American Military Bases in Bermuda from 1941 to 1995

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American Military Bases in Bermuda from 1941 to 1995

There were in St. George's, St. David's and Southampton

History summary of US bases in Bermuda

Bermuda, about 600 miles off Cape Hatteras, occupied a strategically important position, commanding sea and air approaches to the Middle Atlantic coastline. As a result, in 1918, the US Navy had a temporary naval base in Southampton Parish, and from 1940 to 1995 at various times or continuously the US Army, US Army Air Force, later the US Air Force, the US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Coastguard were based in Bermuda. In fact, from 1940 they forever changed the landmass of Bermuda with the building of their bases from scratch. One included what is now Bermuda's international airport, built, like all the other former base-land structures, entirely at American, not Bermuda's taxpayers' expense. Details appear below:

1918. New Year's Day. A gunshot reverberated on the waters of St George�s Harbour and an innocent bystander lay dead on the deck of a military tugboat, the US Army tug USACT Fred E. Richards. It happened after several American vessels were passing through Bermuda on their way to the killing fields of Europe. It is said that several Russians of Red and White persuasions were aboard and they had a fight on board involving guns. One hapless seaman stuck his head out of a porthole, was shot and died, buried the next day at sea. He was Thomas A. Crealy, Seaman of the Fred E. Richards, aged 33. Among those who attended the burial at sea was 16-year-old Leonard Tucker, later known as �Dickie. It was this incident that later caused him to create his Guild of Holy Compassion to seamen who died in Bermuda.

1918. The first United States military base in Bermuda was established in the Great Sound at Morgan and Tucker's Islands, for the US Navy. It was a temporary base that lasted until not long after the end of World War 1 (The Great War). It was at that same location that in 1941 another, far more permanent (until 1995) US Navy Base was built from scratch.

1940. October, an American Naval mission under Rear Admiral John W. Greenslade arrived in Bermuda on the US Navy cruiser St. Louis. Its purpose was to survey of possible sites for the building from scratch of US military bases and report to the President's Base Lease Commission. On November 10, the SS Santa Paula reached Hamilton Harbor. She brought the second contingent of US War Department personnel, to begin operations with the proposed new Bermuda Air Base, the site of which had still not yet been decided. They went to the first US Engineers' office, then opposite the St. George's Police Station. Then the Americans announced their initial idea to create the base between Gibbs Hill Lighthouse and the Inverurie Hotel - the whole of Riddell's Bay. They wanted to level the whole area and push the rubble into the Great Sound and Hamilton Harbour and clear to the ocean on the South Shore, to create a runway for aircraft. Bermudians were aghast at the prospect, those with property in Southampton, Warwick and Paget especially so. A raging furor ensued. Governor Sir Denis Bernard appointed a small committee to advise him. A Bermuda delegation was dispatched to Washington, DC with counter-proposals discussed with the British Ambassador and American Secretary of State. The concession was finally made, to avoid wholesale slaughter of Southampton and Warwick from north to south. No base would be built with an American enclave in the middle of rural Bermuda.

1940. Late November. Then came the official announcement that first gave most Bermudians the news that much of St. David's Island was to be given up, as part of the land for the construction of American military bases in Bermuda. St. David's Islanders, most affected, would lose their homes, land and farms. So deep was the feeling that Governor Sir Denis Bernard arranged a meeting on St. David's, in order to personally meet, talk and listen to them.

1941. January 6. The US Naval Board which visited Bermuda a few months earlier, with Rear Admiral Greenslade, made its report to the President's Base Lease Commission in Washington, DC. Under the terms of the 99 year Anglo-American Lend-Lease Agreement, which had been ratified, the two U.S. defense bases were established, on paper. On January 15, the House of Assembly was informed by Governor Sir Denis Bernard that he would welcome the appointment of a joint select committee.

1941. February 15. The Bureau of Yards and Docks awarded a fixed fee contract, initially to accomplish the construction of an air station for seaplanes, and subsequently expanded to include a fuel oil depot, a supply depot, and operating base, a submarine base and anti-aircraft training school. Adjacent water, ideal for seaplane operation, and proximity to existing ship channels resulted in the choice of Morgan and Tucker Islands, situated in Great Sound, within the hook of the western end of Hamilton Island, together with an adjacent area on Hamilton Island at Kings Point, as sites for the air station and the operating base. Darrell's Island, also in Great Sound and about a mile and a half to the east, then in use as an air station by commercial airlines, was developed as an auxiliary seaplane base. Submarine facilities were planned for construction on Ordnance Island, at the eastern end of the Bermuda group, in St. Georges Harbor, adjacent to the town of St. George. This location, while remote from the operating base, was chosen because of the availability of the site, the existing facilities, and its proximity to the sea lanes serving the islands. The general topography of the leased areas was gently rolling, varying in elevation from sea level to a maximum of 40 feet. The base development plan issued by the Chief of Naval Operations to support the 15,000-plane program, indicated Bermuda as a major naval air station, with facilities for the operation of two patrol squadrons of seaplanes on a permanent basis and one additional squadron with tender support. In addition, facilities were to be provided to support the emergency operation of one carrier group from an airfield to be developed by the Army.

