San Angelo Regional Airport (Mathis Field)

The airport, previously known as Carr Field, was built in 1941 by the United States Army Air Forces. Initially, the facility was planned to be used as a pilot training airfield. Activated on 1 June 1942, the airport was assigned to the AAF Gulf Coast Training Center, with the Army Air Force Pilot School enabled. The school aimed to train cadets to fly bombers and transports. It was assigned to the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers in 1946. Later the property was disposed of by the War Assets Administration (WAA) and deeded to the government.

San Angelo Regional Airport (Mathis Field)

History

The airport, previously known as Carr Field, was built in 1941 by the United States Army Air Forces. Initially, the facility was planned to be used as a pilot training airfield. Activated on 1 June 1942, the airport was assigned to the AAF Gulf Coast Training Center, with the Army Air Force Pilot School enabled. The school aimed to train cadets to fly bombers and transports. It was assigned to the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers in 1946. Later the property was disposed of by the War Assets Administration (WAA) and deeded to the government.

The airport was renamed after local Jack W. Mathis, a bombardier who even received the Medal of Honor. It now offers daily commercial service for the City of San Angelo, its adjacent metropolitan area, as well as nearby Goodfellow Air Force Base, with aviation to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

First runway

More than forty years ago, the San Angelo City Commission transferred a resolution to consider offers for the founding of a city airport in or near San Angelo.

Eventually, an agreement was made with West Texas Utilities to buy 670 acres of covered rangeland situated on Knickerbocker Road near Lake Nasworthy. Clearing away the grass burr covering and mesquite thickets was the priority for the Work Projects Administration after a $363,922 federal airport construction project was approved.

By June of the next year, the first Municipal Airport Runway had been cleared an area 650’ wide and 1500’ long. In the process of making the new runway, about 47 cords of wood had been stacked. By this point, the number of WPA workers had reached 300 men. In the fall of 1941, additional federal funding of over $38,000 was approved to offer lighting facilities for the airport. In November, the Standard-Times announced that the new facility, which was given the name of Carr Field, would be finished in less than a month. When World War II came before it was completed, city officials turned to the Army Air Corps.

Military services

In March 1942, Senators W. Lee O’Daniel and Tom Connally declared that the Army would establish an Air Corps Training Center on the location. To facilitate the influx of equipment and men, Carr Field was to be grown and new buildings constructed at the cost of $5 million.

In the end, it is considered that a great deal more than the original $5 million was spent in construction costs by the federal government from 1942 to 1947. Four 5500 foot runways with connecting taxiways and a 575’ x 3600’ concrete airplane parking ramp were built on the airfield. Over 250 new buildings and seven large hangars were added to the city-owned property. Together with complete electric, sewer, water, and gas utilities, the airfield provided services for over 4,000 military personnel.

The facility represented a successful and beneficial war-time flying and training center. During this time, Carr Field was renamed to Mathis field after Lieutenant Jack Mathis, who was posthumously given the Congressional Medal of Honor for Valor throughout the War. Eventually, a transfer agreement was settled after the War, which enabled the City of San Angelo to reclaim its first 673.66 acres as well as retain a lease on approximately 896.7 acres of Washington County School land. The War Assets Administration also transferred nearly all government-build-and-owned property improvements to the city.