Foster Air Force Base: Difference between revisions

Foster Air Force Base
Part of Tactical Air Command
Located near: Victoria, Texas
USGS 1996 airphoto
Coordinates	28°51′09″N 96°55′07″W / 28.85250°N 96.91861°W / 28.85250; -96.91861
Type	Air Force Base
Site history
Built	1941
In use	1941-1945; 1953-1950

Foster AFB

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Location of Foster Air Force Base, Texas

For the civil use of this facility and airport information, see Victoria Regional Airport

Foster Air Force Base (1941-1945, 1952-1959) is a former United States Air Force base, located approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) east-northeast of Victoria, Texas. A flying training airfield during World War II, it was part of Tactical Air Command during the Cold War as a tactical fighter and command base.

Named in memory of Lt. Arthur L. Foster, a United States Army Air Corps instructor killed in a crash at Brooks Field, Texas in 1925. Foster's son received his training and commission at the base in the spring of 1942.^[1]

• Established as Victoria Army Airfield on 15 May 1941
• Foster Army Airfield, 15 Jan 1942-31 Oct 1945
• Foster Air Force Base, 1 May 1952-1 Jan 1959

• Air Forces Training Command, 15 May 1941

Redesignated: Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, 15 Mar 1942

Redesignated: Army Air Forces Training Command, 31 Jul 1943-31 Oct 1945

• Air Training Command, 1 May 1952-30 Jun 1954
• Tactical Air Command, 1 Jul 1954-1 Jan 1959

• 77th Flying Training Wing (Advanced Single Engine), 15 May 1941-31 Oct 1945
• 2540th Army Air Forces Base Unit, 1 Jan-31 Oct 1945
• 3580th Pilot Training Wing (Basic, Single-Engine), 1 May 1952-30 Jun 1954
• 450th Fighter-Bomber Wing, 1 Jul 1954

Redesignated: 450th Fighter-Day Wing, 8 Mar 1955

Redesignated: 450th Tactical Fighter Wing, 1 Jul-18 Dec 1958

• 322d Fighter-Day Group, 1 Jul 1954-18 Nov 1957

Not operational, 24 Oct-18 Nov 1957

• Nineteenth Air Force, 8 Jul 1955-1 Sep 1958

• AT-6 Texan, 1941-1945
• P-40 Warhawk, 1941-1945
• F-86 Sabre, 1954-1955
• F-100 Super Sabre, 1955-1958

Foster Air Force Base was established as an advanced single-engine flying school for fighter pilots six miles northeast of Victoria, in the spring of 1941. A local funding campaign led by E. J. Dysart the previous spring had raised some $17,000 to locate the base at Victoria, Texas as an economic asset. Subsequent government construction cost more than $4 million. ^[1]

The airfield eas activated on 15 May 1941 by the Air Forces Training Command. The 77th Flying Training Wing (Advanced Single Engine) was assigned to the new base. It was part of the AFTC Central Flying Training Command. ^[2]

The initial class of cadets arrived in September 1941 and served under Lt. Col. Warren R. Carter, the first commander. WACs began to arrive the following May. Cadets used the North American AT-6 Texan and Curtis P-40 Warhawk trainers to drill in aerial gunnery, though actual practice took place on ranges located on Matagorda Island and Matagorda Peninsula. In addition to these bombing ranges on Matagorda, at least ten auxiliary landing fields and a sub-base (Aloe AAF, built in 1943 5 miles southwest of Victoria) was controlled by Foster for emergency landings and aircraft overflow. ^[1]

Many pilots returning from overseas service were taught to become aerial gunnery instructors at Foster Field. In addition to the pilot training mission, Foster also served as a medical evacuation facility for injured veterans. There were several housing facilities located on the base.^[1]

On 1 January 1945, the 2540th Army Air Forces Base Unit took control of the ground station administrative functions. As World War II wound down, Foster Field took control of several smaller facilities as they were being closed. On 1 September 1945 the mission at the airfield changed from pilot training to becoming a seperation station. Foster Field itself was inactivated on 31 October 1945, being placed in standby status. On 15 November the facility was completely closed, and eventually the Foster Field site returned to its prewar owners, the Buhler and Braman estates.^{[2] [1]}

The Air Force retained a recapture right, which it exercised at Foster and at many other former bases to accommodate the Korean War training surge. In the fall of 1951 the government purchased 1,376 acres at the site, and Foster Field was reactivated for single-engine jet training.^[1] Foster Field was designated Foster Air Force Base on an inactive status on 1 Sep 1952, by Department of the Air Force General Order No. 38, dated 29 Aug 1952.^[1]