1941. March. While Anglo-American staff conferences were going on in Washington on how to best combat the Germans, the Battle of the Atlantic took an extremely critical turn. In Admiral Stark's opinion it had become, in fact, "hopeless except as we take strong measures to save it." Four of the most powerful surface vessels of the German Navy--the pocket battleship Scheer, the heavy battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, and the 8-inch cruiser Admiral Hipper - were on the loose, prowling the Atlantic sea lanes and adding serious destruction to the mounting toll of the U-boat packs. Submarine attacks could be countered by light escort vessels; but the German surface raiders, whether in refuge or at sea, presented a different threat, one that only capital ships or strong cruiser and carrier forces could meet. Admiral Stark had not at all exaggerated the seriousness of the situation. By March it seemed to him only a matter of at most two months before the United States would be at war, "possibly undeclared," with Germany and Italy; although the Army at this time was counting on at least five months' grace. Admiral Stark discussed his analysis with the President on 2 April and again the next day, thrashed out the steps to be taken, and was told to adopt the strong measures he thought were required: to draw up plans for escort of convoy west of longitude 30� west and issue orders for the transfer into the Atlantic of a heavy striking force, including three battleships, from the Pacific.The destructive forays of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had given President Roosevelt an understandable concern for the safety of the American bases, particularly those which were most exposed or of most value to the Navy--Bermuda, Trinidad and Newfoundland.

1941. March 29. The initial construction effort began. The Bermuda US military bases were built from scratch in 1941-2 and financed solely by taxpayers in the USA - not by Bermuda. They flourished until 1995. At one point, there were four US bases in Bermuda. Construction took several years. Bermuda got bigger by 6,300 acres. The environmental damage was immense. But the changes were necessary. They were initially to help defend both a forward position of the USA in the Atlantic and friendly British territory in World War 2. The new US Navy base in Southampton Parish (where it too remained until 1995) was a secret held for nearly two years by prominent Bermuda lawyer Bayard Dill. One of the Great Sound islands affected was Morgan's Island, which had been owned by his sister Ruth. Dredge-filling the narrow funnel-shaped channel between Morgan and Tucker islands more than doubled their original combined area of 40 acres. The one island thus formed was then connected by causeway to King's Point, on Hamilton Island. The principal structures built at the air station comprised a tender pier, three seaplane ramps and parking area, a large seaplane hangar, barracks for 1,100 men, quarters for 140 officers, a bombproof power plant, and the usual industrial, administration, and storage buildings. Underground storage was provided for fuel oil, diesel oil, and gasoline, as well as barracks for fuel depot and air station personnel, a 50-bed dispensary, a large magazine area, a radio station, and a 10-acre water-catchment area with storage for 5,000,000 gallons of rain water. All these installations were of a semi-permanent character. Soon after construction began, it became essential that naval air patrols be placed in operation as quickly as possible. This was accomplished by using the established facilities owned by British Imperial Airways on Darrell Island. By an informal agreement with the British and local governments, permission to use this island on a temporary basis was granted. Here, existing facilities were augmented by barracks, water supply, paved parking areas, landing floats, and other temporary essentials. This work was undertaken in May and the island put to immediate use, continuing so until March 1942, at which time the permanent naval air station was usably complete and in operation.

1941. April 7. Captain Jules James, USN, read his orders as Commandant, USNOB Bermuda and hoisted his pennant over the former residence of Mrs. Margaret V. B. T. Wooley-Hart on Tuckers Island. (This building later became the Religious Center).

1941. Concurrently with the building of the US Military bases in Bermuda, the oyster-shell scale (insulaspis pallida) and the Juniper Scale were imported accidentally. Both arrived in separate shipments of conifers. The Juniper Scale began to decimate virtually all Bermuda's endemic Cedar trees.

1941. April 16. The US base on St. David's Island, just completed, was about to be first occupied by the U.S. Army and named Fort Bell for Major General George Bell, Jr who died on October 29,. 1926 in Chicago, Illinois. He was buried in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum. This distinguished American general, who fought in the Spanish-American War and later World War 1, thus gave his name to the initial US Army airfield Fort Bell, later the USAAF, then USAF then USNAS station in Bermuda.

However, the airfield area was referred to as Kindley Air Field, after US WW1 ace Field E. Kindley. The maintenance and operation of the entire base was handled by U.S. Army Ground Forces, while Army Coast Artillery units were responsible for defense. The U.S. Army Air Force operated the air traffic section of the base. The Bermuda base became a vital link in air and sea traffic between the United States and Europe both during and after the war as a 'stop off place.' Troops were able to rest, recover and receive medical treatment, while military personnel used the facilities to hold conferences.

1941. June. The original contract to build the bases was formally supplemented to undertake the development of submarine facilities on Ordnance Island. Under this program, and its subsequent additions, a number of existing buildings were rehabilitated to provide housing and messing facilities for crews while ashore, improvements and additions were made to the existing water and sewer systems, waterfront structures were repaired, and offshore moorings installed. The use of Ordnance Island was obtained under a lease extending to December 1955, under the terms of which the United States could regain all removable improvements placed by or on its behalf at any time before the termination of the lease. The island was returned to its owners in July 1945. As the two US military bases were being built they completely changed Castle Harbour in the east and the Great Sound in the west.

