| Bruce Field | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 USGS Photo | |||
| IATA: E30 – ICAO: none | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Owner | City of Ballinger | ||
| Location | Runnels County, near Ballinger, Texas | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,738 ft / 529 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 17/35 | 3,906 | 1,191 | Asphalt |
Bruce Field (FAA LID: E30) is a public airport providing a general aviation service, located approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Ballinger, Texas.
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Opened on 4 October 1941, it began training United States Army Air Corps flying cadets under contract to Harmon Flying School. The airfield had three 2,100' active hard-surfaced runways and five local axillary airfields for emergency and overflow landings.
It was assigned to the United States Army Air Forces Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command), as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. Fred Harmon Flying School was the flying training instruction contractor. Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer. It also had several PT-17 Stearmans assigned.
It was inactivated on 16 October 1944, with the drawdown of the AAFTC's pilot training program. The facility was declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 30 September 1945. It was eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) and became a civil airport.
In aerial photography, the remains of both wartime runways can clearly be seen in the agricultural field to the east of the airport's runway. Although both were removed, their outlines remain. The former military aircraft parking ramp, reduced in size, is also evident aerial photography as a much larger area. Two wartime hangars remain, and the concrete floors of six other hangars remain, the structures along with the control tower having been removed. No evidence remains of structures or streets of the station area, presumably located to the north and east of the aircraft parking ramp, although there may be the remains of some in a wooded area just to the north of the current Country Road 240 just to the north of the parking ramp.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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