Arsenal of Defense: Fort Worth's Miltary Legacy

Foreword

Foreword very city has a story . . . Fort Worth has a legend. For more than 150 years, this city has made a name for itself. And it represents different things for different people. For most, Fort Worth means the Old West, cattle drives and famous cowboys. For some, Fort Worth is commerce, oil, and money. For others, Fort Worth is art, culture, museums, and Van Cliburn. In fact, Fort Worth is all of that . . . and more. Twenty years ago when I first entered public office, I began to realize that perhaps nothing defines Fort Worth more than the one industry that has done so much to create jobs and growth in the city for decades: the military. As a new Mayor in 1991, I found myself faced with a crisis: Congress was threatening to close down the historic Carswell Air Force Base on the west side of town. The community was outraged; the economy was threatened; the future was endangered. We launched a campaign to save our base. And in the process of telling the story about Carswell, I learned how deep the military’s roots run in Fort Worth. Most people credit Ripley Arnold for beginning the relationship. Major Arnold was a rising star in the Army and hero of the Mexican War. Following the war he had been given command of Company F of the Second Dragoons and had orders to create a military installation “at or near the confluence of the West Fork and the Clear Fork of the Trinity River.” On June 6, 1849, he officially established Camp Worth, named in honor of his former commander in the Mexican War. Eventually, the installation’s name was changed to Fort Worth. It was the beginning of a long love affair between the military and this city that continues to this day. Throughout the last 150 years, the relationship has evolved and changed. But one constant has always defined it: Fort Worth and the military are good for each other. E xii arsenal of defense Now, for the first time, all this rich history has been researched and presented in J’Nell Pate’s beautiful new book, “Arsenal of Defense: Fort Worth’s Military Legacy.” The book chronicles the long, enduring relationship between the Armed Forces and Fort Worth. Pate traces the history back to even before Major Arnold. General Edward Tarrant arrived in the area in 1841. But it was Major Arnold who returned years later and chose a site on the bluff overlooking the Clear and West forks as the site of the first military installation. Thus, it can be said that the military existed even before the city did. In the following years the city and the military grew together. In the early twentieth century, America found itself involved in what was called the “Great War.” And Fort Worth was right in the middle of it. First, pilots were trained at three airfields in the area. Then, the War Department opened a new base on the west side and named it after Texas Revolutionary War hero, Jim Bowie. On April 11, 1918, Camp Bowie sent the first 27,000 of its troops for France. Years later, with World War II looming, Fort Worth leaders realized that military power was shifting from the ground to the air. They secured a B-24 production plant on the shores of Lake Worth. By 1943 with the war raging across the world, more than 200 planes were produced each month by the Fort Worth facility. The plant would change owners several times: from Consolidated Aircraft to Consolidated Vultee to Convair to General Dynamics to Lockeed Martin. No matter who has owned it, the plant has produced the best fighter planes in the world for sixty years. Following the war, Fort Worth continued to be a home for other types of military aircraft production. In 1951, Larry Bell moved his helicopter operation to Fort Worth where it remains. And the local air field got a new name and a new mission. The re-christened Carswell Air Force Base became part of the new Strategic Air Command and was home to B-58s, F-111s and F-16s. This was the same Carswell Air Force Base that I found myself fighting to save in the 1990s. And we did save it—by changing it. The Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base is now a model for how to integrate all branches of the military and the reserves in a way that is...