1941. August. The Bermuda Beacon, a US military monthly, published for the US Army's Fort Bell and Kindley Field by the US Army Engineers. Initially a safety magazine, later on other topics too, it was created for the-then US Army Air Force (predecessor of the USAF) air base personnel in Bermuda, the idea of Benjamin Schwartz (Bermuda Base Contractors) and Loring Cox (Mail and Records section, USED.). It had some nice stories and original graphics during that period. It continued publication until April 1943, concluding with the end of major work on the Air Base, and the termination of the original construction contract. The publication was limited to a 700 copy print run.

1941. Early December. Just before the USA entered the war. As British losses mounted, the Molotov-Hitler discussions in Berlin indicated further doom and gloom and Hungary and Romania joined the Berlin-Rome (and later, Tokyo) pact and the Germans reinforced the Italians in Greece. As a direct result, President Roosevelt allocated $75 million in emergency defense funds for further construction work at the eight newly-acquired American bases in various British possessions including Bermuda.

1942, May 7, Captain F. W. Clipper, US Army, arrived in Bermuda with his unit and commanded the US Army artillery and US Signal Corps unit at Fort Langton, Devonshire. He was posted to the Island to protect the country as well as the shipping supply convoys from enemy submarines lurking in the Atlantic. Mr Clipper was born in Baltimore, Maryland and was 32 when he arrived. He married a Bermudian girl, Rosemary (nee Champness), never went back home to the USA to live but remained in Bermuda. He had two daughters and a son, lived in Bailey's Bay, later worked for Air Canada and BOAC, became a Cub master in the 1950s at the Lyceum, Bailey's Bay and later a prominent volunteer with the Bermuda Red Cross. His wife died in the late 1980s. A son, daughter and granddaughter live in Bermuda. He died in October 2015 at the age of 104.

1942. During the late summer, the Riddle's Bay area, which had formerly been used as a golf course and resort area, was rehabilitated and equipped as a recreational area for naval personnel. Concurrent with the construction program underway at the several areas leased by the Navy, the Army was developing Kindley Field, named after famous American air ace Captain Field E. Kindley, US Army Air Force, on Long Bird Island, at the eastern end of Bermuda. At this airfield the Army, pursuant to Joint Board directives, provided all landplane facilities constructed at Bermuda, including those used specifically by naval aircraft. Here, within the base area, the Army contractor, on a reimbursable basis, built facilities for the temporary support of one carrier air group of 90 planes. These included barracks for 550 men and 125 officers, messing facilities, storage buildings, nose hangars, and radio aids. Inasmuch as Bermuda had no fresh water from ground sources, it was obtained for the air station and the operating base by use of seven evaporating units with a daily capacity of 50,000 gallons, and a system of rain-water catchment areas, which, including roof areas, totaled 20 acres. The water thus collected was stored in reservoirs and chlorinated before entering the distribution system.

Two photos of Captain Field E, Kindley (center, left), at right with dog Fokker. Kindley Air Force Base (KAFB) Bermuda was named after him.

1942. Southlands, located along the south shore line of the Main Island, was secured under a short term lease for the development of an anti-aircraft training school. Construction included a night-vision training building, repair shops, magazine loading sheds, magazines, instruction buildings, and barracks, gun platforms and control tower, roads, walks, and services. This activity was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in January 1945.

1942. A US Navy oil tanker was diverted from a convoy to deliver water to Bermuda. Also then, the US Navy deepened Dundonald Channel and later added a branch to one side - still on current charts - to allow US ships access to the Naval Operating Base in Southampton. It also maintained (until 1980) five of the many channel marker buoys - those going to the NOB. Throughout the war, the US Navy was one of the services that shipped in food and supplies for locals and feed for animals. Bermudians were introduced, via the US presence, to trade unionism and civil, human and political rights (for Bermudians). Employment the bases generated and exchanges with builders and military personnel of all races led to a lifting of the local color bar and end of discrimination against Jews, Catholics and other minorities.

1942. December 4. The 31st Construction Battalion arrived in Bermuda, with 27 officers and 1,027 men. They ensured the completion of all activities at the operating base, air station, and submarine base and their full use.

1943. February 27. The 49th Battalion, with 27 officers and 1,080 men, arrived a month before the contract's termination, to augment the 31st Battalion. Together the battalions completed such unfinished projects as roads, utilities, grading, accessory buildings, and general clean-up. In addition, they undertook the operation, maintenance, and repair of the entire naval establishment under the cognizance of Public Works Department.

1943. April 8, 1943. Construction under the contract was terminated and a new contract negotiated with the original contractors to complete several major items of dredging still unfinished. This second contract remained active until June 28, 1944.

