Editing Fort Detrick (section)

===Detrick Field (1931–43)===
Fort Detrick traces its roots to a small municipal airport established at Frederick, Maryland, in 1929. It was operated by a single person and the field was one of a string of [[Emergency landing|emergency]] [[airfield]]s between [[Cleveland, Ohio]], and [[Washington, D.C.]], until 1938. The field was named in honor of squadron [[flight surgeon]] Major [[Frederick L. Detrick]] who served in France during [[World War I]] and died in June 1931 of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]]. The first military presence there was the encampment, on 10 August 1931 (two months after the Major's death), of his unit: the [[104th Fighter Squadron|104th Observation Squadron]] of the 29th Division, [[Maryland National Guard]].  The Squadron flew [[Airco DH.4|de Havilland observation biplanes]] and [[Curtiss JN-4|Curtiss JN-4 "Jennies"]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Capt. Wayde Minami |url=https://www.175wg.ang.af.mil/News/story/id/123203496/ |title=Fort Detrick Named for Maryland Flight Surgeon |publisher=175wg.ang.af.mil |access-date=2012-07-31 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312152155/http://www.175wg.ang.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123203496 |archive-date=2012-03-12 }}</ref>

A [[concrete]] and [[Asphalt concrete|tarmac]] airfield replaced the grass field in 1939, and an upgraded Detrick Field served as a Cadet Pilot Training Center until the country's entry into [[World War II]]. Detrick Field was formally leased from the City of Frederick in 1940 (having previously been leased from the state for just two weeks per year). The last airplanes departed Detrick Field in December 1941 and January 1942 after the [[Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]]. All aircraft and pilots in the 104th and the cadet program were reassigned after the Declaration of War to conduct antisubmarine patrols off the Atlantic Coast. The [[2nd Bombardment Squadron]], [[United States Army Air Corps|U.S. Army Air Corps]] was reconstituted at Detrick Field between March and September 1942, when it deployed to England to become the nucleus of the new [[Eighth Air Force]] headquarters. Thereafter, the base ceased to be an aviation center. The airfields buildings, runway and tarmac have all disappeared which ran along today's Hamilton Street from Beasley Drive to about Neiman Street.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.airfieldsfreeman.com/MD/Airfields_MD_Frederick.htm#ftdetrick|title=Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Maryland: Frederick area}}</ref>