Pyote Air Force Base

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Pyote AFB, January 12, 1996

Pyote Air Force Base was a World War II airbase. It was on 2,745 acres a mile from the town of Pyote, Texas on Interstate 20, twenty miles west of Monahans and just south of U.S. Highway 80, 230 miles east of El Paso.

It was nicknamed "Rattlesnake Bomber Base" for the numerous rattlesnake dens that were uncovered during its construction

After World War II, thousands of reserve aircraft were stored there, one of which was the B-29 "Enola Gay".

Today, the West Texas State School is now situated on the site. Located on I-20 at exit 66.

1 Origins
2 World War II use
3 Postwar use
4 Closure
5 External links

[edit] Origins

Pyote Army Air Field was established as a B-17 Flying Fortress crew training base during World War II. Initially newly-established bomber groups were trained at Pyote, then it was switched to training replacement aircrew members that were deployed to combat units overseas. Initially, Pyote Army Airbase was assigned to Fourth Air Force, then in April 1944 to USAAF Continental Air Forces training command.

Two main runways, each about 8,000 feet long and 150 feet wide, and a taxiway formed a triangle pattern on the flat, arid land. Construction of the facilities, including five large hangars, shops, warehouses and living quarters, began on 5 September 1942.

[edit] World War II use

The first troops were assigned within a month, well before the base was completed. Troops and civilian technicians poured in, and the population of the base grew steadily to a peak of over 6,500 in October 1944.

Within four months of its opening, the base had become the largest bomber installation in the country. Despite morale problems caused by isolation and the shortage of off-base recreation and of dependents' housing, Pyote achieved a distinguished record in molding inexperienced individuals into effective bomber crews.

After the arrival of the famed 19th Bombardment Group on January 1, 1943, and the ceremonial inauguration of its training program on January 5, 1943, Pyote rapidly turned out crews proficient in hitting targets from the B-17 Flying Fortress until the summer of 1944, when it was switched to the B-29 Superfortress.

The 19th BG was the first air force unit to bomb Japanese targets. It flew to Pyote directly from combat in the Pacific. The base was redesignated the 19th Combat Crew Training School late in 1943 and then replaced on March 30, 1944, by the 236th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School).

Known B-17 units trained at Pyote AAB were:

381st Bombardment Group (Heavy) 3 January - 5 April 1943
96th Bombardment Group (Heavy) January - March 1943

In June 1945 the base claimed records for the most B-29 training hours flown by any base in a single month (7,396), in a week (1,873) and in a day (321).

Known B-29 groups which trained at Pyote AAB were:

301st Bombardment Group (Very Heavy)
454th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy)

With the end of the war in the Pacific in August 1945, both of these groups were inactivated.

[edit] Postwar use

Control of Pyote was transferred from the Fourth Air Force to the San Antonio Air Technical Service Command on November 15, 1945, at the end of the war. The base became an aircraft-storage depot.

At its peak in 1948 the depot, which was maintained by the 4141st Army Air Forces Base Unit, housed 2,042 stored planes, mostly B-29s and B-17s, but including B-25s, A-26s, C-47s, P-63s, P-51s, AT-7s, L-5s and L-4s. Best known of all was the Enola Gay, from which the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. At Pyote, the ownership of the aircraft was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, however it was stored at the base until December 1953.

After the Korean War, it was clear that the age of the jet had arrived and made the propeller-driven aircraft stored at Pyote obsolete. All of the planes at Pyote were moved or scrapped, and most activity on the base ceased.

The Enola Gay was taken out of storage and flown to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland on December 2, 1953, for preservation at National Air and Space Museum. It was the last time the Enola Gay flew.

The airfield was closed in 1954, however the 697th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, an Air Defense Command unit, operated a radar site on the base until 1966.

[edit] Closure

Following the deactivation of the site in 1966, base housing was taken over by the West Texas Children's Home, and the land and remaining buildings reverted to the University of Texas at Austin.

At some point between 1966 and 1980, four out of the five remaining hangars were apparently removed/destroyed. At least one of them was evidently intentionally destroyed in the course of filming the 1980 movie Hangar 18.

By 1985 a single large hangar (the former 3rd Echelon Maintenance Hangar) and slowly deteriorating runways and taxiways were all that marked the once-busy bomber base. At some point between 1989-96, the roof and most of the walls of the former 3rd Echelon Maintenance Hangar were removed, leaving only a hollow grid of the side walls of the hangar standing.

In October 2004 the property is being used by the Texas Youth Commission's West Texas State School. The former AFB family housing (small, individual units) are now used by the prison staff.

The west side of the former AAF/AFB, where the actual airfield was, is deserted. Runways and taxiways, hardstands and the flightline apron exist with tall weeds and other sparse vegetation slowly taking over the concrete areas. Partial remains of one of the hangar walls form the only remaining structure.