Qualla: Donaldson Air Force Base https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/j/m/donaldson-air-force-base-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Donaldson Air Force Base https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base Donaldson Air Force Base: Introduction https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base/ Photo credit USAF, Public domain. The massive C-124 Globemaster II transports once lined up on these ramps like patient giants, their clamshell nose doors gaping open to swallow tanks, helicopters, and entire fighter squadrons. From this airfield south of Greenville, South Carolina, the United States projected military power to every continent during the tensest years of the Cold War. Donaldson Air Force Base earned the title "Airlift Capital of the World" not through ceremony but through relentless, globe-spanning operations that moved troops and cargo wherever crisis demanded. Today the runways still see traffic, but the Globemasters are long gone, and the hangars shelter civilian industry instead of warplanes.

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/j/m/donaldson-air-force-base-wp/dnjm-donaldson-air-force-base-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Donaldson Air Force Base: A World War and a Name https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base/ Photo credit USAF, Public domain. The War Department selected Greenville as the site for a new Army airfield in the early 1940s, and by June 1942 Greenville Army Air Base was training crews on B-25 Mitchell medium bombers. The 310th Bombardment Group passed through that fall, spending a month flying Mitchells bef...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/j/m/donaldson-air-force-base-wp/dnjm-donaldson-air-force-base-a-world-war-and-a-name.mp3 0:06 2 full Donaldson Air Force Base: Cold War Workhorse https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base/ Photo credit USAF, Public domain. After near-closure in 1945, the base found new purpose as the center of America's troop carrier mission. Air Force Reserve groups stationed at Greenville deployed C-54 Skymasters to Germany during the 1948 Berlin Blockade, replacing the smaller C-47s that had begun the airlift. W...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/j/m/donaldson-air-force-base-wp/dnjm-donaldson-air-force-base-cold-war-workhorse.mp3 0:06 3 full Donaldson Air Force Base: Globemasters to the Flashpoints https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base/ Photo credit USAF, Public domain. In 1958 alone, Donaldson's Globemasters answered two simultaneous crises. When Lebanon's government faced attack, 36 C-124s deployed covertly to ferry Army and Marine units to Beirut. Simultaneously, during the Taiwan Strait Crisis, C-124s transported fully assembled F-104 Starfi...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/j/m/donaldson-air-force-base-wp/dnjm-donaldson-air-force-base-globemasters-to-the-flashpoints.mp3 0:06 4 full Donaldson Air Force Base: Closure and Reinvention https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base/ Photo credit USAF, Public domain. In December 1962, budget reductions sealed the base's fate. The 63rd Troop Carrier Wing transferred to Hunter Air Force Base in Georgia, and Donaldson was deactivated in January 1963. The City and County of Greenville accepted the property under a reversionary clause and renamed ...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/j/m/donaldson-air-force-base-wp/dnjm-donaldson-air-force-base-closure-and-reinvention.mp3 0:06 5 full Donaldson Air Force Base: Echoes on the Tarmac https://qualla.com/donaldson-air-force-base/ Photo credit USAF, Public domain. Flying over Donaldson Center today, the military origins are unmistakable. The long runways, the oversized hangars built to shelter Globemasters, and the expansive ramp areas all speak to a time when this quiet corner of upstate South Carolina was one of the most important airlif...

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]]> Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/n/j/m/donaldson-air-force-base-wp/dnjm-donaldson-air-force-base-echoes-on-the-tarmac.mp3 0:06 6 full