DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Midland County, there's a patch of West Texas sky that's seen a whole lot of history pass through it — some of it quiet, some of it thundering. It started out as Old Sloan Field, built back in 1931, just a modest airfield sitting out on the flat Permian Basin earth.
Nobody was calling it the largest anything at that point. But then 1942 rolled around, and the world had changed, and Old Sloan Field changed right along with it. It became the Midland Army Flying School — a place built for one very specific and very serious purpose: training bombardier cadets.
Now, bombardiers weren't just along for the ride. These were the men who had to look down through a sight, calculate everything the sky and wind and speed could throw at them, and hit what they were aiming at. Getting that right took practice.
A lot of it. At one time, Midland Army Flying School was called the largest bombardier training center in the world. Let that settle in for a second.
The largest in the world. Right there in West Texas. The cadets flew Beech AT-11 aircraft, and they flew them hard — eight hundred sixty-one thousand, five hundred and ten hours in the air.
They dropped one million, two hundred forty-five thousand, one hundred and seven bombs. Those are numbers that don't quite fit inside the human imagination, but the sky over Midland held every single one of them. Midland was one of over twenty-five World War II airfields operating in Texas, which tells you something about just how much of the war effort ran through this state.
The last class of cadets graduated in January of 1945. But the field didn't go quiet right away. It kept on as an Army Air Forces instructor school — Bombardier — until World War II ended later that year.
Then, like so many wartime installations, it wound down. The military phase-out came in 1947. The field sat there a few years, maybe catching its breath, and then in 1950 a commercial field opened on the site.
From training the world's bombardiers to serving civilian travelers — Old Sloan Field didn't just have one story. It had the kind of story that starts in 1931, roars through the biggest war the world ever saw, and just keeps going.
What the marker says
Old Sloan Field, built 1931, in 1942 became Midland Army Flying School, for bombardier cadets. At one time it was called largest bombardier training center in the world. One of over 25 World War II airfields in Texas, its cadets flew 861,510 hours in Beech "AT-11" aircraft, dropping 1,245,107 bombs. Last class of cadets graduated in Jan. 1945. The field was used as an Army Air Forces instructor school (Bombardier) until World War II ended later that year. After military phase-out, 1947, commercial field opened 1950. (1968)