1943. During mid-October, the 31st Battalion, which had served continuously on Bermuda for nearly two years, was returned to the mainland after being replaced by CBMU 540, which was followed by the CBMU 551 on December 11, 1943, to replace the 41st Battalion; the two maintenance units were then merged into one unit and designated CBMU 540.

1943. December 30. 7 officers and 17 enlisted men arrived at Kindley to form the nucleus of Air Transport Command activities in Bermuda. Their organization was activated in January 1944 and designated Station 17, NAW, ATC. It is the genealogical ancestor of what became the 1389th Army Air Force Base Unit, later renamed the 1604th Air Base Group.

1944. June 4. Probably the most famous exploit of the US Bases in Bermuda was what happened at 1110 hours, initially off the coast of West Africa, then Bermuda. On that date, the USS Chatelain reported a sonar contact, the submerged German U-boat U-505. The accompanying US Navy Task Group jumped into action. The USS Guadalcanal could not attack without damaging itself so Captain Gallery moved the ship quickly out of harm's way. Supported by the Destroyer Escorts USS Pillsbury and USS Jenks, the USS Chatelain swiftly attacked. As the sonar crew maintained contact with the submerged U-505, the USS Chatelain attacked with a salvo of 24 hedgehogs that missed. While the USS Chatelain opened the range to turn and make another attack, two fighter planes from the USS Guadalcanal fired their guns into the water to help mark the location of the submerged U-505. The USS Chatelain then fired a pattern of 14 depth charges forcing U-505 to the surface. It was the opening saga in a major event that was soon to impact on Bermuda. U-505 was a Type IXC/40 submarine, one of 54 of this type that got put into operation, a long-range warhorse of the German Navy that could operate in the Caribbean or Atlantic or Indian oceans without refueling. She went into service in 1941, with a range of 13,000 nautical miles. She was captured off western Africa, towed to Bermuda and hidden, with no news of its capture until the end of the war in Europe on May 7, 1945. She was one of the U-boats which had departed from a massive concrete submarine pen at an occupied French port. Her target was the southeast Caribbean, where most of the fuel supplies for the Allies was shipped from Venezuela, Trinidad and Cura�ao. She was built at the yards of Deutche Werft AG in Hamburg. Commanded by Oberleutnant Harald Lange, she was commissioned in August 1941. She was on her 12th patrol, having sunk eight vessels over those voyages. In February 1944, Lange took the boat south to the sea lanes off southwest Africa to prey on supply vessels bound for Europe with supplies such as iron ore. On June 4, she was intercepted by TF 22.3 under the command of Captain Daniel Gallery, USN and was depth-charged. Lange brought the damaged boat to the surface to save his men and thus surrendered, actions for which he was for a time after the war ostracized at Hamburg, although they had taken all standard procedures to scuttle the boat. Captain Gallery, USN, of Task Force 22.3 managed to get a boarding crew (see third photo below) onto the U-505 before it could sink and they saved the boat intact. Once the Germans had abandoned the U-505, Task Group 22.3 dropped whaleboats into the water with crews trained in boarding and salvage procedures. Some of the crews rescued the surviving German sailors from the sea. One whaleboat from the USS Pillsbury pulled up alongside the damaged sub. The crew's mission was to board the U-boat, overpower any remaining German sailors and take control of the submarine. It was an incredibly dangerous operation. The U-boat was going in circles, she was flooding with seawater and was most likely rigged with explosive charges intended to prevent her capture. It was the first time since 1815 that the US Navy had captured an enemy vessel at sea. The men of TF 22.3 were sworn in writing to secrecy and the boat was towed across the Atlantic by USS Abnaki to the US Naval Operating Base at Bermuda, accompanied by the ships of TF 22.3, USS Guadalcanal, Chatelain, Pillsbury and Pope.

In bottom photo the Nine-Member US Navy Boarding Party who towed U505 to Bermuda were Albert L. David, Lieutenant, Junior Grade; Chester A. Mocarski, Gunner's Mate, First Class; Wayne M. Pickels, Boatswain's Mate, Second Class; Arthur W. Knispel, Torpedoman, Third Class; George W. Jacobson, Chief Motor Machinist's Mate; Zenon B. Lukosius, Motor Machinist's Mate, First Class; William R. Riendeau, Electrician's Mate, Third Class; Stanley E. Wdowiak, Radioman, Third Class; Gordon F. Hohne, Signalman, Third Class.

1944. The USAAF in Bermuda began what became a long tradition of saving lives from accidents at sea from ships in distress and downed aircraft. A crash boat unit began. What was the 791st Quartermaster Boat Company, Aviation, was redesignated as a detachment of the 1st Air Force Emergency Rescue Squadron. Several crash boat men from the Kindley unit were decorated for their heroism during the war. One was Bronson Hartley. He rescued crewmen from a downed US Army Air Force aircraft that crashed into the water off the end of the Castle Harbor runway. Later, he became an esteemed marine biologist and inventor of the Hartley Diving Helmet. (Today, one of his sons, Gregory Hartley, runs a shallow-water helmet diving business in Bermuda, using the current version of the same helmet, taking locals and visitors on tours of the ocean bed from his headquarters at Watford Bridge in Sandys Parish. Another son does the same thing in the Bahamas).

