DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in the early 1940s, Pampa mayor Fred Thompson didn't wait for the war to come to him. He put together a delegation from the city's Chamber of Commerce, pointed them toward Washington, D.C., and said, in so many words — we've got something worth seeing out here in the Texas Panhandle.
Now, convincing Army officials to plant a military base in your backyard takes more than nerve. It takes terrain, climate, land, and a community that shows up ready. Pampa had all four.
Army officials looked at what was on offer and chose this very site for an installation that would train pilots and support personnel for World War II. Construction began in June 1942, under the direction of the Tulsa, Oklahoma office of the Corps of Engineers — and right from the start, Col. Norman B.
Olsen was overseeing the initial stages of the whole operation. While the base was taking shape out on the land, temporary offices were set up inside the Rose Motor Company and Culberson-Smalling buildings right there in town. The ground and the city were both working at once.
By September 1942, Col. Daniel S. Campbell had taken over as commanding officer.
And within two months of that — before the year was even out — the first planes and aviation cadets had arrived. Think about that pace for a moment. From a delegation boarding a train to Washington, to actual aircraft touching down on a Panhandle runway.
Then the work began in earnest. By the time the Pampa Army Air Force Base closed on September 30, 1945, it had trained 6,292 aviation cadets and 3,500 mechanics. Three years of operation — just three — and those are the numbers it left behind.
And here's the part that tends to quiet a room: the base's safety record was one of the best in the entire U.S. Training Command during World War II. All that training, all those cadets learning to handle aircraft in wartime conditions, and Pampa turned in one of the safest records in the country.
Mayor Thompson's delegation made one heck of a case in Washington. The base was brief — the marker calls it that plainly — but its impact on the development of the Pampa area was, by the same marker's word, dramatic. Some stories don't need a long run to leave a long shadow.
What the marker says
In the early 1940s Pampa mayor Fred Thompson and a delegation from the city's Chamber of Commerce traveled to Washington, D.C. to promote this area as a possible site for a military base. Attracted by the terrain, climatic history, available land and community response, Army officials chose this site for the establishment of an installation to train pilots and support personnel for World War II. Construction of the Pampa Army Air Force Base began in June 1942, under the direction of the Tulsa, Oklahoma office of the Corps of Engineers. Overseeing the initial stages of the operation was Col. Norman B. Olsen. Temporary offices were set up in the Rose Motor Company and Culberson-Smalling buildings in town. Col. Daniel S. Campbell became the commanding officer in September 1942, and within two months the first planes and aviation cadets had arrived. The Pampa Army Air Force Base closed September 30, 1945, after just three years of operation. During that time 6,292 aviation cadets and 3,500 mechanics were trained. The base's safety record was one of the best in the U.S. Training Command during World War II. Despite a brief history, the base had a dramatic impact on the development of the Pampa area. (1982)