Oklahoma Journeys
Week of October 19, 2008
Oklahoma City Air depot renamed Tinker Army Air Field, Oct. 27, 1942
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This week on Oklahoma Journeys an Oklahoma hero makes the news. Oklahoma is home to several well-known military installations including Tinker Air Force Base. The Tinker base started out with a different name and different purpose than it has today and that’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.
From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.
You can’t live in Oklahoma very long without being familiar with the various military installations around our state. Bases in Lawton, Enid, McAlester, Altus and Oklahoma City all hold great importance not only for the state’s economy but for national security as well. As the United States began to enter into the Second World War military preparedness was on the minds of most citizens. For civic leaders the war effort and military spending could and would mean the chance for cities across the country to obtain military contracts, jobs, money and finally get away from the ongoing depression. In Oklahoma City civic and business leaders became aware that the US Army Air Corps. was planning on building three new supply and repair facilities one in the northeast, one in the mid Atlantic region and one in the mid-west. Through an amazing amount of hard work and vigilance Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce leaders managed to land the Midwest facility for Oklahoma City. Known at the time as the Midwest Air Depot, the project promised to be a major economic boom for the central part of our state. An entire city, known appropriately enough as Midwest City, developed and grew around the Midwest Air Depot, and thousands flocked to the area for the readily available work. In 1941 the United States officially entered the war and the mission of the Midwest facility grew and expanded to include not only repair and supply but also a complete aircraft production assembly plant. More than one-half of the thousands of C-47 cargo planes used in World War II were built at the Oklahoma Facility.
The base known originally as the Midwest Air Depot underwent numerous name changes but in this week of 1942 it received the name it still uses today. Clarence Tinker, a native of Oklahoma and a member of the Osage Nation, negotiated the twists and turns of military advancement to become in 1940 the first American Indian promoted to the rank of major general. General Tinker was both an advocate and developer of aggressive bomb tactics and it was in that capacity that he gave his life. Clarence Tinker died on a bombing run in the Pacific theater in June,1942. It didn’t take Oklahomans long to find a way to honor the name of the highly respected aviator and on October 27th, 1942 the air depot was officially re-named Tinker Field. The military renaming process usually takes months at best but so highly regarded was Tinker and so adamant were the workers at the facility that in the case of Tinker field the entire process only took a few days.
You can learn more about our military heritage by visiting the military exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center, NE 23rd street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. The galleries are open from 9 am to 5 pm Monday thru Saturdays and noon to 5 pm Sundays.
Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.