1944. Mid-year. An Armed Forces Radio Station, which used the call sign WXLQ, transmitting on the 1240 kcs medium wave band frequency, went on the air from Kindley, for a two-year stint.

1944. Fall. Activities at Bermuda gradually diminished in importance as the progress of the war in Europe became more and more favorable to the Allies. Consequently, the submarine base on Ordnance Island was reduced to caretaker status by January 1945, and all training activities were moved to Guantanamo. The antiaircraft training center was decommissioned on April 1, 1945.

1945. January. An American Army Hospital ship was stuck in the reefs off Bermuda.

1945. May. Shortly after V-E- Day, further reductions were effected. Ordnance Island was returned to its owners, and the naval facilities at Kindly Field transferred to the Army for future custody. One July 31, 1945, the air station and operating base were reduced in status to an air facility and a repair unit.

1945. General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, arrived briefly in Bermuda, at Fort Bell and the US Army Air Force Base (USAAF) as the war with Germany and Japan was ending. He flew in directly from Europe with some pomp and ceremony, spent a night there and was re-tailored at the USAAF in Bermuda. He went from there to accept the thanks of and further military instructions from the US Congress in Washington, DC. Photo shows him being greeted by the General at Fort Ball.

1945. September 1. After World War 2, the Bermuda bases guarded the Eastern seaboard of the USA and Atlantic against a Soviet threat during the Cold War.

1945. The presence of the US Armed Forces in Bermuda inspired good roads, American sports and automobiles, and a building boom.

1945. To supplement the activities of the crash unit, several rescue C-47 and B-17 aircraft with airborne lifeboats were seen at Kindley, assigned to the base rather than a specific air rescue unit.

1946. After World War Two, the US bases provided steady employment for many Bermudians and tenants for their houses.

1946. January 1. The Bermuda Base Command and the 1389th AAFBU consolidated. General Thomas H. Jones, base commander, became the commanding officer of the combined command. His deputy was Colonel Cecil E. Henry, who previously commanded Kindley Field.

1946. From late January, when General Jones was air evacuated back to the USA gravely ill, Colonel Cecil E. Henry assumed overall command of Kindley Air Force Base. He remained in that role until March 1946 and again from July to October 3, 1946, as the official base commander # 3.

1946. August 22. President Harry Truman of the USA arrived in Bermuda on the presidential yacht Williamsburg for a week-long informal stay. He swam, fished and toured the island by automobile.

1946. Two US Navy Construction Battalions (Seabees) replaced, repaired or resurfaced 18.5 miles of main roads from Southampton Parish to St. David's. It was mostly to link the two US bases, but for civilian traffic also. Then the eastern facility became Kindley USAF base for the Strategic Air Command of the USA and concurrently a small US Coast Guard Station. It switched roles and became a naval air station in the early 1970's, until the closure of both military bases in 1995.

1949. Kindley AFB welcomed Flight D, 2152nd Rescue Unit of the USAF, which later became Flight D, 6th Rescue Unit then Flight D, First Rescue Squadron. The unit flew converted SB-17 bombers which carried, slung under their bellies, lifeboats dripped to the ocean by parachute.

1950. March. The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle assumed even greater importance, with the loss, in the Atlantic, on the northern edge of the Triangle, of a United States Air Force Globemaster aircraft, in inexplicable circumstances.

1950. July 1. The US Naval Operating Base in Bermuda was decommissioned, with the US Naval Station established instead.1950. NS Bermuda Redesignated.

1951. At KAFB the crash boat unit was again redesignated, this time as the 6th Crash Rescue Boat Flight. (It remained in operation until December 1956).

1952. MATS (Military Air Transport) took over control of Kindley for as long as it remained a USAF base. The Base Commander was a MATS officer. Initially, Kindley was a refueling stop for aircraft flying the "Southern Route" via the Azores to/from Europe, Middle East and Africa.

1952. December. A dramatic rescue operation was mounted from KAFB Bermuda to save the passengers of a stricken Cubana Airlines aircraft which had taken off from the Civil Air Terminal but crashed into the waters of Castle Harbor at the end of the runway at about 4.30 pm, as dusk approached. Bermuda had been well prepared for such a rescue operation, due to the previous establishment at Kindley Air Force Base of crash boats imported and operated especially for such an emergency. On that particular night, two US servicemen on board the 35-foot crash boat that went out to rescue the aircraft's passengers heard faint screams coming from the dark, oil-slicked water. They leapt overboard without lifelines or preservers, in an attempt to rescue the passengers. But despite their heroic efforts, and those of others, in rescuing four people, the balance of the passengers and crew of the stricken aircraft - some thirty seven people in all - perished from wounds incurred in the crash.

1953. Late September. Two Kindley Air Force Base crash firefighters earned the US Soldier's Medal when they entered a burning US Navy R6D aircraft which had crash landed on the base. The men entered the blazing wreck without protective clothing to make sure that all passengers had been evacuated - which they had. But the aircraft was a total loss.

