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Harlingen Air Force Base Harlingen Army Airfield
Part of Air Training Command (ATC)
Located near: Harlingen, Texas
2006 USGS Airphoto
Coordinates	26°13′43″N 97°39′16″W / 26.22861°N 97.65444°W / 26.22861; -97.65444 (Harlingen AFB)
Site history
Built	1941
In use	Open 1941 - closed 1962
Garrison information
Garrison	3610th Navigator Training Wing

Airfield information
IATA: HRL ICAO: KHRL
Summary
Airport type	Public
Elevation AMSL	36 ft / 11 m
Coordinates	26°13′43″N 097°39′16″W / 26.22861°N 97.65444°W / 26.22861; -97.65444Coordinates: 26°13′43″N 097°39′16″W / 26.22861°N 97.65444°W / 26.22861; -97.65444
Map
KHRL Location of Harlingen Air Force Base
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 13/31 7,257 2,212 Asphalt 17L/35R 5,949 1,813 Asphalt 17R/35L 8,301 2,530 Asphalt

Oblique 26 October 1943 aerial photo looking north

Harlingen Air Force Base, originally Harlingen Army Airfield, is a former United States Air Force base located in northeast Harlingen, Texas, United States. After its closure, the airport was redeveloped into Valley International Airport.

History

World War II

With the outbreak of World War II in Europe in September 1940, it was decided to create a military airfield in Harlingen. Col John R. Morgan became the first commanding officer of the Harlingen Aerial Gunnery School arriving in August 1941 to assume that assignment. He was to hold that appointment for the duration of World War II. On June 30, 1941 a contract was let for Morgan and Zachary, El Paso and Laredo builders, to start the military airfield construction.^[1] The mission of Harlingen Army Airfield was to train aerial gunners. The school received its first assigned cadre in August 1941. Its primary mission, with an initial student load of 600, was that of training aerial gunnery students in a five-week (extended to six weeks in 1943) training program. Over 48,000 soldiers were trained until the school, one of three such types in the country, closed in 1945.^[2] It was initially assigned to the AAF Gulf Coast Training Center as a flexible gunnery school, with the 78th Service Group being designated as the first host organization at the new airfield.^[3]

The airfield consisted of two parallel 6000-foot runways aligned North/South, and two 5,200-foot diagonal runways aligned NE/SW and NW/SE. A large parking ramp and several aircraft hangars were constructed along with a support base of warehouses, dormatories, a fire station, some water towers and a number of support buildings all constructed of wood and tar paper on concrete blocks.^[4] An auxiliary airfield at Port Isabel, Texas was also constructed to support the training and flight operations at Harlingen. Training was conducted in both air-to-air & air-to-surface gunnery. The air-to-air training used a variety of aircraft, including AT-6 Texans, BT-13 Valiants, P-63 Kingcobras, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-26 Marauder^[5] and B-24 Liberators. For ground-based training, a number of facilities were available, including the moving target ranges and a number of gunnery simulators. The first class of aerial gunners graduated from the Gunnery School in January 1942.^[3]

Cold War

After the outbreak of the Korean War, the base was reactivated on 17 March 1952. It was placed under the auspices of the Air Training Command (ATC), who renamed the field Harlingen Air Force Base and placed it under the operational control of the 3610th Observer Training Wing (ATC) as part of its observer training program. Training was conducted primarily with Convair T-29 aircraft. On 1 September 1953, ATC also established a multi-engine pilot training school at Harlingen and realigned its observer training program by converting primary observer training into a primary-basic course and by providing advanced instruction in the basic course. Under the new program, every graduate of primary-basic training would be a qualified aircraft navigator. Effective 15 November 1956, HQ USAF directed the term navigator be substituted in all cases for observer or aircraft observer. That directive resulted in the re-designation of the 3610th Observer Training Wing to 3610th Navigator Training Wing.^[6]

In October 1959, ATC directed Mather AFB, California to move its primary-basic navigator training to Harlingen AFB by early 1962. This training had to be relocated so that Mather could take over Keesler AFB's electronic warfare officer (EWO) training by early 1963.^[6]

Early in 1960, the Air Force authorized ATC to discontinue pilot and navigator preflight courses at Lackland AFB, Texas. Pilot preflight training became the responsibility of the primary training bases, and navigator preflight moved to the navigator schools. New navigator preflight training programs went into effect at Harlingen on 6 April.^[6]

In March 1961, during his budget message to Congress, President John F. Kennedy announced that the Department of Defense would close 73 military installations (70 stateside), including Harlingen AFB, Texas, the only ATC base on the list. Harlingen entered its last group of students into navigator training on 9 August. From that point on, James Connally AFB, Texas, provided all undergraduate navigator training.^[6]

In March 1962, the dining halls were consolidated as base staffing diminished, and the base hospital announced its change to dispensary status. The base hosted its last conference, a corrosion control meeting, in April as the gym, library, and military clothing sales store closed their doors. Undergraduate Navigator Training at Harlingen AFB ended on 6 June 1962 with the graduation of Class 62-22N. The 3610th Navigator Training Wing and subordinate units were discontinued on 1 July. At the same time, Air Training Command placed Harlingen AFB on inactive status.^[6][7]

See also

• Texas World War II Army Airfields


• 79th Flying Training Wing (World War II)

Notes

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History's Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.


• Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC


• 
  Thole, Lou (1999). Forgotten Fields of America: World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now. 2. Pictorial Histories Publishing. ISBN 978-1-57510-051-7.
  

External links

• 
  Harlingen Air Force Base – Texas State Historical Association