Eebee Army Airfield Hangar (Site)

These coordinates mark the exact location where the hangar once stood. No visible remains exist.


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Here follows an excerpt from the "Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields" website written by Paul Freeman:

EEBEE Army Airfield, Springfield, VA
(Southwest of Washington, DC)

This former military airfield in the Washington suburbs is a real enigma. The author of this web site lives only 20 miles away from the site of this airfield, and yet never realized it was there. The exact date of construction of this airfield has not been determined. Mary Sitton reported having an aerial photograph dated 1943 which depicted the EEBEE airfield & adjacent test track under construction.

According to Helene Danner, “The Fairfax Anti-Aircraft Artillery Range was located on the other side of Route One from present day Davidson Army Air Field. Apparently, targets were towed from south to north along a ridge line for gunnery training. I would imagine that EEBEE was built primarily to support the gunnery training and was no longer used much after the war [WW2]. I believe that the Engineer Proving Grounds moved over to the EEBEE site after the war. The Engineer Proving Grounds was a standard corps-level proving grounds.”

A directory of military accidents listed 2 accidents both involving Stinson L-5 Sentinels (a light liason aircraft) at EEBEE Field in 1944, and another in 1945. No airfield at this location was depicted on the 1945 or 1946 USGS topo maps, nor on the 1947 Washington Sectional Chart. The earliest depiction of the airfield which has been located was on the 1948 Washington Sectional Chart (courtesy of Mike Keefe). It described "EEBEE (Army)" as having a 2,800' hard-surface runway.

The derivation of the name “EEBEE” was explained in an article entitled “The Engineer Proving Ground: What’s in a name?” in the 8/16/07 issue of the Belvoir Eagle. It said “This area was originally identified as the Engineer Board (E.B.) Test Area, but, over a period of time came to be called Eebee Field, because it also contained a facility & landing strip for aircraft testing. One can see how E.B. easily converted to Eebee in everyday speech.”

EEBEE was depicted as a closed airfield on the September 1948 USAAF Pilot's Handbook (courtesy of Chris Kennedy). The earliest photo which has been located of the EEBEE airfield was a 1949 aerial view. It depicted the field as having 2 runways, with a single large arch-roof hangar just southwest of the runway intersection. There were no aircraft visible on the field.

The 1949 USAF Air Target Complex Chart labeled the field as "EEBEE (USAF) (Closed)". It depicted the airfield as having two 2,600' runways, as well as a single building (a hangar?) just southwest of the runway intersection. So this airfield was built & then closed after less than 4 years? This airfield's labeling on the 1949 chart as a "USAF" facility may have been in error. There is no other indication of there ever having been any Air Force facilities in this area of Northern Virginia. The Air Force had only become an independent service the year before, which meant that mapmakers would have been very busily re-labeling a lot of former Army airfields as Air Force facilities, but this one may have been done in error. It was most likely always an Army facility.

The 1951 USGS topo map depicted "Eebee Field" as having 2 unpaved runways, both oriented northeast/southwest, with several buildings. Strangely, the north/south runway on the east side was no longer depicted. The January 1951 Washington Local Aeronautical Chart depicted "EEBEE (Army)" as having a 2,800' paved runway.

Art Follansbee recalled, "I worked at the Belvior R&D Labs in the 1960s to 1982. EPG [Fort Belvoir Engineering Proving Ground] was the test area for the Labs' activities. The hangar was open-ended & at that time used for test projects & storage. The old time workers told me that light Army aircraft used the strip until Davidson AAF was built in the mid-1950s. The 'runway' was then used for night vision testing, many WW2 tanks used as targets were hauled out of the woods and sent to the FT Knox armor museum as EPG began to shut down."

The last aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of EEBEE Field was on the July 1954 Washington Sectional Chart. It depicted "EEBEE (Army)" as having a 2,700' paved runway. EEBEE Field was apparently closed at some point in 1954, as it was no longer depicted on the July 1954 Washington Sectional Chart. The 1956 USGS topo map continued to depict 2 unpaved runways, labeled as “Test Area”.

A 9/9/59 USGS aerial view depicted EEBEE Field in basically the same configuration as seen in 1949, with 2 runways & a single hangar at the northeast corner. A 1979 aerial view showed that a 2nd large hangar was added on the southwest side of the field at some point between 1959-79. Two unpaved runways at EEBEE Field were still depicted (but unlabeled) on the 1984 USGS topo map. The overall property was labeled as the Fort Belvoir Military Reservation.

The 1988 USGS aerial photo of the EEBEE airfield site showed that the outline of both former runways were still very much recognizable, and the former hangar still sat just southwest of the runway intersection. The location of this airfield was depicted on later street maps as the Army's Fort Belvoir Engineering Proving Ground. According to Mike Kentes, the Proving Ground closed in approximately 1991. Fort Belvoir itself is located a few miles to the southeast, on the other side of Interstate 95.

A 1994 USGS aerial photo of a building which sat at the southwest corner of the former EEBEE airfield. Mike Kentes recalled, “I visited it on 2 occasions. The building was a large hangar-type structure that was used for Electro-Magnetic Pulse testing. I guessed it was used for EMP testing because there were thousands of pieces of paper all over the floor about protecting against EMP pulses. The inside was a large wooden platform covered with sand, with a test stand in the middle, about the size of a phone booth. It was all-around weird. When I say large, I mean LARGE, it could have held a blimp. But sadly it is no longer there. It was used by the Fairfax County Fire Department as a training burn.”

Ron Natalie recalled, "I've seen that 'shadow runway' and what appears to be a hangar many times back when we were allowed to fly there." [Before the imposition of overzealous post-9/11 restrictions on general aviation flights.]

In the 2002 USGS aerial photo of the site of EEBEE Field, the outline of both former runways were still very much recognizable, and the former hangar still sat just southwest of the runway intersection. But the hangar-type building at the southwest corner was evidently removed at some point between 1994-2002, with only its foundation still visible. Note the radio-controlled aircraft "runway" just north of the west end of the east/west runway.

Jon Gravelin reported in 2003, "At the left hand end of the upper dirt strip (runway) is a small grass strip. This is, or was, back in 1999, a grass runway for Radio Controlled Aircraft, which is how I know about the area. An organization called the Pohick Pilots Association was allowed by the Army to operate that strip. The only condition was that we were to notify the nearby Control Tower (Ft. Belvoir, I think) when commencing operations. One afternoon, I lost control of the aircraft I was flying & began a futile search & rescue recovery operation. I owned a Jeep at the time, which was perfect for exploring the area in search of the plane.

The building in the upper right, with the parking lot, is still used today. The other building seemed to be abandoned or for storage. The hangar-shaped building next to it, is in fact a hangar. I got reasonably close to the other major structure, and it also looked like a hangar or some sort of warehouse. The large diamond/oval road, is some sort of vehicle 'Test Track'. I drove down a section of it & the corners have some grade built into them, this leads me to believe it could have been a high speed track used when it was a proving ground. It was a very interesting site - makes you wonder what type of testing went on there."

The Fort Belvoir Engineering Proving Ground site was mentioned in news reports in 2003 as one proposed location for a new baseball stadium for an expansion Major League Baseball team. However, for anyone who has driven through the infamous "mixing-bowl" traffic nightmare at the intersection of Interstate 95 & the Washington Beltway, this would seem to be a totally unsuitable location for a baseball stadium.


Rolland Watenpaugh (Fairfax County Police Senior Flight Officer) recalled in 2004, "I seem to recall that one of the projects tested at the EEBEE airfield on the circular track was for smart military vehicles. They were supposed to be able to follow an electronic bread trail in the track and control braking & acceleration to maintain following distance. I believe this was for the development of minimally manned resupply convoy concept. I'm sure this is only one of many projects that were conducted there. The site also contains numerous abandoned munitions bunkers to the southwest of the runways."

A March 2005 photo by Paul Freeman of an abandoned building which sits surrounded by woods on the east side of the EEBEE airfield. According to Mike Kentes, this building “was an old telescopic observatory. The observatory dome was removed, and is located in a field (in the middle of the test track).” A March 2005 photo by Paul Freeman of fittings (presumably for the former observatory dome) on the roof of the abandoned building on the east side of the EEBEE airfield. Mike Kentes reported in 2005, “It is my understanding that the entire Engineering Proving Ground (with the exception of the white building) is owned by Fairfax County.”

It was reported in 2006 that “within the next 5 years” the Fairfax County Parkway would be constructed through EPG property, and that other parts of the property were planned for office buildings, housing, and a hospital. A 2007 aerial photo showed the hangar still remained standing on the north side of the EEBEE airfield site.

Scott Logan reported in 2008, “I drove by the old Ft. Belvoir Proving Ground gate the other day and tried to see if the field was still there but there was a tremendous amount of construction going on as several main post commands are moving over there as well as the new Walter Reed Army Hospital so couldn’t get on.” Aerial photos from 2008 show massive construction covering the site of EEBEE Field, with several new roads covering the site of the former runways.

A 2016 aerial photo showed the massive facility of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency covering the site of EEBEE airfield, the only remaining trace of the airfield is the rough alignment of the southeastern runway end.