Foster Air Force Base
| Foster Air Force Base Foster Field  |
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| Part of Tactical Air Command | |
| Victoria County, near Victoria, Texas | |
2006 USGS airphoto
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 Foster AFB
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| Coordinates | 28°51′09″N 96°55′07″W / 28.85250°N 96.91861°WCoordinates: 28°51′09″N 96°55′07″W / 28.85250°N 96.91861°W |
| Type | Air Force Base |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1941 |
| In use | 1941-1945; 1953-1959 |
Foster Air Force Base (1941–1945, 1952–1959) is a former United States Air Force base, located approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) east-northeast of Victoria, Texas. A flying training airfield during World War II, it was part of Tactical Air Command during the Cold War as a tactical fighter and command base.
Named in memory of Lt. Arthur L. Foster (25 November 1888 - 10 February 1925), a native of Georgetown, Texas, and a United States Army Air Corps instructor killed in a crash at Brooks Field, Texas in 1925. Foster's son received his training and commission at the base in the spring of 1942.
Foster Air Force Base was established as an advanced single-engine flying school for fighter pilots six miles (10 km) northeast of Victoria, Texas, in the spring of 1941. A local funding campaign led by E. J. Dysart the previous spring had raised some $17,000 to locate the base at Victoria on a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) site as an economic asset. Subsequent government construction cost more than $4 million. Leases were formally approved by the War Department on 4 March 1941, with construction beginning on 14 April 1941 by American-Friedman-Bitulithic Associates.
The airfield was activated on 15 May 1941 by the Gulf Coast Air Corps Training Center. The mission of the new airfield was the training of aviation cadets in the advanced phase of flying training. Foster was assigned to the Air Corps Advanced Flying School (Single Engine). In the advanced phase, the cadets flew advanced trainers, fighters and fighter-bombers. Pilot wings were awarded upon graduation and were sent on to group combat training. Graduates were usually graded as Flight Officers (Warrant Officers); cadets who graduated at the top of their class were graded as Second Lieutenants.
The initial class of cadets arrived in September 1941 and served under Lt. Col. Warren R. Carter, the first commander. WACs began to arrive the following May. Cadets used North American AT-6 Texan trainers and Curtis P-40 Warhawk fighters to drill in aerial gunnery, though actual practice took place on ranges located on Matagorda Island and Matagorda Peninsula. In addition to these bombing ranges on Matagorda, at least ten auxiliary landing fields and a sub-base (Aloe AAF, built in 1943 5 miles southwest of Victoria) was controlled by Foster for emergency landings and aircraft overflow.
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