ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- In November 1950, Maj. Gen. Franklin O. Carroll moved the Air Engineering Development Division he commanded from Ohio to Northern Field near Tullahoma.
The following year, he effectively became the first commander of the Arnold Engineering Development Center when the AEDD was redesignated as AEDC.
In a correspondence he wrote in 1950 updating the status of the then-under construction AEDC, Carroll said the immediate responsibilities of the AEDD were to “obtain the ultimate in design of the testing facilities and to direct and supervise the construction of the Arnold Engineering Development Center.”
“With the mission of designing, constructing and operating the Arnold Center, the Air Engineering Development Division was activated on 1 January 1950 by the Chief of Staff, USAF,” Carroll wrote. “Headquarters of the AEDD are presently located at commercially-owned William Northern Field, a war-time [Army Air Forces] base at Tullahoma, about ten miles from the construction site. Though small in number, about 250 strong, its staff is functioning with a combined viewpoint of pushing construction towards operational status.
“A visitor to the Arnold Center construction site would discover a transformation in progress on a remote and rugged portion of the old Camp Forrest near Tullahoma (a small city of 7,500 about halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga). Workmen are busy in various stages of construction, from excavation for foundations to actual bricklaying and steel erection. Civil contractors are undertaking construction of the Center, with the Army’s Corps of Engineers, through a specially organized Tullahoma Engineer District, exercising direct supervision, with the Air Engineering Development Division maintaining overall supervision of the vast project.”
Carroll also noted several test facilities were beginning to take shape at Arnold.
“The Arnold Engineering Development Center is at present witnessing its peak construction period,” Carroll wrote. “Following the tedious process leading up to the commencement of such a program, basic utilities and the first of three major testing facilities are now under actual construction.”
The test cells Carroll referenced in his memorandum were the Engine Test Facility, which Carroll noted was “well along in its construction” and was scheduled for shakedown operation, an evaluation to ensure the facility was ready for full-scale operations, in early 1952; the Gas Dynamics Facility, which at the time of Carroll’s letter was still in its design stage; and the Propulsion Wind Tunnel facility. A proposal for the design, construction and operation of a scale model of a PWT circuit was approved by Carroll in December 1951. This prototype tunnel went into operation in October 1952. PWT was completed in its entirety and accepted by the Air Force in early 1961.
Several supporting facilities were also under construction at the time of Carroll’s writing. These included the warehouse, the first building constructed at AEDC; the Administration and Engineering Building; an underground utilities system; and the Elk River Dam, which would essentially create a lake from which water would be pulled to support test operations. The dam, which created Woods Reservoir, was completed in September 1952.
“Other buildings to be constructed include a model shop, an instrument shop, a fire-police-communications center, an automotive repair shop, a reception building, a steam generating plant and installation maintenance shop,” Carroll wrote. “An industrial dispensary and a cafeteria are also to be started soon, rounding out the construction program at this time.”
Then-President Harry Truman visited AEDC in June 1951 to ceremonially dedicate the installation as the Arnold Engineering Development Center in honor of Gen. Henry “Hap” Arnold.
In August 1951, the AEDD was redesignated as the Arnold Engineering Development Center. With that, the installation and the organization overseeing its creation, then commanded by Carroll, would share the same name.
In June 1952, it was announced that the AEDD offices and those of the Arnold Research Organization, the corporation established by the St. Louis-based Sverdrup & Parcel to manage and operate Arnold Engineering Development Center, would begin transitioning from Northern Field to the AEDC site.
Carroll’s tenure as AEDC commander ended in 1952. He was succeeded by Col. Charles K. Moore.
Following his stint as AEDC commander, Carroll was named director of the Human Resources Institute at Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
He retired from the Air Force in 1954.
During his career, Carroll logged 4,450 flying hours and was rated a command pilot, combat observer and aircraft observer. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, World War I Victory Medal, Mexican Border Service Medal, American Defense Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Asian-Pacific Theater Medal and Army of Occupation Medal (Japan).
He died on Sept. 13, 1988, at the age of 95.
The Carroll Building at Arnold Air Force Base, headquarters of what is now known as the Arnold Engineering Development Complex, was renamed in honor of the first AEDC commander in June 1991, around seven months after construction was completed on the facility.
Gen. Ronald W. Yates, commander of the then-active Air Force Systems Command, presided over the dedication ceremony.
“Gen. Carroll personified the vision and tenacity it took to make technology and testing a central focus within the Air Force,” Yates said during the ceremony. “Without his foresight and commitment, we might not be standing here today. We’re here today only because he fought for AEDC in the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and in every other corner of government that he thought could make this become a reality.”
Carroll was posthumously selected to be honored as an AEDC Honorary Fellow in 2020. Established in 1989, the AEDC Fellows program recognizes AEDC personnel who have made substantial and exceptionally distinguished contributions to the nation’s aerospace ground testing capability.
This is the eighth 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.