Hicks Airfield

Hicks Airfield Taliaferro Field
USGS aerial image, 31 Jan 1995
IATA: none ICAO: none FAA LID: T67
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Hicks Airfield Pilots Assn.
Serves	Fort Worth, Texas
Location	Tarrant County
Elevation AMSL	855 ft / 261 m
Coordinates	32°55′52″N 097°24′42″W
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 14/32 3,740 1,140 Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Aircraft operations 31,000 Based aircraft 327
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Hicks Airfield (FAA LID: T67) is a public use airport located 14 nautical miles (26 km) northwest of the central business district of Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. The airport is used solely for general aviation purposes.

History

Established by the Canadian Flying Corps in 1916 as one of three airfields (also Benbrook Field and Baron Field) to train American pilots who entered the Canadian military before the United States entry into World War I. Canadians named the facility as Taliaferro Field after Walter Taliaferro, a US aviator who had been killed in an accident.

First trainees arrived in November 1916 to very crude facility. Most structures were unfinished and personnel lived and worked in canvas tents. Flu Epidemic killed many assigned personnel. After US Entry into World War I in April 1917, taken over by United States Army and renamed Hicks Field. Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" became primary aircraft used for flight training after Army takeover. Known US units trained at airfield were 22d; 27th; 28th; 139th; 147th and 148th Aero Squadrons. Military use of facility ended in early 1919 after end of World War I.

In 1923, became location of world's first helium plant, operated by United States Navy. Became a Navy blimp facility until 1929 when shortages closed facility.

Taken over by United States Army Air Corps in 1940, facilities improved and used as a contract primary flight training facility by USAAF Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Command). Texas Aviation School & 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 ten-week course of primary training continued at Hicks, and a total of 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 had several PT-17 Stearmans and a few P-40 Warhawks assigned. Inactivated 20 July 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program and was declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers. Eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) returned to civil control.

Postwar use included storage and sale of surplus military aircraft, also used by Bell Helicopter as flight test airfield during 1950s. Bell activities ended in late 1950s and the facility became a general aviation airfield, eventually falling into disuse and was closed.

Airport reopened in 1985 with a new facility being built about a mile north-northwest of original airfield. By 1990s entire facility being redeveloped into an industrial area, although most of original facility still in a state of disuse with deteriorating buildings.

Facilities and aircraft

Hicks Airfield covers an area of 77 acres (31 ha) at an elevation of 855 feet (261 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 14/32 with an asphalt surface measuring 3,740 by 60 feet (1,140 x 18 m).

For the 12-month period ending March 7, 2009, the airport had 31,000 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 84 per day. At that time there were 327 aircraft based at this airport: 92% single-engine, 6% multi-engine, 1% helicopter and 1% ultralight.

See also

• Texas World War II Army Airfields

Other sources

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
• Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
• Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas ASIN: B000NYX3PC

External links

• Hicks Airfield, official website
• Taliaferro Field / Hicks Field at Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
• Template:PDFlink at Texas DOT Airport Directory
• Resources for this airport:
  • FAA airport information for T67
  • AirNav airport information for T67
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for T67