Who remembers Myrtle Beach AFB? (Columbia, Charleston: condo, live, gym)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Did you know Myrtle Beach International Airport was once an Air Force Base? It was in operation when Mom, Dad, and I vacationed there in 1985. A-10s flew out of there.

[SC here I come]

I do....though, I think they closed it down a few years after I started vacationing here back in 1990. Guessing 1994/95ish??

[jerseyj]

My FIL was a pilot with the RCAF and spent some time there training (late 40's?).
We started playing "golf" at Whispering Pines which was on that base. Good course to learn on as it was just a dirt patch! Had a ton of fun there!

We were able to take my FIL back there before they tore all the base housing down.
Boy, did he have some stories!

[scpirate]

I know a few guys that were stationed there right before it closed due to BRAC. They said it was a great assignment and you couldn't beat the location (for obvious reasons). I believed it closed around 93 or 94 since I know they deployed units during the first gulf war.

[Woodlands]

Yeah rumor had it that both Charleston and Myrtle Beach could rebound quicker if their bases closed as opposed to places like Sumter or Columbia and thats why they were "offered up" when the share the pain conversations were occurring in Washington... It seems to be true in terms of the rebound.. though I suspect that wasnt the only criteria.

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5rpIjQspAYE

[Ninny899]

Shortly after Desert Storm they re-org'd the entire Miltary, getting rid of things we didnt need anymore. MBAGB was one of them. Its mission was to protect the East coast from German U-boats in WWII. We don't need that anymore with modern technology.

[Retire in MB]

While I don't remember the base, I currently live on it. The Market Common was developed on some of the land of the old base. Our streets are named after personnel that were stationed here. The base Rec center still exists and is a meeting place for the area. The base gym has been taken over by the city rec department and is a great place to work out. if you are in the area check out Warbird Park at the old "front gate" to the base.
Warbird Park | Warbird Park
https://www.marketcommonmb.com/our-c...market-common/

[leadfoot4]

A good friend of mine bought a condo unit in North Myrtle Beach, either late in 1979 or early 1980. In order to help defray the expense of ownership, he rented it to friends and family. I made the trip there, for the first time, in mid-May of 1980.


While visiting one of the two 'Myrtle Beach Grand Prix' locations, the one across Route 17 from the AFB (anyone remember it?), I was able to watch the A-10s doing some "touch and go" training exercises. I had never seen one of those before, and thought they were the most unusual planes I had ever seen. I took a few pictures of them, as I was in the Grand Prix's parking lot, and probably still have them, stashed away in the "picture box", down in my basement.


Since I was there, both enjoying the beach, and engaged in sightseeing, I had the brilliant idea of seeing if there were any "visitor tours" available at the AFB. I pulled up to the front gate to inquire, and a Corpsman, who was about as big as a barn door, politely told me, in no uncertain terms, that they most assuredly did NOT have "visitor tours", and simply told me to turn my car around and leave.


Silly me, but I still get a chuckle over that, almost 40 years later. I did return to MB several more times after that, but I haven't been there since 2001.....

[Ninny899]

That should be MBAFB, not GB. Tge base housing is still there too. You can tell what they are too - identical cookie cutter duplexes.