Pyote trained B-17 Flying Fortress air crews in precision bombing tactics until the summer of 1944, when training switched to the B-29 Superfortress. Within four months of its opening, the base had become the largest bomber installation in the country.īeware of rattlesnakes! (Rattlesnake Bomber Base Museum archives) Troops and civilian technicians reported by the thousands, and the population of the base grew steadily to a peak of over 6,500 in October of 1944. The ramp area was 3,000' by 600'.ĭue to the large number of snakes at the site, it was often called " Rattlesnake Bomber Base". The field featured two runways, each 8,400' in length and 150' feet wide, and a taxiway which formed a triangle. Construction and Usage of Pyote AAF During World War IIĬonstruction of the facilities, including five large hangars, shops, warehouses, and living quarters, began on September 5, 1942. ![]() Highway 80, west of Midland, east of Pecos, and north of Fort Stockton, and along present-day Interstate 20. ![]() Pyote Army Air Field was situated on 2,745 acres of University of Texas land a mile southwest of the town of Pyote, and twenty miles west of Monahans. Pyote AAF front gate (Rattlesnake Bomber Base Museum archives)
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