USAF Special Study-- Through The Cameras Eye: A Photographic
Survey of the Origins of Robins Field, 1941-1945. Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1988.
Office of History
Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
Robins Air Force Base, Georgia
If a picture is work a thousand words, then this study is replete with the flower and understanding of that language. These are pictures taken between 1941 and 1944 by one or more unknown photographers working with the Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District and with the 479th Photo Section at Robins Field (today Air Force Base), Georgia. A few of the pictures in section four are from the private collection of Mr. Leroy Carter, whose father owned a dairy farm on part of the land which is today Robins Air Force Base.
The study is divided into four sections. The first is a narrative of the negotiations to bring a military installation to Middle Georgia, the subsequent construction of Robins Field, and its role in World War II.
The second section contains photographs taken by the Army Corps of Engineers during and just after construction of the base (then post) facilities. These pictures were rescued from destruction by the Engineers' second lead engineer, Major Edgar B. Boynton who was stationed at Robins Field during World War II (November 1942-February 1946). In 1985, nearly 40 years after Colonel Boynton retired from active duty to continue a successful career as an industrial engineer in Richmond, Virginia, he contacted Dr. Richard W. Iobst, Chief, WR-ALC Office of History and official Center Archivist, to donate this collection to the WR-ALC Archives located in the Office of History.
The third section is a set of rare photos taken in June and November 1943, by photographers from the 479th Photo Section, U.S. Army Air Corps, Robins Field, Georgia. These pictures were originally included as documentary materials in the first historical report produced at Robins Field by the Warner Robins Air Service Command historian. Until recently, they had been lost in the reams of archival items originally collected in the 1950s and 1960s and transferred between offices on several occasions in the interim. Renewed efforts by those in the Office of History to reorganize the official WR-ALC Archives now under their care unearthed this treasure. In order to provide maximum exposure, they have been published in this volume.
The final section is a potpourri of people and places significant to the earliest history of Robins Air Force Base (Field).
In addition to the photographs and narrative, Dr. Iobst conducted, and later published, an official oral history interview with Col. Boynton on 11 October 1985 at his office in Richmond, Virginia.
This volume is one more in a continuing series of special studies undertaken by the Office of History in an effort to preserve the earliest history and heritage of Robins Air Force Base. The series includes:
Wellston Air Depot:
A Media View, 1941-1943; The Chronological History of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Centerand Robins Air Force Base, 1936-1986
War Baby of the South