Aloe Army Airfield

Aloe Army Airfield is an abandoned airfield located 7 miles W of Victoria, Texas.

History

The airfield was opened in 1943 and was used by the United States Army Air Forces as an advanced single-engine training field for fighter pilots. Aloe also became the new home of the Lake Charles Army Flying School, which relocated from Lake Charles, LA.Using the North American AT-6 Texan & Curtis P-40. cadets were schooled in flying & in ground & aerial gunnery.

Soon after V-J Day the government made plans to reassign the field as a subpost of Foster Army Air Field (a larger installation northeast of Victoria), but both Aloe & Foster were closed in 1945. Aloe AAF was declared surplus by the War Department in 1946 and was turned over to the War Assets Administration for disposal.

Aloe Field, with its 304 buildings, was transferred to Victoria County in 1948, after which the site became Victoria County Airport.

In 1960 the County Airport was moved to Foster Field, and Aloe Field was closed. Victoria County returned the field back to the Federal Government in 1961. The base was declared surplus by the General Services Administration in 1962 & offered for sale.

The land was broken into parcels & sold in April 1963. A portion of the former airfield was purchased in 1963 by a local businessman, who leased a runway on a year-to-year basis to the “Rod Benders”, a hot rod club to use the runway for drag races. The club could not make any permanent improvements at the property. They named the facility “Six Flags Drag Way”.

In 1968 G.A. Kupfernagel purchased the property which had been used for drag racing, and named it “Six Flags Raceway Park”. In 1973 Kupfernagel sold the land & equipment. The new owner continued to operate races at the airfield until the end of 1975, when he sold the land to a developer.

The west side of the airfield (including the runways) has become an industrial park. The east side has become a housing development.

See also

* Texas World War II Army Airfields

References

* Thole, Lou (1999), Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub, ISBN 1575100517
* [http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/TX/Airfields_TX_Corpus_NE.html#aloe Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Texas, Northeastern Corpus Christi area]

External links