Pounds Army Air Field

Pounds Army Air Field
Tyler Army Air Field
Part of Third Air Force
Near Tyler, Texas
III Bomber Command Douglas A-20G Havoc 42-86657 light bomber used for group training.
Pounds Army Air Field Location of Pounds Army Air Field
Coordinates	32°21′14″N 095°24′10″W / 32.35389°N 95.40278°W / 32.35389; -95.40278Coordinates: 32°21′14″N 095°24′10″W / 32.35389°N 95.40278°W / 32.35389; -95.40278
Site information
Condition	Now: Tyler Pounds Regional Airport
Website
Site history
Built	1929 (1929) (As Civil Airport)
In use	1942-1945
Fate	Returned to civil use, 1946.
Battles/wars	World War II
Garrison information
Garrison	United States Army Air Forces
Airfield information
Runways Direction Length and surface 00/18 5,100 × 150 Ft Concrete 09/27 5,100 × 150 Ft Concrete 13/31 5,100 × 150 Ft Concrete

Pounds Army Air Field is a former United States Army Air Forces airfield, located 6 miles west of Tyler, Texas. It was established in 1942 and assigned to Third Air Force. Its mission was the training of units, crews, and support individuals prior to their deployment to the combat theaters overseas. It was closed as an active military airfield on 31 January 1945 and was subsequently turned over to local civilian authorities. Today it remains in use by the city of Tyler as Tyler Pounds Regional Airport.

Pounds Field was established by the City of Tyler in 1929 at a cost of $40,450 as a municipal airport. As part of the buildup of the Army Air Corps in 1941, the Administrator of Civil Aeronautics of the Department of Commerce, acting under the Commerce Appropriation act, entered an agreement with the city for the development of the Tyler Municipal Airport as a necessity for national defense. In exchange, the city would continue to use the airport as a civil facility. In November 1942, the Army Air Forces began the conversion of the municipal airport to a military airfield, with the construction of hangars, a large aircraft parking ramp, two hard-surfaced runways along with a station area consisting of numerous buildings and barracks to support 2,000 personnel. Initial construction was completed in April 1943. The facility, named Tyler Army Air Field was assigned to Third Air Force officially on 27 March 1943. Third Air Force assigned the facility to Barksdale Field, Louisiana, as a sub-base.

A detachment was assigned to Tyler from Barksdale to prepare the facility as an operational training field. This included erecting a control tower and also setting up facilities such as a hospital, post exchange and other support facilities. The land also required sod and shrubbery which was purchased from local sources along with service clubs for keeping up enlisted men's morale. In April transient aircraft began to land at the airfield and a transient alert detachment was established to render refueling and maintenance support.

On 8 November 1943, the facility was renamed Pounds Army Air Field in honor of Second Lieutenant Jack Windham Pounds. Lt Pounds was killed in the crash of a Boeing BT-13A Stearman (41-1249) at Lemoore Army Air Field, California on 4 March 1942. He was a flying instructor at Lemoore who was born in Tyler.