Naval Air Station Corpus Christi

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. June 1940. France falls to Germany.

And all at once, the United States finds itself staring down the barrel of a war it hasn't yet entered — but probably will. The Navy knows it. And the Navy knows something else: if that war is coming, they are going to need aviators.

A lot of them. Fast. So somebody looks at a map of coastal south Texas — flat as a tabletop, weather fit for flying twelve months out of the year, fuel ready to hand, and water close enough for seaplane training — and somebody says, right here.

Construction begins, and on March 12, 1941, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is commissioned. The first cadets start arriving that same month of March. Now hold that date in your head, because the calendar is about to matter.

Those first cadets receive their wings on November 1, 1941. Weeks later — just weeks — the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Those men had barely pinned on their wings before the world cracked open.

What followed at NAS Corpus Christi is the kind of thing that earns a place a nickname. Before World War II ended, the station graduated thirty-five thousand aviators — more than any other airfield. Thirty-five thousand.

They called it the University of the Air. That name wasn't handed out lightly. And the class roster reads like history waiting to happen.

A young man named George H. W. Bush received his wings there — later, of course, President of the United States.

A young man named John Glenn received his wings there — later astronaut, later United States Senator. They walked the same flight lines, breathed the same Gulf Coast air. But this wasn't just an American story.

Trainees came from Canada, England, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Wings earned at Corpus Christi flew in skies all over the world. And the women were there too.

Scores of W.A.V.E.S. — Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service — served at NAS-CC and its auxiliary fields. They worked as link trainer instructors, pressure chamber technicians, air traffic controllers, gunnery instructors. The station ran on their expertise.

The main base didn't stand alone, either. Rodd Field handled primary flight training. Cabaniss and Cuddihy took the intermediate work.

Kingsville trained fighter pilots and dive bomber crews. Waldron specialized in torpedo bombers. Chase Field over in Beeville focused on instrument flying.

And then, scattered across the surrounding countryside, twenty-five additional outlying practice landing fields — p-fields — dotted the land like stepping stones across the Texas brush. In 1945, NAS-CC added one more chapter: it established a camp for German prisoners of war. By that point the station had become something far larger than anyone drawing blueprints in 1940 might have imagined.

Thirty-five thousand aviators. A future president. A future astronaut.

Pilots from eight nations. Women doing work nobody thought to write into the job description before the war demanded it. All of it rising up out of that flat South Texas coastline, from a station commissioned less than nine months before Pearl Harbor.

The University of the Air. Corpus Christi earned that name one wing at a time.

What the marker says

After the fall of France to Germany in June 1940, there was an increasing possibility of United States involvement in World War II, and an urgent need for naval aviators and naval air stations to train them. Coastal south Texas was considered an ideal location for its flat terrain, suitable weather for year-round flying, ready availability of fuel and seaplane training access. Subsequently, construction began and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (NAS-CC) was commissioned on March 12, 1941. The first cadets began arriving in March 1941 and received their wings on November 1, only weeks before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Before World War II ended, NAS-CC exceeded all other airfields, graduating 35,000 aviators, and became known as "the University of the Air." Notable WWII pilots who received their wings at NAS-CC included later President George H. W. Bush, and later astronaut and Senator John Glenn. In addition to Americans, trainees came from Canada, England, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Scores of W.A.V.E.S. (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) served at NAS-CC and its auxiliary fields as link trainer instructors, pressure chamber technicians, air traffic controllers and gunnery instructors. In addition to the main station, auxiliary airfields were added at Rodd Field (primary flight training), Cabaniss and Cuddihy (intermediate flight training), Kingsville (advanced flight training, fighters and dive bombers), Waldron (torpedo bombers) and Chase Field in Beeville (specializing in instrument flying). Twenty-five additional outlying practice landing fields ("p-fields") dotted the surrounding countryside. In 1945, NAS-CC established a camp for German prisoners of war. NAS-CC served as a vital military training facility and as a catalyst of postwar economic activity in the area.