James Connally Air Force Base was a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

base located north of

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

. After its closure in 1968, the airport reopened as

TSTC Waco Airport TSTC Waco Airport is a public use airport located eight nautical miles (9 mile, mi, 15 kilometre, km) northeast of the central business district of Waco, Texas, Waco, a city in McLennan County, Texas, United States. Before 1968, ...

History

World War II

The airport opened May 5, 1942 as Waco Army Air Field and was the headquarters of the Army Air Force Central Instructors' School during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was deactivated after the war in 1945 but was reactivated in 1948 as a pilot training base under the

Air Training Command The Air Training Command (ATC) is a former United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command designation. It was headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, but was initially formed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It was re-designated ...

Air Training Command

Waco Field was renamed for Colonel James T. Connally who had been killed in Japan in 1945. The airport was initially called Connally Air Force Base but the name evolved to also include his first name. In 1951, pilot training was discontinued and replaced with academic and flight training for navigators, radar operators, and bombardiers, with particular emphasis for those officers slated for eventual assignment to

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile compon ...

B-36 Peacemaker The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built, although it was exceeded in span ...

and its ever-increasing fleet of

B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...

s. Pilot training returned in 1953 and an advanced jet pilot training organization with

T-33 Shooting Star The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

s was established in addition to navigator training in TB-25 Mitchells. In January 1958, the base became a support facility when the USAF located headquarters of

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

(12 AF) in nearby Waco TX. The Headquarters complex was located near 25th Street and Windsor Ave. No remains of the buildings are present today. In 1965, the Air Force began sharing the base with the State of Texas, the latter having established the James Connally Technical Institute (JCTI) of

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. which would eventually become the main campus and headquarters of

Texas State Technical Institute Texas State Technical College (TSTC) is a public technical college with its main campus near Waco, Texas. TSTC is the State of Texas's only public multicampus technical college, offering associate degrees and certificates in technical skills and ...

(TSTI).

Tactical Air Command

In 1966,

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, was an American aircraft-manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee ...

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

also established a modification center at the base to modify

B-58 Hustler The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air ...

bombers. The 602d Tactical Control Group was established at the base on 1 March 1966, but moved within two months to

Bergstrom Air Force Base Bergstrom Air Force Base was located seven miles southeast of Austin, Texas. In its later years, it was a major base for the United States Air Force (USAF) RF-4C Phantom reconnaissance fighter fleet. History Bergstrom was originally act ...

, Texas.

Base Closure

In 1968, as part of a nationwide reduction in air force bases and naval air stations to stay within congressional funding limits while continuing to prosecute the war in Vietnam, James Connally AFB was closed. All navigator training consolidated at

Mather Air Force Base Mather Air Force Base (Mather AFB) was a United States Air Force Base, which was closed in 1993 pursuant to a post-Cold War BRAC decision. It was located east of Sacramento, on the south side of U.S. Route 50 in Sacramento County, Californ ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and 12th Air Force relocated to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. At this point, the facility was conveyed to the State of Texas by the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. G ...

(GSA). The airport and the base facilities were used as a technical school while General Dynamics remained as a tenant performing modification work on various military aircraft. The General Dynamics facility later ceased operation. From January 2001 through January 2009, the former airfield of James Connally AFB was used by

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control-designated Aviation call signs, call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modifie ...

when US President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

visited his Prairie Chapel Ranch, also known as the Western White House, in

Crawford, Texas Crawford is a town located in western McLennan County, Texas, United States. Crawford is part of the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 887. The town was incorporated on August 12, 18 ...

Civilian Operations

In 1984, ElectroSpace Systems Inc. (ESI) constructed a new hangar at the airport for aircraft modification that opened in 1985. In 1987, Chrysler bought ESI and the facility was later named Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems or CTAS.

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

subsequently sold the operation to

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

in 1996 which renamed the facility Raytheon Aircraft Integration Systems. In 2002, Raytheon sold the facility to

L-3 Communications L3 Technologies, formerly L-3 Communications Holdings, was an American company that supplied command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ( C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training ...

and it is currently known as L-3 Communications Platform Integration Division (PID). In 1991, TSTI was renamed Texas State Technical College (TSTC).

References

{{USAAF Training Bases World War II Buildings and structures in McLennan County, Texas Airports in Texas Installations of the United States Air Force in Texas Military installations closed in 1968 Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Texas Waco, Texas 1941 establishments in Texas 1968 disestablishments in Texas Military installations established in 1941