New Mexico World War II Army Airfields
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New Mexico World War II Army Airfields
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in New Mexico for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers. Most of these airfields were under the command of Fourth Air Force or the Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC) (A predecessor of the current-day United States Air Force Air Education and Training Command). However the other USAAF support commands (Air Technical Service Command (ATSC); Air Transport Command (ATC) or Troop Carrier Command) commanded a significant number of airfields in a support roles. It is still possible to find remnants of these wartime airfields. Many were converted into municipal airports, some were returned to agriculture and several were retained as United States Air Force installations and were front-line bases during the Cold War. Hundreds of the temporary buildings that were used survive today, and are being used for other purposes. Major Airfields Second Air Force * Alamogordo AAF ...
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ...
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Carlsbad, New Mexico
Carlsbad ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Eddy County, New Mexico, Eddy County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city population was 32,238. Carlsbad is centered at the intersection of U.S. Route 62 in New Mexico, U.S. Routes 62/U.S. Route 180, 180 and U.S. Route 285 in New Mexico, 285, and is the principal city of the Carlsbad-Artesia Micropolitan Statistical Area, which has a total population of 55,435. Located in the southeastern part of New Mexico, Carlsbad straddles the Pecos River and sits at the eastern edge of the Guadalupe Mountains. Carlsbad is a hub for potash mining, petroleum production, and tourism. Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located southwest of the city, and Guadalupe Mountains National Park lies southwest across the Texas border. The Lincoln National Forest is to the northwest of town. History The development of southeastern New Mexico in the late 19th century was fueled by the arrival of colonies ...
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Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD). Online databases are hosted on websites, made available as s ... detailing information and first hand memories about airports in the United States which are no longer in operation, or are rarely used. The website was started by Paul Freeman in 1999 as he had developed an interest on the subject. In 2015, there were over 2,000 airports chronicled on the site and it had been viewed over 1.7 million times. Freeman continues to edit the site along with a small team of " airfield archeologists" who do primary source research using old aeronautical charts, directories and related publications. Frequent contributors on the site include Phil Beutel, K.O. Eckland, Christopher Freeze, Chris Kennedy, Bill Larkins, Ron Plante, Brian Rehwinkel, Dann ...
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Roswell International Air Center
Roswell Air Center (Roswell International Air Center; Roswell Industrial Air Center) is an airport south of Roswell, New Mexico, Roswell, in Chaves County, New Mexico, United States. History The airport was Roswell Army Airfield during World War II, and Walker Air Force Base during the Cold War. When it closed it was the largest base of the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Roswell Industrial Air Center was developed after the closure of Walker Air Force Base on June 30, 1967. Commercial airline flights were moved from the old Municipal airport to the Air Center shortly afterwards and Trans-Texas Airlines upgraded some of its flights serving Roswell to Douglas DC-9 jets. Walker AFB was named after General Kenneth Newton Walker, a native of Los Cerrillos, New Mexico, Los Cerrillos. He was killed during a bombing mission over Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea. on January 5, 1943. Though intercepted by enemy fighters, his group scored direct hits on nine Japanese ...
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Walker Air Force Base
Walker Air Force Base is a closed United States Air Force base located three miles (5 km) south of the central business district of Roswell, New Mexico. It was opened in 1941 as an Army Air Corps flying school and was active during World War II and the postwar era as Roswell Army Air Field. During the early years of the Cold War, it became the largest base of the Strategic Air Command. It is also known for the Roswell UFO incident, an event that occurred on 4 July 1947. It is alleged that a "flying disc" crashed during a severe thunderstorm near the base at Corona, New Mexico. Walker AFB was named after General Kenneth Newton Walker, a native of Los Cerrillos, New Mexico who was killed during a bombing mission over Rabaul, New Britain, Papua New Guinea on 5 January 1943. His group scored direct hits on nine Japanese ships before being intercepted by enemy fighters. Walker was last seen leaving the target area with one engine on fire and several fighters on his tail, and ...
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Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell () is a city in, and the County seat, seat of, Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Chaves County forms the entirety of the List of micropolitan areas in New Mexico, Roswell micropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census it had a population of 48,422, making it the fifth-largest city in New Mexico. It is home of the New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI), founded in 1891. The city is also the location of an Eastern New Mexico University campus. Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located a few miles northeast of the city on the Pecos River. Bottomless Lakes State Park is located east of Roswell on U.S. Route 380, US 380. The Roswell incident was named after the town, though the crash site of the alleged UFO was some from Roswell and closer to Corona, New Mexico, Corona. The investigation and debris recovery was handled by the local Roswell Army Air Field. On the 50th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident the ...
