Riverside Campus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Riverside Campus is part of Texas A&M University. It is located adjacent to State Highway 47 and Highway 21, west of Bryan, Texas.
[edit] History
Riverside Campus was originally Bryan Army Airfield.[1] The base was activated in 1943 as an instructors' school assigned the task of developing a standardized system of instrument flying. The Full Panel Attitude System developed at the base was one of the most significant contributions the base made to pilot training. The instrument-training school at Bryan AAF was the only one of its kind in the United States Army Air Forces.
In 1943, Bryan Field was the starting point of the first intentional meteorological flight into a hurricane.
Gus Grissom, later one of the first astronauts, was a jet instructor here.
The base became Bryan Air Force Base upon separation of the Air Force from the Army in 1947. It was deactivated in May 1961. The land and buildings were deeded to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University) in 1962.
[edit] Today
Riverside Campus is currently a 1,900-acre campus hosting three training divisions of the Texas Engineering Extension Service.[2] TEEX occupies about 100,000 square feet of offices, classrooms and laboratories. The agency also maintains outdoor training facilities at Riverside, including overhead and underground electric power training fields, a firing range for law enforcement officers, a heavy equipment training field, an emergency vehicle-driving track, unexploded ordnance ranges and search grids, and simulation prop houses for tactical training.
A vintage World War II hangar at the Texas A&M Riverside Campus was recently transformed into a state-of-the-art training facility for utility workers in the electric power and telecommunications industry. Classrooms in the new facility include state-of-the-art, interactive Smart boards, custom-built workbenches and cabinets, built-in audiovisual systems and automatic lighting.
The runway is also used as an SCCA racetrack.[3]
