Taliafero Field No. 1 was used by the Royal Flying Corps from October 1917 to April 1918 as a training field for American and Canadian pilots. It was then turned over to the Air Service, United States Army. The Americans renamed the field Hicks Field, after Charles Hicks, who owned the Hicks Ranch on which the airfield was built.
World War I The first trainees arrived in November 1917 to a very crude facility. Most structures were unfinished, and personnel lived and worked in canvas tents. The
flu epidemic killed many assigned personnel. The airfield was taken over by United States Army in April 1918. The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" became the primary aircraft used for flight training after the Army takeover. Training units assigned to Hicks Field were: • Post Headquarters, Hicks Field – October 1919 • 78th Aero Squadron, February 1918 : Redesignated as Squadron "A", July–November 1918 • 79th Aero Squadron, February 1918 : Redesignated as Squadron "B", July–November 1918 • 82d Aero Squadron, March 1918 : Redesignated as Squadron "C", July–November 1918 • 206th Aero Squadron, April 1918 : Redesignated as Squadron "D", July–November 1918 • 275th Aero Squadron, February 1918 : Redesignated as Squadron "E", July–November 1918 • Flying School Detachment (Consolidation of Squadrons A-E), November 1918 – November 1919 The 22d, 27th, 28th, 139th, 147th, and 148th US Aero Squadrons trained at the facility. Military use ended in early 1919 after the end of World War I. In 1923, the field became the location of the world's first helium plant, operated by United States Navy. It became a Navy blimp facility until 1929, when shortages closed facility. (The helium plant was located in Fort Worth at what is now Meacham Blvd and Blue Mound Road. It was never located at the airfield. J Hodgson, Fort Worth Aviation Museum)
World War II In preparation for the eventual U.S. entry into World War II, the United States Army Air Corps sought to expand the nation's combat air forces by asking civilian flight schools to provide the primary phase of training for air cadets. Consequently, it contracted with civilian flying schools to provide primary flying training, with the graduates being moved on to basic and advanced training at regular military training airfields. Taken over by United States Army Air Corps in 1940, Hicks Field was reopened and its facilities improved. It was used as a contract primary flight training facility by the USAAF Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Command). The Texas Aviation School and the W. F. Long Flying School provided flying training to aviation cadets. Initially under supervision of 307th Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment, later redesignated as 2555th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Contract Pilot School, Primary) on 1 May 1944. A 10-week course of primary training continued at Hicks, 2,403 cadets were processed, and about 70% made it to the next level of training at
Randolph Field. Flying training was performed with
Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer. Also, the school had several
PT-17 Stearmans, and a few
P-40 Warhawks were assigned. The field was inactivated 20 July 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot-training program, declared surplus, and turned over to the
Army Corps of Engineers. It was eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration and returned to civilian control.
Civil use Hicks Field was converted to a civilian airport by April 1945. In 1954, Hicks was used by
Bell Helicopter for flight testing of the
HSL antisubmarine warfare helicopter. aerial photo of the former Hicks Field facility Hicks fell into disuse by 1976, having been removed from maps, and with only a few businesses remaining. In 1985, the similarly named but unrelated
Hicks Airfield opened a short distance away. The original airfield was redeveloped into an
industrial park by the early 1990s, although a few World War II-era hangars still stood. ==See also==