Camp Taliaferro
| Camp Taliaferro | |
|---|---|
| Fort Worth, Texas | |
Locations of the Camp Taliaferro training fields around Fort Worth, Texas
|
|
| Coordinates |
32°54′44″N 97°24′05″W / 32.91222°N 97.40139°W Hicks Field #1 32°40′41″N 97°27′36″W / 32.67806°N 97.46000°W Benbrook Field #2 32°37′26″N 97°18′24″W / 32.62389°N 97.30667°W Barron Field #3 |
| Type | Pilot training complex |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
 Royal Flying Corps (1917) Air Service, United States Army (1918-1919) |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1918 |
| In use | 1918–1921 |
| Battles/wars |
 World War I |
| Garrison information | |
| Garrison | Training Section, Air Service |
Camp Taliaferro was a World War I flight-training center run under the direction of the Air Service, United States Army in the Fort Worth, Texas, area. Camp Taliaferro had an administration center near what is now the Will Rogers Memorial Center complex in Fort Worth's cultural area near University Drive and W Lancaster Avenue.
After the United States' entry into World War I in April 1917, General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing invited the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) to establish training fields in the southern United States where the warmer weather would be more conducive for flying year-round. In June, the War Department inspected six sites around Fort Worth which had been offered by the Chamber of Commerce and by July, RFC representatives from Canada inspected five potential sites in Texas and Louisiana for use during the winter.
After looking at sites in Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, Wichita Falls, and Midland, in August the War Department signed leases with the RFC on three sites around Fort Worth. Known as the Flying Triangle, these sites were Hicks Field (#1), Barron Field (#2), and Benbrook Field (#3) based on their locations; and construction began in late August and early September.
The Canadians named the training complex Camp Taliaferro after 1st Lieutenant Walter R. Taliaferro, a U.S. Army aviator. Taliaferro was killed in an accident at Rockwell Field, California, on 11 October 1915. The Camp Taliaferro offices for the Air Service and RFC Canada were initially located in the basement of the Chamber of Commerce building in Fort Worth to handle pay, purchasing, and administrative services for their own personnel assigned at the three fields.
Work on constructing the airfield had to be done quickly. Cattle were moved out, and construction crews worked feverishly at the site. US Air Service squadrons which had been training in Canada began arriving in October 1917, and the RFC squadrons began to arrive in early November.
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