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Chapter 6 World War II: Air Power at Fort Worth Army Air Field Located on the eastern edge of the flat, level plains of West Texas, Fort Worth’s destiny lay with air power. A pilot train­ ing center at an airfield adjacent to the “bomber plant” of World War II would contribute to that prominence. Pioneers in aviation also paved the way. An army officer who had served his country since the Spanish-American War in 1898, William “Billy” Mitchell, became the first American to emphasize the importance aviation would have in future military conflicts. He became a major in the Aviation Section of the U.S. Signal Corps and learned to appreciate the value of air power during World War I. Mitchell began an outspoken campaign that resulted in a court-martial in 1925 after he accused the military of “incompetency, criminal negligence, and almost treasonable administration of the national defense” after the crash of the Navy dirigible Shenandoah. The charges against him alleged that he had made statements “to the prejudice of good order and military discipline.” A military tribunal found Mitchell guilty on December 17, 1925, and suspended him from his pay and rank for five years. The embittered Mitchell resigned, and as a civilian continued his fight for an increased emphasis on air power in the nation’s military. He continuously argued the air power case for a Department of Defense with equal co-branches: army, navy, and air force. He wanted a separate air force to operate independently of the army.1 A separate air force was still more than seven years away, however, when Brigadier General Jacob E. Fickel visited Fort Worth in May 1940 with plans to inspect sites appropriate for locating a training base for army pilots . General Fickel was familiar with Fort Worth because twenty-two years earlier as a lieutenant colonel he had commanded Carruthers Field in Benbrook during World War I. What had been the Army Air Service in World War I had changed to the U.S. Army Air Corps on July 2, 1926. City fathers arsenal of defense 94 were excited at the prospect of an air base as well as a manufacturing plant.2 A member of the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) in Fort Worth filed an application with the War Department in 1940, asking for a primary training base for the Army Air Corps. Others in Fort Worth agreed. San Antonio already had become an important center for aviation training at its Randolph and Kelly Fields, but a base in Fort Worth would give early training for “fledgling pilots” and prepare them for entrance into Randolph or Kelly.3 The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce worked to persuade the U.S. military to select a Fort Worth site for a military base at the same time they courted the airplane factory. Once Fleet and Consolidated agreed to come, organizers went ahead and planned an industrial airport next to the plant. Newspaper reports at first referred to the airfield as “the proposed Lake Worth bomber plant airport.” While still in its planning stages some accounts called it Lake Worth Industrial Airport. Then local promoters learned on March 21, 1941, that Consolidated officials had suggested to the Army Air Corps that they locate a heavy bombardment group on the airport adjacent to the plant. The vice president of Consolidated, C. A. Van Dusen, said “a heavy bombardment group operated adjacent to a factory that built heavy bombers would enable the manufacturer to learn things to contribute to improvement of the type [of aircraft].” In addition, he explained that personnel at the Air Corps base could benefit by being located where their planes were assembled. William Holden, executive vice president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, stayed in contact with Van Dusen after January when Consolidated made its request.4 City officials in the public works department faced bureaucratic red tape as they forwarded their plans to the state office of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) in San Antonio. They learned that the CAA must issue a “certificate of necessity and convenience” before the WPA could approve the airport project. They filed plans for concrete runways 7,000 feet long and 150 feet wide. The WPA officials told them to make them 5,000 feet long and 75 wide with asphalt. Fort Worth officials wanted to use the larger dimensions to please the Army Air Corps and help attract the military base. Local officials originally promised...

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