FYI
By Libbie Payne, Globe Columnist, 5/19/2002

Q. For whom was Hanscom Air Force Base named?

A. In one of those surprising finds that go along with research, the base is
named after Laurence G. Hanscom, a former Boston Globe reporter.

On Feb. 10, 1943, two years after Hanscom's death, the Laurence G. Hanscom
Airport in Bedford was dedicated in his honor by Colonel John I. Moore of
the Army Air Corps in Manchester, N.H. It became what we know as Hanscom Air
Force Base in the 1950s.

According to the Globe obituary, Hanscom, 34, a pilot and Army reservist,
and his passenger, Dr. Anthony V. Carbone of Medford, were performing stunt
maneuvers in a plane over marshland in Saugus when the plane failed to come
out of a series of loops.

Born in Malden in 1906, Hanscom lived in Wilmington at the time of his
death. He had been employed by the Globe as a State House reporter and was
working at The Worcester Telegram when the fatal accident occurred.

Hanscom was a founding member and commander of the Massachusetts Wing of the
Civilian Air Reserve, a group interested in military photography and
map-making. At the time of his death, he was said to have been considering
enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

This story ran on page N19 of the Boston Globe on 5/19/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company

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