Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley
Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama
Marker Inscription
Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley The Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley encompasses much of the early history of aviation in Alabama, including Monroe Park where aerial experimenter John Fowler displayed his flying machine designs. The fairgrounds located adjacent to Monroe Park were utilized for early aerial exhibitions. Located immediately north of the Aeroplex, in an area known as "The Flats" Legion Field was developed in 1917 and became Mobile's first flying field. The city's first municipal airport, Bates Field, was dedicated in November 1929 and located within the geographic borders of the current Mobile Aeroplex. In July 1939, the War Department acquired 1362 acres of land that included Bates Field for construction of a military aviation depot. Designated the Southeast Air Depot, the facility was subsequently named for military aviator Wendell Holsworth Brookley and supported military aviation operations in five southeastern states and the Caribbean. Brookley Field was the only military aviation depot in the United States with access to air, rail, sea and highway modes of transportation. During the Second World War, more than 16.000 men and women were employed at Brookley Field. (Continued on other side) Following the end of the Second World War, the United States Air Force fleet of Douglas C-74 Globemaster aircraft, the world's largest commissioned cargo aircraft, was based at Brookley Field. Globemaster aircraft participated in the Berlin Airlift and other material support missions. During this period, aircraft and crews operating from the facility set numerous aviation records for non-stop flights. Redesignated Brookley Air Force Base in 1947, the facility supported military operations around the world as headquarters of the Mobile Air Material Area and the Brookley Field Ocean Terminal. Brookley AFB ultimately grew to encompass more than 2000 acres of land and the largest runway complex in Alabama. The facility was decommissioned in July 1969 and returned to the City of Mobile. In 2012, Airbus selected the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley as the site of the Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility, the company's first commercial aircraft production site in America. Today, the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley is an integral component of the Alabama aviation and aerospace industry.
Erected by Alabama Historical Association
The Story
This site holds much of Alabama's early aviation history, from John Fowler's flying-machine experiments and Mobile's first flying field to Bates Field, dedicated in 1929. In 1939 the War Department built a great military aviation depot here, named for aviator Wendell Brookley, that employed more than 16,000 people during World War II. After the war Brookley's giant Globemaster cargo planes flew in the Berlin Airlift, and in 2012 Airbus opened its first American aircraft plant on the site.
Why it matters
Few places trace the whole arc of American flight—from backyard experiments to wartime airlift to modern jetliner manufacturing—as completely as Brookley.
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Related people
- · John Fowler
- · Wendell Holsworth Brookley
Related events
- · World War II
- · Berlin Airlift
Themes & tags
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