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Air Base historian asks county to preserve easement
McCOOK, Neb. — The president of the McCook Army Air Base Historical Society asked Red Willow County commissioners at their meeting Monday morning to retain an old county easement adjoining the society’s property and to help preserve 70-some-year-old concrete, which he says will help the air base qualify for historic recognition and create history tourism and jobs in McCook.
Dale Cotton of McCook presented what he called “a file cabinet” of years of newspaper clippings, historical memorabilia and documentation to commissioners as evidence of his efforts since the 1990’s to preserve what is left of the World War II U.S. Army air base built nine miles northwest of McCook in 1943. Cotton and his wife, Gloria, each explained that saving as much as possible of the original air base enhances their applications to place the air base on the national registry of historic places, which, Dale contends, will lead to tourism opportunities, the awarding of grants and the creation of jobs in McCook.
Cotton told commissioners he does not want the owner of adjoining property, which is also part of the original air base, to tear out 1940’s-era concrete to plant his corn crop. He says that the concussion of the “smashing” of the concrete is likely to damage the Norden bombsight vault. Cotton said, “I imagine someone’s responsible for damage to the vault as concrete is taken out.”
The Norden bombsight vault is listed on the national registry of historic places. The air base itself is not.
Cotton said he needs a 100-foot-wide taxiway preserved so that he can bring in and move around 50-foot-wide wheels and axles of a B-29 bomber. It’s possible, Cotton said, to build a wooden mock-up of the bomber. Cotton said he would like an observation tower (to see the front of the hangars over growing corn), a guard shack/visitors center (to also offer rolls and supplies to hunters) and a museum (to preserve and exhibit donated memorabilia) on site. He also wants a more expensive marker to memorialize the life of Edwin J. Zmuda, killed on the air base on Feb. 6, 1944.
Cotton says he does not want the county to abandon its easement. Gloria Cotton said they need the county easement to get into and out of their property rather than using another road that gets muddy. Dale Cotton wants commissioners to write ordinances and enforce penalties for destruction of property within a county easement.
Other recent “destruction” that Cotton described to commissioners includes vandalism, fence damage, trespassing and theft.
Commission chairman Earl McNutt said that the county gets no benefit from its original easements on the old air base.
Cotton wants those he sees as “allies” in his mission to save the air base — motels, restaurants, tourism people — to take responsibility for tours at the air base. He says his responsibility with the air base society is to maintain security on society-owned property and to preserve the two hangars and adjacent structures that the society owns.
Cotton said it is important to note to registry officials that “important people” were at the air base at some point throughout its history, and cited entertainer Bob Hope in January 1945, and Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhauer in 1954. “Important people must be tied into the historic place,” Cotton said.
Cotton said Monday morning, as he has for many years, that tours of the property can lead to enhanced tourism opportunities in McCook and create jobs.
However, no tour times or contact numbers are listed at the air base site. There are “No Trespassing” signs.
Cotton said Monday that it is not his job to lead tours of the society’s air base property, emphasizing that he cannot stop the maintenance and repair projects that take up to 50 hours a week of his and volunteers’ time to take tourists around the property. “Tourists can drive the county road,” he said, but he emphasized that they cannot come onto private property owned by the air base society. “People being out here,” he said, “They’re on private property.”
As far as differences between Cotton and neighboring landowners are concerned, Red Willow County Sheriff’s Chief Dep. Joe Koetter strongly recommended that surveys need to be completed to determine exact boundary lines and those lines clearly marked. Cotton said that he was told that tree removal and fence damage earlier this year “is a civil matter,” and he’ll proceed from there.
Dep. Koetter said that specific hours and contact information need to be posted for tours, making the air base available to tourists, rather than “running them off.” Cotton said, “I don’t have time for tours.”
Cotton admitted that he and the Red Willow County tourism division “are divided.” Cotton said he had a meeting at the air base a year ago, and tourism director Carol Schlegel did not attend.
Commissioner Cayla Richards suggested that Cotton get on the agenda for a March 3 meeting of the tourism board.
Koetter asked Cotton how many tourists actually come out to see “crumbling buildings and concrete,” buildings “that are not kept up,” a number Cotton could not provide readily. Cotton replied to a comment about tourists not being welcomed on site in November 2015. Cotton said, “We couldn’t let them people in there. We were working on our buildings.”
McNutt asked how the county can promote tourism at the air base if there are no tours or tour guides, and commissioners see no progress. Cotton said, “My job is maintenance man. My job is not tourism.”
Cotton said “We need to create job duties” among those he sees as “allies” — McCook restaurants, motels and tourism people — to take care of the tours. “What it boils down to is,” Cotton said, “It’s not my job to give tours. My job is maintenance and security. We need a visitors’ center. That’s progress.”
Gloria Cotton told commissioners that the McCook Chamber of Commerce has her contact number. She said that board members of the air base society are: Dale Cotton, president; Galen Horinek of Atwood, vice president; Theresa Bolton of Iowa, secretary; and Gloria Cotton, treasurer.
Dale Cotton said he has ongoing fund-raisers for maintenance, repair and preservation on the air base, for more granite markers along a runway, and for markers (such as the one proposed for Zmuda). The air base historical society is non-profit, he said.
The McCook Army air base was one of 11 U.S. Army Air Forces training bases in Nebraska during World War II. The 2,100-acre base at McCook included three 150x7,500-foot concrete runways, five hangars, and barracks and auxiliary buildings for up to 15,000 men.
McCook provided training for heavy bomber crews of the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator and B-29 Super Fortress. Bomber crews received final training before deployment to North Africa, Europe and the Pacific Theater.
Don Roberts, of rural McCook, told commissioners that the 2,200 acres of farmland upon on which the air base and the 2x1-mile rifle range were built belonged to his grandparents.
Russ Wood, of American Legion Post 344 in Indianola, told commissioners, “All wartime members support these (Cotton’s) efforts to maintain this area for tourism and jobs. Without the contributions of the Greatest Generation, we could be speaking Japanese or German, or whatever.”
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In other action, commissioners McNutt and Richards said they would wait until fellow commissioner Steve Downer returns in a couple weeks to discuss the condition of the “lake road” west of Cambridge to Harry Strunk Lake.
McNutt said he is not pleased with work done last summer to put down asphalt millings. The repair seemed to be “ironed out” in last summer’s heat, but that potholes have developed over the winter.
Local drivers and the Cambridge Public Schools are concerned with driver safety on the road.
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