DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along. Now, you want to talk about a place that had to grow up fast — Hensley Field out on the edge of Dallas is your story. It starts in 1928, when the city of Dallas purchased land at this site.
The reason was simple enough: Love Field, the airfield established in Dallas back in 1917, had gotten too busy to provide safe facilities for training. So the city leased the new land to the U.S. Army, and just like that, a training airfield was born.
They named it for Major William N. Hensley — an air officer for the Eighth Corps Army Area who had helped select the very base site before his death. A man who helped choose the ground he'd never get to see put to use.
Army air operations moved over from Love Field, and Hensley became the center of all area Army air training operations. Not just a training ground either — it was a key repair and refueling point for the entire southwest. That's no small thing when you consider what was coming on the horizon.
Because World War II was looming, and Hensley Field was about to get very, very busy. The U.S. War Department granted the Navy use of part of the field for a naval reserve aviation base, and that base was commissioned in May of 1941.
Now, here's a detail worth savoring: they called it the Prairie Navy. An inland naval base, sitting out on the Texas plains, nowhere near an ocean. The Prairie Navy.
You have to appreciate that. Also in 1941, the North American Aviation Company transferred production of the T-6 and Navy SNJ Texan planes to Hensley from California. And the Army Air Corps moved its midwestern headquarters of the ferry command right here to the field.
By 1943, the naval reserve aviation base had been redesignated Dallas Naval Air Station. And the people training there were no small collection. Fleet pilots, Coast Guard pilots, Marine pilots.
Three future astronauts walked those grounds. A contingent of free French forces trained there. And the WAVES — women accepted for volunteer emergency service — were among the personnel as well.
Then in 1944, the North American Aviation Facility was re-tooled to produce B-24 bombers. The mission kept shifting, kept expanding, kept demanding more. By the time World War II drew to a close, Hensley Field had grown to include four thousand one hundred and four people.
After the war, Congress established a naval air training program specifically to preserve the skills and expertise of ex-military personnel. The Navy officially took over Hensley Field on May 1st, 1949 — though the Air Force stayed on as tenant. Dallas Naval Air Station kept right on operating, all the way until 1998.
From a patch of Dallas land purchased in 1928 to one of the most active inland military aviation centers in the southwest — through world war, through the age of astronauts, through more than half a century of flight. That prairie had a lot of sky in it.
What the marker says
The city of Dallas purchased land at this site in 1928 and leased it to the U.S. Army for a training airfield, as Love Field, established in Dallas in 1917, had become too busy to provide safe facilities for training. The field was named for Major William N. Hensley, an air officer for the Eighth Corps Army Area who helped select the base site before his death. Army air operations were moved here from Love Field, and Hensley Field became the center of all area Army air training operations and a key repair and refueling point in the southwest. As World War II loomed, the U.S. War Department granted the use of a part of Hensley Field to the Navy for a naval reserve aviation base. Known as "Prairie Navy" because of its inland location, it was commissioned in May 1941. Also in 1941, the North American Aviation Company transferred production of the T-6 and Navy SNJ "Texan" planes here from California, and the Army Air Corps moved its midwestern headquarters of the ferry command to Hensley Field. In 1943 the naval reserve aviation base was redesignated Dallas Naval Air Station. Personnel trained here included fleet, Coast Guard and Marine pilots, three future astronauts, a contingent of free French forces and women accepted for volunteer emergency service (WAVES). In 1944 the North American Aviation Facility was re-tooled to produce B-24 bombers. By the end of World War II, Hensley Field had expanded to include 4,104 people. After the war, Congress established a naval air training program to preserve the skills and expertise of ex-military personnel. The Navy officially took over Hensley Field on May 1, 1949, but the Air Force remained as tenant. Dallas Naval Air Station remained in operation until 1998. (2000)