ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- After the Scientific Advisory Group’s May 1945 survey of German facilities was completed, American scientist and group member Frank Wattendorf remained in Europe to document his findings.
While there, he was notified his father had passed away. Wattendorf boarded a plane to return to the U.S. During the long flight, Wattendorf summarized his findings from Germany.
His report, which became known as the Trans-Atlantic Memo, was the first recommendation for a site such as AEDC.
“The present development and future prospects of high-speed jet airplanes are associated with an urgent need for forward-looking advances in research and test facilities for high-speed aerodynamics, propulsion systems and component parts,” Wattendorf’s Trans-Atlantic Memo states. “The scope of the German plans makes it essential that our own plans be certainly not less ambitious in the light of our future security. It is recommended that consideration and study be given the establishment of a new Air Forces research and development center.”
The memo was given to Brig. Gen. Franklin O. Carroll, then commander of Wright Field’s engineering division and the first Air Service officer to be trained in aeronautical engineering. Wattendorf’s memo became the basis of Carroll’s presentation to Arnold’s Air Staff.
In that presentation, Carroll advised the Air Staff of the advancements the Germans had made in ground testing while underscoring the deficiencies in American test facilities. He noted that no facilities existed in the U.S. for the testing of turbojet compressors. Carroll further listed the necessary facilities for U.S. research and development.
Carroll suggested that the Air Technical Service Command be tasked with completing a preliminary study for the establishment of a “new Army Air Force’s Applied Research and Development Center for Fluid Dynamics.”
Carroll would later serve as the first commander of AEDC.
On July 31, 1945, Maj. Gen. E.M. Powers, assistant chief of staff, materiel and services, gave Carroll the go-ahead to proceed with his suggestion. That October, Col. Paul H. Kemmer, Carroll’s deputy, formed a committee to complete the recommended study. A little more than two months later, the Kemmer Committee’s initial report was completed for submittal to Arnold.
Concurrent to the Kemmer Committee efforts, the Scientific Advisory Group was compiling its own report. That document, entitled Toward New Horizons, was published less than a week after the Kemmer report and called for the creation of a research and development facility that could be used for the study and development of jet propulsion, supersonic aircraft and ballistic missiles. The Trans-Atlantic Memo became part of Toward New Horizons.
“The Center for Supersonic and Pilotless Aircraft Development should be equipped with adequate wind tunnel facilities to attain speeds up to three times the velocity of sound, with large enough test sections to accommodate models of reasonable size, including jet propulsion units, and one ultrasonic wind tunnel for exploration of the upper frontier of the supersonic speed range,” Toward New Horizons states. “Ample facilities for the study of combustion and other characteristics of propulsion systems at very high altitudes should be provided.”
Both the Kemmer report and Toward New Horizons suggested utilizing captured German test facilities in a new installation to be located near large sources of water and electrical power. It was believed that the use of the German equipment would save nearly eight years in facility design and construction.
The Kemmer Committee report stated $300 million would be needed for the purchase of the site and the construction of housing, roads, utilities and the initial portion of the facility.
This report, titled “Proposed Air Engineering Development Center,” was presented to the Air Staff in January 1946. That March, Brig. Gen. H.I. Hodes, assistant chief of the War Department General Staff, authorized further planning on the proposed center. St. Louis-based engineering firm Sverdrup & Parcel Inc. was awarded a $1.5 million Army Air Forces contract to conduct this study.
S&P proposed several possible sites for the new center based on availability to electrical power, low population density and room for growth. In order of preference, the proposed sites were Moses Lake, Washington; Grand Wash Cliffs, Arizona; and the Tennessee Valley.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force was formally founded as a separate branch of the military on Sept. 18, 1947, under the National Security Act of 1947. The planned research and development center would fall under the purview of the newly established service.
Moses Lake and Grand Wash Cliffs were eliminated as possibilities due to potential vulnerability to attack and a water dispute between Arizona and California, respectively. This left the Tennessee Valley as the only remaining option of those recommended by S&P.
It was believed the Tennessee River could provide the necessary water. At the time, the Army was in the process of deactivating the Redstone Arsenal. This use of these facilities would save time on the construction of housing and offices. However, when the Air Force began showing an interest in Redstone, the Army expressed reservations about closing it.
U.S. Senator Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee stepped in with a proposal. The state of Tennessee would donate Camp Forrest to the Air Force as the site for the Air Engineering Development Center.
Located in southern middle Tennessee near Tullahoma, Camp Forrest was one of the Army’s largest training bases during World War II and was an active Army post between 1941 and 1946. The site officially became a prisoner of war camp in May 1942, housing Italian and German POWs.
By 1946, World War II had ended. Camp Forrest and the nearby William Northern Field, an air training base, were declared surplus property.
The Air Force accepted McKellar’s offer.
On April 28, 1948, Camp Forrest was named as the site for the Air Force’s new Air Engineering Development Center.
Action was taken in the fall of the following year that cleared way for the construction of Arnold Air Force Base, initially home to AEDC and later headquarters of the entire Complex.
This is the second in a series of articles highlighting the history of Arnold Engineering Development Complex during its first 75 years. Additional articles will be published throughout 2026 to commemorate the anniversary of AEDC.