San Angelo Army Air Field

San Angelo Army Airfield is an inactive United States Air Force base, about 8 miles south-southwest of San Angelo, Texas. It was active during World War II as a training airfield. It was closed on 30 November 1945.

History

Initially built as "Carr Field" Municipal Airport, the original airport was on a 670-acre site being developed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It had two 4,500-ft runways with a third main of about 6,200 ft. Construction was well underway by the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, after which discussions were held to convert Carr Field to an Army Air corps base.

The primary mission of the field was to train bombardiers for B-25 Mitchell, B-26 Marauder medium, B-17 Flying Fortress, and B-24 Liberator heavy bombers, and later B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombers for combat missions during World War II. San Angelo AAF was one of the "West Texas Bombardier Quadrangle" schools of the Army Air Forces Training Command. The other bases in the quad were Midland Army Airfield, Childress Army Airfield, and Big Spring Army Airfield.

Army personnel arrived in San Angelo in May 1942 and the construction of the civil airport was taken over by military construction crews in May 1942. Additional land was acquired and the military airfield eventually totaled almost 1,700 acres in size.

The base was activated on 1 June 1942 and jurisdiction was transferred to the Army Air Forces Training Command. However, the base was far from ready to perform any type of military training. Runway construction consisted of expanding the former civil airport into a four-asphalt-runway configuration along with seven hangars. In addition, the building of a large support base was carried out with barracks, various administrative buildings, maintenance shops, and hangars. The station facility consisted of a large number of buildings based on standardized plans and architectural drawings, with the buildings designed to be the "cheapest, temporary character with structural stability only sufficient to meet the needs of the service which the structure is intended to fulfill during the period of its contemplated war use" was underway. To conserve critical materials, most facilities were constructed of wood, concrete, brick, gypsum board, and concrete asbestos. Metal was sparsely used. The station was designed to be nearly self-sufficient, with not only hangars, but also barracks, warehouses, hospitals, dental clinics, dining halls, and maintenance shops were needed. There were libraries, social clubs for officers and enlisted men, and stores to buy living necessities. Over 250 buildings, together with complete water, sewer, electric, and gas utilities, the airfield served over 4,000 military personnel.

It was not until 8 January 1943 that Training Command activated the 34th Flying Training Wing (Bombardier and Specialized Twin- and Four-Engine) at the base, its mission being the training of bombardiers and specialized pilot two- and four-engine flying training. The 34th was one of two dedicated bombardier training wings, the other being the 38th at Williams Field, Arizona (later moved to Kirtland Field, New Mexico). Schools were also established at seven other locations in Central and Western Flying Training Commands (Victorville AAF, California; Carlsbad AAF, Deming AAF, and Roswell AAF, New Mexico; and Childress AAF, Midland AAF, and Big Spring AAF, Texas).

Operations

The first training class (42-17) began in September 1942 when the field was about 90% complete. Flying cadets came from phase one flight schools at Ellington Field, Texas, and Santa Anna Army Airbase, California. The primary twin-engine trainer was the Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan