Gary Air Force Base

Camp Gary Edward Gary AFB Gary AFB San Marcos AFB San Marcos AAF
Part of Air Training Command (ATC)
Located near: San Marcos, Texas
2006 USGS airphoto
Coordinates	29°53′34″N 097°51′47″W / 29.89278°N 97.86306°W / 29.89278; -97.86306
Type	Air Force Base
Site information
Controlled by	United States Air Force
Site history
Built	1943
In use	1943-1948; 1951-1963

Camp Gary (Edward Gary Air Force Base until 15 December 1956) was the United States military installation that was redeveloped into the San Marcos Municipal Airport and the Gary Job Corps Center, the largest in the nation.

San Marcos Army Air Field was a Texas World War II Army Airfield.. The facility was acquired in June 1942 by the War Department, however construction of the facility did not commence until June with site preparation work along with the construction of streets and drainage culverts. A contract for the construction work was signed for approximately Five Million dollars. The planned base consisted of administrative buildings, classrooms, barracks, hangars, mess halls and various recreation facilities. The embryonic Army Airfield received its first commander in September 1942, when Lieutenant Colonel J. B. Olson was placed in charge of the facility until it was completed.

By the end of November 1942, enough of the basic construction had taken place that the United States Flag was raised for the first time at San Marcos Army Air Field. Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Hutchinson was designated as the new Commanding Officer at that time. San Marcos Field was officially activated on December 15, 1942. Construction work continued and an administrative staff was assigned by February 1943. The first class of students was formed at the field in late February, and a new class was assigned to the school in three-week intervals. Construction of the new base took about a year to complete and the first class of students for navigator training began in June 1943 and the 80th Flying Training Wing (Navigation & Glider) was activated on 25 August 1943.

The navigation school consisted of eighteen weeks and each student was instructed in four methods of navigation: radio, pilotage, dead reckoning and celestial. During the course of World War II, the navigation school trained about 10,000 students. The school was closed in September 1945 (all USAAF navigator training consolidated at Ellington Field), and the airfield closed in the end of November.

San Marcos Field was reactivated May 1946 in Army Air Forces Flying Training Command when the USAAF helicopter and liaison school transferred from Sheppard Field. The 3585th Pilot Training Wing (Liaison-Helicopter) was activated as the Operational Training Unit on 25 August 1948 until inactivated on 1 March 1949 and helicopter training moved to Waco Air Force Base (San Marcos Field was inactivate from 31 March 1949 until 15 January 51.)