Liberal in Seward County, Kansas — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Liberal Army Air Base Memorial
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2022
1. Liberal Army Air Base Memorial
Men and Women
who served our country
at the Liberal Army Air
Base from April of 1943
thru September of 1946
Topics. This memorial is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Education • Patriots & Patriotism • War, World II. A significant historical month for this entry is April 1943.
Location. 37° 2.678′ N, 100° 57.105′ W. Marker is in Liberal, Kansas, in Seward County. Memorial is on Terminal Avenue (7th Street North), 0.1 miles west of General Welch Boulevard. Marker is located beside the flagpole in front of the Glenn L. Martin Air Terminal at Liberal Mid-America Regional Airport. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 720 Terminal Avenue, Liberal KS 67901, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Original Hand-Dug Well (approx. 0.7 miles away); International Pancake Day (approx. 1.6 miles away); The Pioneer Mother of Kansas (approx. 1.6 miles away); Replica of the Statue of Liberty (approx. 1.6 miles away); Liberal Memorial Library (approx. 1.6 miles away); War Memorial (approx. 1.7 miles away); Seward County War Dead and Missing in Action (approx. 1.7 miles away); Rock Island Lines (approx. 1.8 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Liberal.
Also see . . .
this page online
Liberal Army Airfield was a World War II Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber training base of the United States Army Air Forces' Second Air Force. Initially three concrete runways were built, each 7,000 feet in length and 150 feet wide, with a gross load capacity of 37,000 pounds. Portable B-2 type runway lights were installed. In addition, a concrete parking apron of some 276,318 square yards was constructed, along with three concrete taxiways 100 feet in width. In 1943, a second set of three runways, identical and parallel to the first three were built.(Submitted on January 18, 2023, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)Training facilities included three school buildings and four buildings housing Link Trainers. Five hangars were built, two of steel and three of wood. Three large warehouses and storage facilities for 591,000 gallons of gasoline were built. Housing facilities for 4,934 officers and men and a hospital with a normal bed capacity of 142 were constructed.
On 7 September 1945 the commanding officer received official orders for inactivation of the field on or before 30 September. B-24 Liberators were obsolete as the postwar Air Force would retain the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as its long-range strategic bomber.
During its 27 months of actual training, Liberal Army Air Field graduated 4,468 four-engine
airplane commanders. In addition, 1,025 pilots were graduated from the pre-transition course conducted for a period in the middle of 1944.Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 20222. Liberal Army Air Base Memorial(looking east from Glenn Martin Air Terminal • marker is in front of the flagpole)
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, August 17, 2022
3. Glenn L. Martin Air Terminal
Credits. This page was last revised on January 18, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 18, 2023, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 166 times since then and 57 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on January 18, 2023, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