1953. December. For the first of four important Summit Conferences that took place in Bermuda between American Presidents and British Prime Ministers after they arrived at the USA's Kindley Air Force Base, the arrival of President Eisenhower with pomp and circumstance created a major stir. He had been to Bermuda before, but not as President, instead as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in 1945 as the war with Germany and Japan was ending. On this particular occasion, the President was joined by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French Premier Laniel, both of whom had arrived at Kindley a day or so earlier. All three spent a total of four days together in Bermuda. Their geopolitical discussions centered mostly on relations with the USSR as the post war Cold War began to intensify. Within hours of the commencement of the conference came an official note from Moscow which requested, in somewhat brusque terms, a 4 Power meeting involving the Russian leader.

1954. Ground was broken for the US Navy's Naval Facility (NAVFAC) at Tudor Hill in Southampton, Bermuda Cold War listening post.

1955. January. The 303rd Air Refueling Squadron went to full operational status with KC-97's and crews on alert status at all times. In the 50's and 60's along with MATS, SAC and Air Sea Rescue there was a B-29 hurricane hunter squadron and a B-29 TAC air refueling squadron for refueling jet fighters, plus a few other temporary groups. The above all used prop driven aircraft and as they were phased out and replaced by jet aircraft the need for a refueling stop in Bermuda was eliminated. Royal Air Force Vulcan and Comet jet aircraft would come in quite frequently and the standard joke was "They just stopped into the PX and commissary." For the USAF Kindley became more of an "Emergency" base in case an aircraft needed to make an emergency landing or Air Sea Rescue was needed. (When the cold war submarine threat became more of an issue it made more sense for the Navy to take over operations).

1956. June 21. KAFB celebrated a major event, with Bermudian help. The occasion was the official dedication of the brand-new base hospital up to latest US hospital standards, on the site of the old building which had been demolished because it had incurred some major building errors and its foundations and walls were doomed. It was designated as the 1604th Hospital (and stayed that way until 1967 when it was downgraded to a dispensary).

1955. July 4, Independence Day, American servicemen and their families and friends in Bermuda had a special reason to celebrate. ZBK-TV from Kindley, Bermuda's first, signaled a new era of communications. The audience was officially limited to television receivers in on-base quarters and barracks. But a number of Bermudian families who had equipped themselves with TV sets in hopes of 'catching' the programming were not disappointed in their investment. The signal could be picked up easily in St. George's, Tucker's Town and a few isolated spots even as far away as Harrington Sound, in the vicinity of Flatts. Locals acquired a TV set and could easily receive from their hill-top vantage point the TV signal from Kindley - and periodically invited their neighbors and friends around to watch the American shows, then only in black-and-white, of course. Originally, it had been intended to provide Island-wide TV service and the Bermuda Government had given its permission. But it was discovered that it would not be possible, because the TV footage was then provided by the American TV networks, agencies and unions for transmitting to military forces and their dependents only, not for civilian audiences. TV for the US Navy at Southampton and for all of civilian Bermuda took longer to materialize. American TV engineers who arrived at Kindley were faced with the highly technical problem of trying to restrict transmission to the base area. One of the reasons behind the decision to allow TV to the American military was the fact that the 1,500-plus American service families felt they should not be 'deprived' of TV simply because they were residing in Bermuda, when US bases elsewhere in the world all had TV.

1956. Sunday, November 11, The New York Times reported that a missing US Navy patrol plane with ten men aboard was hunted the previous day by Navy and Coast Guard units in waters north of Bermuda. The plane was believed to be the one that a Liberian freighter had spotted in flames on the Friday night before then. An SOS message from the freighter - the Captain Lyras - at 8:51pm Friday reported "a plane overhead in flames" at a point about 400 miles east southeast of New York. The New York Times intercepted another message from the freighter reporting that an explosion had been heard and felt strongly aboard the vessel. Still another message from the freighter reported the sighting about four miles away of what appeared to be a life raft with a light on it. The freighter's report that the raft had become obscured by rain, heavy seas and darkness. According to the Navy, weather conditions at the time of the SOS were scattered clouds at 1,500 feet, showers with good visibility and moderate seas. The joint sea-air search was coordinated by the Navy's Eastern Sear Frontier command in New York State. The Commandant, Vice Admiral Frederick W. McMahon, was quoted as declaring the Navy plane "may or may not" be the sighted craft. Other Naval authorities in Norfolk, Va., and Bermuda, home base of the plane, presumed it was. There were no other reports at the time of a missing civilian or military aircraft. The missing plane was a Martin "Marlin" P5M 127705, a twin-engine flying boat carrying seven enlisted men and three officers. The Navy said the craft radioed its last position report at 8:30 pm Friday when "roughly" in the area of the freighter's report. The United States Naval Station in Bermuda, where the plane was assigned to Navy Squadron VP 49, reported the craft's last position report as 350 miles north of Bermuda. An Associated Press report said the plane had left Bermuda on a patrol flight with enough fuel to keep it aloft until 6:30 am next day. The search was begun by three Coast Guard aircraft and a cutter, the Chincoteague, then about 180 miles from the Captain Lyras at the time of the freighter's SOS. Also joining the search were two Navy destroyers and six Navy planes. These were four other P5M's stationed in Bermuda and two P2V Neptune patrol bombers - like the type shown in the photograph below - from Maryland. The Navy in Washington announced that missing from the aircraft were Petty Officer 3/C Wendell Frederick Beverly, son of Francis Louis Beverly, Ballou Lane, Williamaton, MA; Petty Officer 3/c Billy Gene Comer, son of James Vester Comer, Blossburg, AL; Petty Officer 3/C Jesse William Grable, son of Byford Otto Grable, 1305 Dover, Centralia, IL; Petty Officer 3/C Richard Woods Montgomery, son of Thaddeus Lemart Montgomery, 118 Colwyn Lane, Cynwyd, PA; Lieut. (jg) Charles William Patterson, husband of Billie Lawson Patterson, Naval Station, Bermuda; Petty Officer 2/C Lyle Freeman Quimby, husband of Karin Mae Quimby, Beachcrest Cottage, Rural Hill Paget, Bermuda, and son of Mrs. Earl Quimby, 3036 Colfax, North Minneapolis, MN; Leut.(jg) Cyrus Eugene Reid Jr., son of Mary Marshall Reid, Edgewater Drive, Dallas 5, TX; Airman Bobbie Lee Sanders, son of Mary Frye, 312 West 9th Street, Houston, TX; Comdr. John Milton Sweeney, husband of Mary Mathewson Sweeney, Mimosa Cottage, Warwick, Bermuda; Petty Officer 1/C Robert Wayne Taylor, husband of Shirley Marea Taylor, Elys Harbor Apartments, Somerset, Bermuda, and son of Mrs. Phillip Yedlik, Route 2, West Liberty, OH.

