Fort Stockton–Pecos County Airport is two miles NW of

Fort Stockton, Texas Fort Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Pecos County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, future Interstate 14, U.S. Highways U.S. Route 67 (Texas), 67, U.S. Route 285 (Texas), 285, and U.S. R ...

; it is owned and operated by

Pecos County, Texas Pecos County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 15,193. The county seat is Fort Stockton, Texas, Fort Stockton. The county was created in ...

History

The airport opened as Gibbs Field , or Fort Stockton Field and was used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as a training base during

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 opposin ...

. Opened on 1 June 1942 with two 2,500' turf runways. Began training United States Army Air Corps flying cadets under contract to Pacific Air School Ltd. Assigned to United States Army Air Forces Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command) as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. had two local auxiliary airfields for emergency and overflow landings. Flying training was performed with

Fairchild PT-19 The Fairchild PT-19 (company designation Fairchild M62) is an American monoplane primary trainer aircraft that served with the United States Army Air Forces, RAF and RCAF during World War II. Designed by Fairchild Aircraft, it was a contempora ...

s as the primary trainer. Also had several

PT-17 Stearman The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known ...

s and a few

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

s assigned. Inactivated on 12 March 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. Declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 30 September 1945. Eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) and became a civil airport. Airline flights (Trans-Texas DC-3s) ended in 1960.

References

* Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas * Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC.
AirNav.Com – Fort Stockton–Pecos County Airport (KFST)
* Thole, Lou (1999), ''Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now'' – Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub,

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Stockton-Pecos County Airport Airports in Texas Buildings and structures in Pecos County, Texas Fort Stockton, Texas Transportation in Pecos County, Texas Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in Texas Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Texas USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields Defunct airports in Texas

History

See also

References

External links