‘Hamwaves of History’ highlighted Buckingham Airfield
Today, the Buckingham Airfield is used by the Lee County Mosquito Control District and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office so they can do their typical work — eradicating pests and fighting crime.
During World War II, more than 50,000 soldiers came to the Buckingham Army Airfield (BAAF) to train to become “flexible gunners” on manned B17 and B-24 bombers.
The Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club recently set up shop at the Homestead House on Homestead Road, next to the airfield.
FMARC put on a live amateur radio event called “Hamwaves of History” to honor the legacy of those soldiers who trained there from the original airfield grounds.
Brian Darley, event coordinator for FMARC, said many soldiers came here between 1942 and 1945 to train.
“This was an active training base and bombing range along with Page Field,” Darley said Tuesday. “We’re trying to make as many contacts as possible over the next three days locally and throughout the world.”
FMARC was doing pretty much what they do during their annual field days except it’s indoors, not around the clock and there is electricity, Darley said.
Details are a little fuzzy, but Stella Gurka is believed to have started the event back in 2011. Back then, she and FMARC contacted 18 countries, particularly in Europe. The idea was to bring attention to these heroes.
“If you can imagine what the area looked like in the 1940s, you’re looking at swamp and young recruits coming here, you’d think it was different,” said Daniel Eaton, public information officer at FMARC. “We’re not going to let the legacy of those people go away.”
Someone with some knowledge of what happened is Rick Black, who was operating a ham radio in one of the bedrooms at the house. His mother, Betty, worked as a civilian runner at the base during the war.
“She delivered stuff to the aircraft as a summer job around 1942 or 1943,” Black said. “She was too young to go into the military, so she delivered packages to the aircraft so they could go on their missions.”
Black said she didn’t say too much about her time there except they gave her the nickname Speedy because she worked so fast, Black said. She did have one close call with a propeller.
“She was delivering one day and she got too close to the aircraft and they started the engine,” Black said. “She nearly had a problem there but was able to dodge that.”
Those who visited also had the opportunity to visit the airfield museum in the Mosquito Control building across the street from the house. Plenty of memorabilia, newspaper articles and more commemorate the airfield and its role in the Allied victory.
The Lee County Mosquito Control District is at 15140 Homestead Road. The museum is open during normal business hours. For more on FMARC, which was founded in 1957, go to fmarc.net.