1950s. Late. The SAC deployed KC-97's to Kindley for air refueling of B-47's (USA based) over the Atlantic.

1957. January. The McDonough Construction Company of Florida was awarded by the US military authorities a $2 million contract for additional construction at Kindley Air Force Base. The Bermudian workers hired to supplement the American civilians imported for the purpose got an specially nice deal. For the first time in the history of the US bases in Bermuda, they were paid the same rate as their counterparts in the USA.

1958. January 18. Bermuda got its own TV station for the first time, when ZBM-TV went on the air. It began life as a cooperative arrangement. The Kindley TV station, ZBK-TV changed its broadcasting times to 12.00 noon to 5.30 pm, with ZBM taking over Channel 10 at 5.40 p.m. The agreement had been worked out with the United States Department of Defense. It was then normal policy that an Armed Forces station could not be operated in any jurisdiction where commercial English language facilities already existed. Permission was given by the US Department of Defense and Bermuda Government for the Kindley Station to remain on the air until ZBM's station and coverage were well-established and could provide the same number of broadcasting hours Kindley had been offering.

1960 and 1961. Late. Construction of the NASA tracking station in Bermuda was completed, after work began on it in 1959. The NASA station was at the end of Mercury Road on Cooper's Island, on the southeast tip of the base. Many airmen and locals were employed to help complete the construction on time. Bermuda became part of the NASA worldwide tracking network and initially it's primary responsibility was computer monitoring and along with Cape Canaveral could abort a mission on the downrange before going into orbit. The Atlantic Ocean abort landing area was between Bermuda and the Canary Islands. The seven Mercury astronauts, Shepherd, Grisssom, Glenn, Carpenter, Cooper, Slayton and Schirra were frequent visitors to NASA Bermuda in 1960 & 1961. Another species of astronaut - Ham the chimpanzee - also visited Bermuda after a space flight, January 31, 1961. Ham landed south of Bermuda. With his capsule which almost sank on landing, he got a return flight to Cape Canaveral (later, Kennedy) via Kindley. As a show of thanks to Bermuda, NASA started the world tour of John Glenn's (from February 20 1962) Friendship 7 capsule in Hamilton on April 20, 1962. (Bermuda's role within NASA changed many times over the years. Basically due to technology advancements NASA no longer requires the Bermuda site as a primary control or tracking station). About the same time SAC began its operations on Kindley, the Russians started to listen in on Kindley from electronic surveillance vessels. The Russians said the vessels were for ocean research and would invariably request permission to dock in St. George using medical or some other humanitarian reason. 3 or 4 times a year, the Russians came snooping and as they were docked at Wharf Street, St. George, they could not get much closer to Kindley. But the base was opposite the civilian port. At this same time US nuclear subs were cruising around Bermuda so the Russians were busy in the area.

1962. January. From the NASA Space Tracking station in Bermuda established a year earlier at part of Kindley Air Force Base, began the first of a multi-year series of firing weather reconnaissance rockets into the air over the island and beyond. See http://www.astronautix.com/sites/kindley.htm.

1962. March 24. In a solemn ceremony at the non-denominational chapel of the US Naval Operating Base in Bermuda, a US Navy Memorial Tablet was laid to honor the memory of those who died in the September 21, 1961 crash off Bermuda.

1963. November, the US Coast Guard detachment transferred from the U.S. Naval Station to Kindley because greater range could be gotten from its HU-16 Albatross aircraft by land takeoffs rather than water takeoffs.

