| Eagle Pass Air Force Station Eagle Pass Army Airfield |
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| Part of Air Defense Command (ADC) | |
2006 USGS Airphoto |
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| Type | Air Force Station |
| Built | 1942 |
| In use | 1943-1945; 1957-1963 |
| Controlled by | United States Air Force |
Eagle Pass Air Force Station (ADC ID: TM-188) is a closed United States Air Force facility. It is located 10.6 miles (17.1 km) north of Eagle Pass, Texas. It was closed in 1963.
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The airport was activated on 30 June 1942 as Eagle Pass Army Airfield and was used by the United States Army Air Forces Training Command as an advanced single engine flying school. The 57th Basic Flying Training Group was assigned to the field and provided instruction in 3d phase pilot training, prior to the cadets becoming commissioned officers and assigned to one of the numbered air forces for assignment to an operational unit.
The airfield consisted of 3 5,500' concrete runways. In addition Eagle Pass controlled three auxiliary fields.
In November 1944, the training at the base was changed to a phase one basic flying school, providing flight training to cadets with little or no previous flying training. All flight training at the field was discontinued in April 1945, with the airfield being determined to be excess by the military and turned over to the local government for civil use.
In 1953, the United States Air Force Air Defense Command requested a third phase of twenty-five mobile radar sites be constructed to supplement the permanent national network of sites established during the Cold War. In 1957, the Air Force exercised a right of return to the former Eagle Pass Army Airfield, and opened Eagle Pass Air Force Station on a corner of the former station to the west of the civil airport established after World War II as a long-range radar site.
The 733d Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron was assigned to Eagle Pass AFS by the 33d Air Division on 3 July 1957. The squadron began operating an AN/FPS-20A search radar and an AN/FPS-6 height-finder, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept (GCI) and warning station. As a GCI station, the squadron's role was to guide interceptor aircraft toward unidentified intruders picked up on the unit's radar scopes.
In addition to the main facility, Eagle Pass operated several AN/FPS-14 Gap Filler sites:
In March 1963 the Air Force ordered the site to close and operations ceased on 1 August 1963. Following the radar-site closure, the station has been used for county housing. The radar station is abandoned, it's buildings in various states of disrepair.
Eagle Pass airfield was reopened under the name of "Laughlin AF Aux #1" in 1962 for touch & go landings by T-37 training aircraft based at Laughlin AFB. In 1991 a replacement airfield was built in nearby Spofford, and Eagle Pass was closed.
At some point between 1991–94, after the closure of this field by the Air Force, it was apparently operated as a private airfield, named "Bowles". [1] [2]
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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