Issaqueena Bombing Range

Front: During World War II the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) used Lake Issaqueena and surrounding land as a bombing range. The lake was built in 1938 as part of the New Deal-era Clemson Land Use Project. The War Department acquired most of the range property from the college in 1942. It was used primarily by B-25 Mitchell bomber crews from Greenville Army Air Base, later Donaldson Air Force Base. Reverse: USAAF crews dropped thousands of 100-lb. practice bombs on two target areas. Lake Issaqueena was used for skp-bombing runs, in which pilots “skipped” bombs across the water to the target. Northwest of the lake was a land range used for medium-altitude bombing. Practice missions took place until the war’s end in 1945. Clemson later resumed control of the lake and returned it to recreational use.