Terrell Municipal Airport is a public access airport located within the city limits of

Terrell, Texas Terrell is a city in Kaufman County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 17,465. Terrell is located about east of Dallas. History Terrell developed as a railroad town, beginning in 1873 with construction here ...

, 1 mile SE of central Terrell. The airport has services for commercial and

private aviation Private aviation is the part of civil aviation that does not include flying for hire, as opposed to commercial aviation. Definition Private aviation and commercial aviation are not rigorously defined. In general, private aviation is regarded a ...

. Aircraft operations, including local general aviation, transient general aviation, and air taxi, average 70 per day. The Airport Industrial Park is adjacent to the field. It is owned and operated by the city of Terrell.

History

The airport, actually only a grass field, was first used by a local flying club beginning in the fall of 1940. In June 1941, the field was leased to Major William Long of Dallas, a civilian flight school operator, to be the home of the new No. 1 British Flying Training School, the first of seven British contract flight schools in the United States. This training was part of

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

aid where

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

flying cadets were provided a 20-week flying course of 150 flight hours, taught by civilian instructors under the supervision of a Royal Air Force and civilian staff. Toward the end of the war the course had grown to a 32-week course of 220 hours. The new school, known as the Terrell Aviation School, offered flight training from primary through advanced instruction at the field. The school initially used the Stearman PT-18 primary trainer, the Vultee BT-13 basic trainer, and the AT-6 advanced trainer. After November 1943 the BT-13 was removed and students transitioned from the Stearman directly to the AT-6. From November 1942 until June 1944, small numbers of American Army Air Forces flight cadets trained alongside the RAF students. During 1943 the school was expanded from 200 students to 300 students and two 3,000' asphalt hard surface runways were constructed by the Defense Plant Corporation (an agency of the US Government which had assumed ownership of the physical assets of all civilian flight schools in the United States). Runway 17/35 was extended to 5000' after the war. One of the RAF pilots trained at Terrell was actor

Robert Hardy Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy (29 October 1925 – 3 August 2017) was an English actor who had a long career in theatre, film and television. He began his career as a classical actor and later earned widespread recognition for roles such as Sieg ...

. Another of the RAF trainees was

Arthur Louis Aaron Arthur Louis Aaron VC, DFM (5 March 1922 – 13 August 1943) was a Royal Air Force pilot and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealt ...

, who later won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

pilot training at the airfield ended in early September 1945 and with the end of World War II the airfield was determined to be excess by the military and turned over to the local government for civil use.

References

Killebrew, Tom. The Royal Air Force in Texas. University of North Texas Press, 2003. * Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History's Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
AirNav.Com - Terrell Municipal Airport (KTRL)
* Thole, Lou (1999), Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub,

External links

* * {{Authority control 1941 establishments in Texas Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Texas USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields Airports in Texas Transportation in Kaufman County, Texas Airports established in 1941 USAAF Central Flying Training Command American Theater of World War II

History

See also

References

External links