 Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen, most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tar paper.While under construction, the 65th Observation Group used the unfinished facilities at the airfield between 1 September and 1 December 1941, flying a mixture O-47s, O-49 Vigilant and O-52 Owl light observation planes as part of the "Carolina Maneuvers" in the Fall of 1941 performing reconnaissance and aerial photo duties.On 8 December 1941, the Columbia Army Airbase was activated with Lt.