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Hobbs, New Mexico
Hobbs is a city in Lea County, New Mexico, Lea County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 40,508 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, increasing from 34,122 in 2010. Hobbs is the principal city of the Hobbs, New Mexico micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Lea County. History Hobbs was founded in 1907 when James Isaac Hobbs (1852–1923) established a Homestead principle, homestead and named the settlement. In 1910, the Hobbs post office opened, with James Hobbs as the first postmaster. By 1911, there were about 25 landowners in Hobbs.[ The small, isolated settlement expanded rapidly following the discovery of oil by the Midwest Oil Company in 1927. A refinery was built the following year, and in 1929, the town of Hobbs was officially incorporated. At the peak of this oil boom, over 12,000 people lived in Hobbs. When the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression hit, oil prices dropped and the population fell to only about 3,000 i ...
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Hobbs Army Airfield
Hobbs Army Airfield was an airfield used during World War II by the United States Army Air Forces Air Training Command as part of the Western Flight Training Center. It is located in the vicinity of Hobbs, New Mexico. History On 18 December 1941, eleven days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Maj. John Armstrong, commander of Roswell Army Airfield, New Mexico, visited Hobbs to conduct a preliminary investigation of potential military sites and discuss the prospects with local political and business leaders. Other military representatives soon followed, including those of the Army Corps of Engineers who would be involved in construction. The Army Air Force decided to use the Hobbs location in February 1942 and began the planning of the base and shipment of materials, but a public announcement was not made until 7 April. In a lease agreement with the city of Hobbs, signed on 4 February 1942, the city was responsible for acquiring "either through voluntary purchase or condem ...
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Fort Sumner Municipal Airport
Fort Sumner Municipal Airport is a village owned, public use airport located two nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...s (4 kilometre, km) northeast of the central business district of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, Fort Sumner, a village in De Baca County, New Mexico, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which FAA airport categories, categorized it as a ''general aviation'' airport. History The airfield's origins date to the 1920s when the Transcontinental Air Transport airline built an airfield in Fort Sumner as part of its coast-to-coast air passenger network, but the site was abandoned when the airline's ambitious plans collapsed in the Great Depression. The airfield was reopened in F ...
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Fort Sumner, New Mexico
Fort Sumner is a village in and the county seat of De Baca County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,031 at the 2010 U.S. Census, down from the figure of 1,249 recorded in 2000. Fort Sumner is the spring and fall home of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, and is home to the burial site of famed outlaw of the American West, Billy the Kid, who was shot and killed there in 1881. History Named after former New Mexico Territory military governor Edwin Vose Sumner, U.S. Fort Sumner was a military fort charged with the internment of nearby Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863 to 1868. The federal government closed the fort in 1868 and sold its buildings to Lucien Maxwell, a prominent New Mexico landowner, in 1870. In the latter 1870s Maxwell's son Pete befriended legendary outlaw Billy the Kid, and it was in his house that Billy was killed by Pat Garrett. Billy the Kid is buried in the old military cemetery in Fort Sumner, as is Lucien Maxwell. I ...
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Fort Sumner Army Airfield
Fort Sumner Municipal Airport is a village owned, public use airport located two nautical miles (4  km) northeast of the central business district of Fort Sumner, a village in De Baca County, New Mexico, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''general aviation'' airport. History The airfield's origins date to the 1920s when the Transcontinental Air Transport airline built an airfield in Fort Sumner as part of its coast-to-coast air passenger network, but the site was abandoned when the airline's ambitious plans collapsed in the Great Depression. The airfield was reopened in February 1941, and was rebuilt in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces as a World War II training airfield. It was assigned to the AAF Flying Training Command West Coast Training Center and was known as Fort Sumner Army Air Field. The flying cadets at the airfield were trained in advanced twin engine aircra ...
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Deming Municipal Airport
Deming Municipal Airport is two miles southeast of Deming, in Luna County, New Mexico, United States. Facilities The airport covers at an elevation of 4,314 feet (1,315 m). It has two asphalt runways: 8/26 is 6,627 by 75 feet (2,020 x 23 m) and 4/22 is 5,675 by 60 feet (1,730 x 18 m). In the year ending April 13, 2008 the airport had 28,655 aircraft operations, average 78 per day: 65% general aviation, 32% military and 3% air taxi. 17 aircraft were then based at this airport: 94% single-engine and 6% multi-engine. World War II The airfield was activated on 15 November 1942. It conducted bombardier training for USAAF Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Command). The first class of bombardiers graduated on 6 March. In the next three years an estimated 12,000 cadets passed through the Deming school. The bombardier trainer used was the Beech AT-11 Kansan. The airfield was assigned to Second Air Force 16th Bombardment Training Wing on 31 December 1944. It conducte ...
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