Today, the Buckingham Airfield is used by the Lee County Mosquito Control District and the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office so they can do their typical work \u2014 eradicating pests and fighting crime.<\/p>\n
During World War II, more than 50,000 soldiers came to the Buckingham Army Airfield (BAAF) to train to become \u201cflexible gunners\u201d on manned B17 and B-24 bombers.<\/p>\n
The Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club recently set up shop at the Homestead House on Homestead Road, next to the airfield.<\/p>\n
FMARC put on a live amateur radio event called \u201cHamwaves of History\u201d to honor the legacy of those soldiers who trained there from the original airfield grounds.<\/p>\n
Brian Darley, event coordinator for FMARC, said many soldiers came here between 1942 and 1945 to train.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was an active training base and bombing range along with Page Field,\u201d Darley said Tuesday. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make as many contacts as possible over the next three days locally and throughout the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
FMARC was doing pretty much what they do during their annual field days except it\u2019s indoors, not around the clock and there is electricity, Darley said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can imagine what the area looked like in the 1940s, you\u2019re looking at swamp and young recruits coming here, you\u2019d think it was different,\u201d said Daniel Eaton, public information officer at FMARC. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let the legacy of those people go away.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe delivered stuff to the aircraft as a summer job around 1942 or 1943,\u201d Black said. \u201cShe was too young to go into the military, so she delivered packages to the aircraft so they could go on their missions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Black said she didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was delivering one day and she got too close to the aircraft and they started the engine,\u201d Black said. \u201cShe nearly had a problem there but was able to dodge that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n