Greenville County · Marker 23-26
Donaldson Air Force Base
Marker 1: Just off Exchange St., at the Donaldson Center, Greenville Marker 2: Kodak Rd., near its intersection with Perimeter Rd., at the Donaldson Center, Greenville
Front inscription
Greenville Army Air Base opened on this site in 1942 and trained B-25 bomber crews during World War II. Emphasizing air transport after 1945 and renamed Donaldson Air Force Base in 1951, it was home to C-124 transports and called “The Airlift Capital of the World” for its role in the Berlin airlift, Korean War, and Cold War. Closed in 1962, it has been an industrial park since 1963.
Captain John O. Donaldson
John Owen Donaldson (1897-1930), for whom the base was named, grew up in Greenville and attended Furman University and Cornell University before joining the British Royal Air Force in World War I. He became an ace, shooting down eight enemy planes, and was decorated by the United States, Great Britain, and Belgium. Davidson was killed in a plane crash at an air show in 1930.