The facility was assigned to the United States Air Force Air Training Command. The 3580th Pilot Training Wing (Basic, Single-Engine) was assigned to the base on 1 May 1952 as the primary training organization as well as the base host unit. The first cadets graduated in March 1953 after three months of duty using T-28 Trojan propeller and T-33 Shooting Star jet trainers.^{[2] [1]}

After the end of combat in Korea, Air Training Command returned various combat crew training responsibilities to Strategic Air Command and Tactical Air Command in 1954. The command was able to do this because bases like Greenville AFB and Laredo AFB had acquired sufficient facilities to assume their full share of the pilot training load. Various bases were transferred to the combat commands, among these was the transfer of Foster AFB to TAC on 1 July 1954^[2]

Foster Air Force Base was designated a permanent military installation on 1 July 1954. Col. Frank L. Dunn became the new commander, replacing Col. C. C. Sonnkalb. ^[1]

Under Tactical Air Command, the 450th Fighter-Bomber Wing, was activated at Foster, on 1 July 1954, replacing and absorbing the assets of the 3580th PTW. Four operational squadrons (720th, 721st, 722d and 723d) were assigned to the 450th Figher-Bomber Group, initially being equipped with the North American F-86F Sabre.^[3] Its aircraft wore an approximation of the stars and stripes, with seven red and six white stripes on the trailing edge, and three stars in white on the blue forward portion of the fin. They also were designated with a colored, scalloped nose chevron.

Along with the 450th, a second group, the 322d Fighter-Day Group was assigned to Foster, under the command and control of the 450th FDW. The 322d consisted of the 450th, 451st and 452d Fighter-Day Squadrons, also flying the F-86F.^[3] It's aircraft wore a broad ban on the fin with it's playing card insignia superimposed.

With these two fighter groups assigned to the base, assigned personnel increased to about 6,000.^[1] The primary mission of the 450th FBW was to maintain tactical proficiency for combat operations and to prepare for overseas deployments as part of Ninth Air Force.^[3]

In early-1955, the 450th FBW began receiving new North American F-100C/D Super Sabre aircraft, replacing the obsolecent F-86s. The 450th FBW was the first operational Tactical Air Command wing to be equpped with the F-100. With the change of equipment, the wing was redesignated as the 450th Fighter-Day Wing on 8 Mar 1955, with all its subordinate groups and squadrons also being redesignated.^[3]

On 8 Jul 1955, Foster AFB became the location of Headquarters, Nineteenth Air Force. Nineteenth AF had no units or aircraft permanently assigned. Its mission was planning and carrying out force protection and rapid response using temporarily attached units deployed to overseas crisis locations. From Foster, Nineteenth AF responded to the 1958 Lebanon crisis, when the United States sent in forces to sustain a pro-Western government after a conflict in Iraq threatened to spill across the border.^[3] Also, attached to Ninteenth AF, the 450th FDW carried out the first overseas deployment of a complete tactical force as a unit in a training flight to Europe in 1956. The next year three Foster-based F-100s flew the first TAC single-engine, nonstop, round-trip mission over a great distance when they "attacked" Panama in a training maneuver.^[1]

On 1 July 1958, the 455th was redesignated as the 450th Tactical Fighter Wing in a TAC-wide redesignation of units.

On 28 August 1957, despite the fact that President Dwight D. Eisenhower appropriated funds for new construction at the base, the base was ordered closed by the spring of 1959, with the resident 450th TFW and both groups inactivating.^[1] This closure was due to budgetary constraints in the Air Force, however the closing came as a suprise to both Victorians and base commanders.^[1]

Nineteenth Air Force was moved to Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, effective 1 September 1958. The 450th TFW F-100 aircraft were reassigned to the 4th and 36th Tactical Fighter Wings, and all units assigned to Foster were inactivated in mid-December 1958.^[3]

Despite a rigorous "Save Foster" campaign led in Washington by senators Lyndon B. Johnson and Ralph Yarborough and Congressman Clark W. Thompson, the base closed on 31 December 1958.^[1] It was formally inactivated effective 1 January 1959 by Department of the Air Force General Order No. 7, dated February 9, 1959.^[1]

The local economy suffered greatly from the closure of Foster AFB. In the summer of 1960, the General Services Administration approved the exchange of Aloe Field for Foster Field, and Victoria County Airport was moved to the latter site. The growth of the county airport slowly replaced the loss of Foster AFB as numerous businesses located there. ^[1]

Two of the largest businesses to locate at Victoria County Airport were the Devereux Foundation, a therapeutic-education center, and Gary Aircraft, which repaired surplus C-54 Skymaster (Douglas DC-4) aircraft in 1968. In 1976 Foster became the site of Victoria Regional Airport, which provides passenger service and connections with major carriers.^[1]

• Texas World War II Army Airfields

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency