Marfa Army Airfield
Marfa Army Airfield
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| Part of Army Air Force Air Training Command (AAFTC) | |
| Presidio County, near Marfa, Texas | |
2006 USGS Airphoto
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 Marfa AAF
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| Coordinates | 30°15′28.99″N 103°52′49.17″W / 30.2580528°N 103.8803250°WCoordinates: 30°15′28.99″N 103°52′49.17″W / 30.2580528°N 103.8803250°W |
| Type | Military airfield |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1942 |
| In use | 1942-1945 |
Marfa Army Airfield (or Presidio County Airport) is an abandoned airfield located in the high desert of West Texas, about 200 miles (320 km) southeast of El Paso. It is located about 4,840 ft (1,480 m) above mean sea level.
During World War II, Marfa Army Airfield was an installation of the Army Air Force Training Command West Coast Training Center.
Marfa’ s affair with the United States military actually began long before Marfa Army Airfield (AAF). In 1911, the United States Army stationed cavalry units at what they eventually named Camp Marfa to patrol the Rio Grande because of the turbulent Mexican Revolution. The camp remained on a permanent basis and was renamed Fort D. A. Russell in 1930, but closed, presumably permanently, in 1933. Only two years later, however, the fort reopened as an army officer training school. Fort D. A. Russell remained active until 23 October 1945.
Planning for the construction of Marfa AAF began in March 1942, when the War Department selected the Marfa, Texas area as a site for training United States Army Air Corps advanced twin-engine pilots. The Southern Pacific Railroad tracks ran parallel to Route 90 at this area, and the highway and railroad provided excellent logistics support for the new airfield. McGough Brothers of Houston was the general contractor for the facility. Marfa and nearby Alpine each voted $10,000 in bonds to buy the land for the airfield, 2,750 acres (11.1 km2), from T. G. Hendrick of Abilene at $6.50 an acre. The towns, in turn, leased the property to the War Department for 25 years at one dollar a year. A federal court directed C. T. Mitchell, Mrs. Bertha Holmes, the John A. Lawrence estate, and the Gage estate to deliver 1,809 acres (7.32 km2) for four auxiliary landing fields.
Construction began in June 1942, and enough construction was finished for the first cadets to arrive on 5 December 1942. As built during the war, the airfield at Marfa consisted of a total of six asphalt runways (up to 7,500 ft long),with an extensive network of taxiways and ramps. Adjacent to the airfield to the north was an extensive street grid, with a large number of buildings (eventually totaling nearly 250 buildings), including a hospital, barracks, chapel, theater, mess halls, control tower, and hangars.
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