Moore Air Base is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

facility located northwest of

Mission, Texas Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, in the US state of Texas, United States. The population was 85,778 at the 2020 census and an estimated 86,635 in 2022. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan ...

. It was deactivated on 1 February 1961. The installation was sold to private concerns and partially transferred to the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

on 15 July 1963.

History

World War II

Moore Field was opened on 20 September 1941 as an

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 Cor ...

single-engined aircraft training school. It was named for Second Lt. Frank Murchison Moore, on 22 November. Moore was a native of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, who was killed on 2 September 1918, during the Battle of Fismes and Fismette in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The airfield was the home of the 503d, 504th, and 506th school squadrons, Army Air Forces Pilot School (Advanced Single Engine), the flying training units. The flying school was redesignated as the 2d Training Group in 1943. The facility conducted advanced pilot training of 6,000 pilots using BT-13, PT-19, AT-6, P-36, and P-43 aircraft. The school was reorganized as the 2529th Army Air Force Base Unit (Pilot School, Advanced Single Engine) on 1 April 1944. The school and airfield were closed on 31 October 1945.

Postwar use

In 1950, part of the field was operating as the Weaver H. Baker Memorial Sanatorium, and part was jointly operated by Mission,

McAllen McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Hidalgo County. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, across ...

, and Edinburg as Tri-Cities Municipal Airport.

Contract flying base

In June 1954, after the closing of the sanatorium and as part of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

military expansion by the United States, the

announced that Moore Field would be reactivated as a contract pilot training school under the

Air Training Command The 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 ...

, which had planned to reopen the base in 1954, but delayed the reopening 12 months due to a freeze in military construction budgets. The 3301st Pilot Training Group (Contract Primary) was reassigned to Moore from Columbus AFB, Mississippi, on 1 April 1955. Training was conducted by California Eastern Airways Incorporated, using T-28s and T-34s. In August 1959, Moore began using jet-powered T-37s in place of the T-28s. With the upgrade to jet trainers, the contractor at the base was changed to Beiser Aviation Corporation. In 1960, plans were made by Air Training Command to redesign the flight training program, and consolidate its flight schools. As a result of the Consolidated Pilot Training (CPT) program, contractor flying schools were planned to be phased out. All contract primary training ended at Moore in December, but several ground training classes continued at the base until 1 February 1961, when the 3301st was inactivated. Some 4,000 Air Force pilots received their primary flight training and academic instruction by the 3301st at Moore Air Force Base.

Closure and current use

Although inactivated, Moore Air Force Base remained in Air Force hands until 15 July 1963, when it was finally closed. Part of the installation was sold to private entities, and the rest was transferred to the

(USDA). Under control of the USDA, it was used as part of the program to eradicate the screwworm fly. It continues to be known as Moore Air Force Base under this new mission. In 1977, scientists of the Screwworm Research Unit relocated from the laboratory at Moore Air Force Base to the sterile fly production facility near Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico. on June 18, 2025, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the base would be once again used as a location for a U.S.-based sterile-fly dispersal facility as a response to the 2025 resurgence of the screwworm fly in southern Mexico.US government to build $8.5M fly-breeding facility to combat cattle parasite threat. Fox News. www.foxnews.com/us/us-government-build-8-5m-fly-breeding-facility-combat-cattle-parasite-threat Today, Moore Field Airport (FAA Identifier: 7TE7) is still controlled by the USDA as a private airport. It is gated and not open to the public. The buildings on the flightline area are being used and in good condition. The cantonment area is overgrown and abandoned, with remainders of streets in various states of deterioration, and the World War II-era water tower still is standing and being maintained. A few abandoned buildings can be seen in the containment area, inaccessible and surrounded by vegetation. All three runways are in excellent condition, as is the ramp area, with eight aircraft assigned to the field. Permission is required prior to landing aircraft at the facility.

References

External links

* Lucy H. Wallace, "Moore Air Force Base", (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qbm03), accessed June 22, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
History of USDA-ARS Screwworm Research and the USDA-ARS Screwworm Research Unit
{{USAAF Training Bases World War II Airports established in 1941 Installations of the United States Air Force in Texas Military installations closed in the 1960s Airports in Texas Buildings and structures in Hidalgo County, Texas