Gary Air Force Base
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Camp Gary (Edward Gary Air Force Base until 15 December 1956) was the United States
military installation A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...
that was redeveloped into the
San Marcos Municipal Airport San Marcos Regional Airport is a public use airport located in Caldwell County, Texas, United States. It is four nautical miles (7 km) east of the central business district of San Marcos, a city that is mostly in Hays County. The airport ...
and th
Gary Job Corps Center
the largest in the nation.


San Marcos Army Air Field

San Marcos Army Air Field was a Texas World War II Army airfield. The facility was acquired in June 1942 by the War Department, and site preparation commenced, along with the construction of streets and drainage culverts. The construction cost was about five million dollars. The planned base consisted of administrative buildings, classrooms, barracks, hangars, mess halls, and various recreation facilities. The embryonic army airfield received its first commander in September 1942, when Lieutenant Colonel J. B. Olson was placed in charge of the facility until it was completed.Army Air Forces Navigation School San Marcos AAF August 1943 classbook, history section
/ref> By the end of November 1942, enough of the basic construction had taken place that the U.S. flag was raised for the first time over the airfield. Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Hutchinson was designated as the new commanding officer at that time. San Marcos Field was officially activated on December 15, 1942. Construction work continued and an administrative staff was assigned by February 1943. The first class of students was formed at the field in late February, and new classes started the school every three weeks thereafter. Construction of the new base took about a year to complete, and the first class of students for navigator training began in June 1943. The
80th Flying Training Wing The 80th Flying Training Wing is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. The 80th FTW is home of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) Program. ENJJPT, established in the spi ...
(Navigation & Glider) was activated on 25 August 1943. https://archive.org/download/historyofaireduc00gop/historyofaireduc00gop.pdf The navigation school consisted of eighteen weeks, and each student was instructed in four methods of navigation:
radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
,
pilotage Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...
,
dead reckoning In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating current position of some moving object by using a previously determined position, or fix, and then incorporating estimates of speed, heading direction, and course over elapsed time. ...
and
celestial Celestial may refer to: Science * Objects or events seen in the sky and the following astronomical terms: ** Astronomical object, a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe ** Celes ...
. During the course of World War II, the navigation school trained about 10,000 students. The school was closed in September 1945 when all USAAF navigator training was consolidated at
Ellington Field Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegis ...
near
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
; the San Marcos airfield closed at the end of November. San Marcos Field was reactivated May 1946 by
Army Air Forces Flying Training Command An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
when the USAAF helicopter and liaison school was transferred there from
Sheppard Field Sheppard Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located north of the central business district of Wichita Falls, in Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the largest training base and most diversified in Air Educati ...
, near
Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...
. The 3585th Pilot Training Wing (Liaison-Helicopter) was activated as the Operational Training Unit on 25 August 1948 until inactivated on 1 March 1949, and helicopter training moved to
Waco Air Force Base Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...
. San Marcos Field was inactive from 31 March 1949 until 15 January 1951.


San Marcos Air Force Base

San Marcos Air Force Base was designated on 1 February 1951 under
Air Training Command Air Training Command (ATC) is a former United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command designation. It was headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, but was initially formed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It was re-designated as Ai ...
when the 3585th Pilot Training Wing and 3586th Tech Tng Sq (Liaison-Helicopter) reactivated for the return of helicopter and liaison flight training (the area had terrain similar to that of Korea.) Helicopter and Liaison mechanics' training also moved to the base from Sheppard AFB, and San Marcos had 5000 assigned and was the largest helicopter and Liaison training facility in the United States.


Edward Gary Air Force Base

Gary Air Force Base was named on 10 May 1953 for Lieutenant Arthur Edward Gary, the first
Hays County, Texas Hays County is located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. Hays County is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, its official population had reached 241,067. The county seat is San Marcos. Ha ...
, soldier killed in World War II—and the name was expanded to Edward Gary Air Force Base on 1 September 1955. USAF flying training ended on 14 December 1956. Camp Gary was the installation name after its transfer to the Department of the Army on 15 December 1956. A civilian contractor trained pilots for fixed wing aircraft until the summer of 1959, and the base was essentially closed in 1963. On 20 November 1964, President Johnson announced that the abandoned Camp Gary would be used as a
Job Corps Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young men and women ages 16 to 24. Mission and purpose Job Corps' mission is to help young people ages 16 throug ...
facility.


References

* Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC. * Thole, Lou (1999), ''Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now'' – Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub, {{Portal bar, Aviation, World War II 1942 establishments in Texas Closed installations of the United States Army Buildings and structures in Caldwell County, Texas 1963 disestablishments in Texas Military installations closed in 1963