
| Part of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) | |
| Located near: Valparaiso, Florida | |
|
  Biancur Field | |
| Coordinates | 30°37′54″N 086°44′27″W / 30.63167°N 86.74083°W |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
 United States Air ForceEglin Air Force Base |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1943-1959; 1970-Present |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Biancur Field, (Eglin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field #6), is a satellite airfield located northwest of the Main Base, 5.9 miles north-northeast of Valparaiso, Florida. It is also known as site "B-6".
Overview[]
The U.S. Army Ranger facility Camp Rudder is located here. It is designated Site B-6. The airfield remains under the ownership of the United States Air Force, and is under the jurisdiction of the 96th Air Base Wing (96 ABW) at Eglin AFB.
History[]
Auxiliary Field 6 is named Biancur Field for 1st Lt. Andrew Biancur, a test pilot of the Medium Bombardment Section of the 1st Proving Ground Group, killed 8 January 1944 in the crash of YP-61-NO Black Widow, 41-18883, c/n 711, at Eglin Field.
The history of Biancur Field is largely unknown, and the exact date of construction of Biancur Field is undetermined It was opened in 1943 and was constructed in a similar manner to a fully equipped base with three 4,000-foot runways, a large parking ramp, at least one hangar and numerous support buildings. The airfield was expanded sometime after the war, with an 8,000-foot jet runway laid down over the 18/36 north/south runway. The airfield was incorporated into Eglin AFB on 9 October 1959 and was inactivated. However, Biancur was reactivated in 1970 as an Army Special Forces group, led by Col Arthur D. "Bull" Simons, for training before deploying to Thailand for the attempted rescue on 20-21 Nov 1970 of US POWS at the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam (Operation Ivory Coast).
Afterwards, the United States Army Ranger training camp at Epler Field (Auxiliary Field #7) moved to Biancur Field to provide realistic jungle/swamp training. Today the ground station has numerous modern buildings, and the north-south airfield runway has been updated for use by helicopters with several hangars. Several UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters are parked on the ramp in recent aerial imagery of the airfield.
The NASA X-43 low-speed demonstrator underwent testing out of Auxiliary Field 6 in November 2003.[1]
See also[]
References[]
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
- Abandoned Airfields: Biancur Field / Eglin Air Force Aux #6 (FL34)
- World War II airfields database: Florida
The original article can be found at Biancur Field and the edit history here.