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Pecos Municipal Airport is a city-owned airport two miles southwest of Pecos, in Reeves County, Texas.〔 The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013 categorized it as a ''general aviation'' airport.〔(National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems ) for 2009–2013: (Appendix A: Part 5 (PDF, 1.18 MB) ). Federal Aviation Administration. Updated 15 October 2008.〕 == History == The airport opened as Pecos Airport on three miles (5 km) south and slightly west of Pecos. Proceeds of a $10,000 bond issue authorized in an election on September 14, 1940, were used for land purchase. The site was cleared, fenced, and graded under a WPA contract. The attack on Pearl Harbor galvanized the Army Air Force into launching a training program, first for 50,000 and then for 70,000 pilots, and Pecos was chosen as one of five new training fields. The United States Army Air Forces used Pecos Airport as a training airfield by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, West Coast Training Center (later the Western Flying Training Command). It was named Pecos Army Airfield. Pecos Army Air Field was activated on 11 July 1942 while still under construction. Because more land was required for the long runways necessary for novice pilots, the town council promptly called another bond election to authorize an additional $50,000. The field's size was increased to , accommodating one runway long and two others of each. Following the formal announcement of a military base on March 25, 1942, construction contracts were let in May. Both the construction and the early flying phases of the base were handicapped by wind-whipped dust until late 1943, when extensive palliation efforts relieved the situation. The first commander, Col. Harry C. Wisehart, arrived on June 28, 1942, as project officer. The first military units to arrive were the 744th School Squadron (100 men) and the 341st Air Base Squadron (18 men). A week later five more school squadrons, each with 80 men, arrived from Lemoore Army Air Field, California, as the vanguard of the eventual population of 4,000. It first was used as a basic pilot school. The field was redesignated an advanced pilot school (twin-engine) on December 29, 1943, and had four auxiliary fields. At its peak, on April 30, 1944, the field numbered 4,304 people, including 482 officers, 972 cadets and student officers, 2,218 enlisted personnel (including 200 WACs), and 604 civilian employees, of which 25 were WASPs. This population, nearly as large as that of Pecos itself, placed a great strain on the town's resources. PAAF consisted chiefly of "theater of operations" type buildings-cheap, rapidly constructed, single-story structures covered with black tarpaper. It also had two large hangars, extensive maintenance facilities, and barely adequate eating and living quarters. Off-base housing in Pecos and neighboring towns was very limited, for an even larger airfield, Pyote,qv had been built twenty miles (32 km) east. PAAF eventually set up dormitories and small apartments to house civilian employees and some military families on base. The first Pecos class, designated 43-A, graduated 133 cadets and student officers after nine weeks of combined ground school and flight training. In all, PAAF produced seventeen classes of basic pilots at roughly one-month intervals, the classes varying from ninety to 528 men. With an elimination rate ranging from 3 percent to 29 percent per class, a total of 3,367 finished the course. As basic pilot training ended on January 7, 1944, no time was lost converting to advanced pilot training by the newly redesignated 3027th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Advanced 2-Engine). Col. Olin C. Bushey relieved Colonel Wisehart as commander on August 28, 1943, and was succeeded in turn by colonels Harry B. Fisher (August 19, 1944) and Harold D. Smith (March 3, 1945). Advanced classes ranged in size from 245 to 526, and fewer students were washed out than in basic training. When the last advanced class at PAAF, 45-B, received silver wings and commissions as second lieutenants or appointments as flight officers on April 15, 1945, the active mission of the field ended. Twelve classes had by then produced 4,215 pilots. The airfield was placed on "temporary standby" status on May 1, 1945, and was never again an active military installation. Although the city hoped for continuing federal use for the field, it was closed on May 12, 1945 and deactivated on August 30. A year later it returned to municipal control. Trans-Texas airline flights ended in 1963. Over the years part of the field was sold off, and Interstate Highway 20 cut through it. Sold portions were used for the site of a hospital, zoo, and trailer park. The Pecos Municipal Airport was on the remaining airfield property, but most of the original facilities were torn down. The last hangar came down about 1986, and the last barracks were torn down about 1987. In the 1990s the airport still used four runways that had been maintained since the 1940s. An original ramp and rotating beacon were still in use. The West of the Pecos Museum in Pecos maintained a permanent exhibit at Pecos Army Air Field. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pecos Municipal Airport」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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