Matagorda Peninsula Army Airfield is a closed military airfield, located on

Matagorda Island Matagorda Island (), ''Spanish for'' "thick brush," is a 38-mile (61 km) long barrier island on the Texas Gulf coast, located approximately south of Port O'Connor, in the southernmost part of Calhoun County. The traditional homeland of ...

, Texas. It was used 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 ...

as a training airfield by the 77th Flying Training Wing, Army Air Forces Central Flying Training Command.

History

World War II

The airfield was built during 1942 by the Army Air Corps, primarily to support the

Matagorda Bombing Range Matagorda Island Air Force Base () is a closed military airfield on the north end of Matagorda Island, northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas. It was closed by the United States Air Force in 1975. History World War II The original airfield was buil ...

. In addition it was also developed as a training school by

Army Air Forces Training Command The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corp ...

. Matagorda AAF was the home of the AAF Pilot School (Advanced Single Engine), and also conducted a Single-Engine Pilot Transition school. The major military units assigned were the 62d Single Engine Flying Training Group and 79th Bombardier Training Group.77th Flying Training Wing, lineage and history document Air Force Historical Agency, Maxwell AFB, Alabama Initially built with three runways, during the war two additional runways were added to accommodate the large number of landings and takeoffs. Aircraft assigned to the base were North American AT-6 Texans, Curtiss

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, Republic

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

s, and North American

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

s. A series of curved roads on the east side of the parking ramp had dozens of buildings. After the war ended, the training school was inactivated and the facility was closed in November 1945.

Civil use

After the war ended, the airfield was transferred to civil control, and was known as Matagorda Peninsula Airport. In the late 1940s, the

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

considered Matagorda Island as a rocket launch site, however Cape Canaveral, Florida was chosen instead. In the 1980s, a private firm, Space Services, Inc. of America (SSIA), established a rocket launch facility on the island for commercial rockets with the airport, known as Pierce Field, providing aircraft access. However SSIA only ever conducted two rocket tests at this facility. The first was of their Percheron rocket which exploded on the pad during an engine test firing on 5th August 1981, and then a single successful launch of their Conestoga I on 9th September 1982, which became the first privately funded rocket to reach space. The airfield remained active until about 2002 when SSIA ended its use of Matagorda Island, and the airport was closed and abandoned. Today, the airport is closed and its facilities are deteriorating. Some old rocket launch stands can be found in the area. The World War II military base was dismantled and no longer remains.

References

Notes Sources * {{USAAF Training Bases World War II Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Texas Military installations closed in 1945 1942 establishments in Texas 1945 disestablishments in Texas

History

World War II

Civil use

See also

References