1963. Modern, high-speed, land-based P-3 Orion aircraft replaced the seaplanes at the US Naval Operating Station, Bermuda.

1963. November. The US Coast Guard detachment in Bermuda transferred from the U.S. Naval Operating Station to Kindley, Bermuda, because greater range could be gotten from its HU-16 Albatross aircraft by land takeoffs rather than water takeoffs.

1968. As riots, strikes and malicious damage rocked Bermuda and the British Army sent a warship HMS Leopard and Royal Iniskilling Fusiliers, precautions were taken at Kindley AFB and the US Naval Station Annex as well. Major General Carl A. Youngdale, Inspector General of the US Marine Corps, arrived in Bermuda to beef up and review the US Marines.

1969. October. For a United Press International Conference in Bermuda, delegates included US Attorney General John Mitchell, Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller and Walter Cronkite. They arrived at Kindley and were met by USAF personnel.

1970. July 1. NAS Bermuda Redesignated. On the US Navy takeover of the USAF base, the former Kindley AFB High School became Roger B. Chaffee School after astronaut Lieutenant Commander Roger B. Chaffee, from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He lived from 1935 to 1967 when he died in an Apollo tragedy. It provided K-12 education for thousands of children whose parents lived on or off the base as American military or civilian officials; and local children one parent of whom was American. Most graduates now live in the USA but some are in Bermuda.

1974. February. A US Navy tug took feed the grain ship "Mount Julie" from a reef in Bermuda's main shipping channel.

1974. The Legislative Council of Bermuda approved regulations allowing American civilians employed at the US bases in Bermuda to have the same on-base customs privileges as members of US Armed Forces.

1992. September 30. The US Navy's Naval Facility (NAVFAC) Bermuda was decommissioned.

1995. When the USNAS and US Naval Annex left that year, after having spent a year winding down, the Bermuda Government immediately took over, relocated many civilian organizations there and destroyed some buildings deemed unsafe.

2002. March 2002. Bermuda's legislators enacted the United States Bases (Termination of Agreement) Act 2002. It formally terminated the US leases. The US Government has made a one-off payment of US$ 11 million to replace Longbird Bridge which was included in the lease, but declined to pay financial compensation for what the Bermuda Government claimed was environmental damage including heavy metals, asbestos, 500,000 gallons of jet fuel and raw sewage in Bassett's Cave at the old US Naval Annex.

Since then: Virtually nothing is left of the USA military occupation now at what used to be Fort Bell of the US Army, then USAAF, then Kindley Air Force Base of the USAF from 1948 to 1970 and a US Naval Air Station from 1970 to 1995. Photos in this website include the facilities there on May 1, 1995. All have since been removed for civilian re-development, not unexpectedly given that over 3,200 people per square mile live in the mere 21 miles of total land area in Bermuda.

Base Commanders of the first 22 years

They were in Bermuda from and to the dates shown. They all lived at Long Bird House, on the base, once the property of American millionaire William Marcus Greve, who in 1941, before construction of the base, owned 39 of original Long Bird Island's 62 acres. Having made his fortune in real estate and finance, he renounced his American birthright and became a citizen of tax-free Liechtenstein. He was well on the way to building himself a palatial mansion on Long Bird Island when the US Army decided to requisition it. At that time, the house was not finished. The US Army gave him $300,000 for the land, unfinished house, guest cottage and outbuildings in which he had planned to establish a model dairy farm. The house was completed to US Army specifications in 1942 as a headquarters and operations building. Later, it became the base commander's house, with the stables used as bachelor, then married officers, quarters. After the US Navy quit the base in 1995, Longbird House and all its outbuildings were demolished by the Bermuda Government to make way for its further use of the airport.

Daniel's Head

During the Second World War, the American Army erected a Base-End Station at the site, one of thirteen around Bermuda for the control of coastal gunnery. After the conflict, Daniel's Head was let out for farming.

Fort Bell, US Army; Kindley AFB (1946-1970), US NAS Bermuda 1970-1995, now Southside (civilian)

St. David's Island, in St. George's Parish. One mile by water and 3-5 miles from the Town of St. George, via the Swing Bridge at Ferry Reach. Then along St. David's Road. The City of Hamilton is 8.3 miles to the west. First US Army and USAAF, then the USAF's Kindley AFB from 1946 in various roles including for Strategic Air Command and as a refueling station for nuclear bombers. Civilianized now, with many of the former buildings re-used or demolished. Routes 10 and 11 and 6 buses go part of the way. By moped or taxi, access to right at former # 2 Gate or at former military school (now the Bermuda Government's Clearwater Middle School, before that the US Navy's Roger Chaffee High School, before that Kindley AFB High. Clearwater Beach was built after 1941 as a man-made beach from landfill left over from creating the runways and named Clearwater from the place in Florida by the USAF after it took over the base in 1948 from the US Army. US Military personnel once stationed in Bermuda should note that there have been so many changes in this former base that some places are no longer recognizable or accessible, or were demolished after 1995.

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