Laughlin Army Air Field

The field changed names quickly. It became Laughlin Army Air Field on March 3, 1943, Laughlin Field on November 11, 1943, and later an Army Air Forces auxiliary field. It opened on July 2, 1942, as a bombardment school, and its mission changed that December. After it closed in October 1945, the land was leased to local ranchers as sheep pasture until the base reopened on May 1, 1952. Today Laughlin is the largest pilot-training base in the Air Force, and on weekdays its airfield has more takeoffs and landings than any other airport in the country.

What the plaque says

Laughlin Army Air Field With the need to train more pilots for military service during World War II, the U.S. Army established an air field east of Del Rio in 1942. The region's year-round good weather and vast areas of open ground offered near ideal flight training conditions. On July 2 of that year, the Army activated the field as what the local press called a "jaw-shattering title": The Army Air Forces Transition Flying School, Medium Bombardment. Lt. Col. E.W. Suarez oversaw construction of the base, which was accessible by U.S. Highway 90 and by the Southern Pacific rail line. Col. George W. Mundy became the base's commanding officer on December 26, 1942. Earlier in 1942, Del Rio native and Army pilot Lt. Jack Thomas Laughlin died in military action, becoming the first pilot from the community killed in World War II. He was shot down over the Java Sea while flying a B-17. Local citizens and U.S. Congressman Charles L. South petitioned the Army to name the base for Laughlin, which the Army agreed to in 1943. Laghlin's widow and the young daughter he never met attended the field's dedication that year, and Maj. Gen. Gerald C. Brant delivered a dedicatory speech. Instructors at the field trained experienced pilots on the Martin B-26 medium bomber, which was also known as the Marauder, the Widow Maker and the Flying Prostitute. Laughlin pilots went on to fly missions in both the European and Pacific theaters of the war. The Army closed the base at the end of the war but reopened it as Laughlin Air Force Base in 1952. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Felipe Creek — 5.4 mi
  The spring-fed creek that made Del Rio, rising from the third largest springs in Texas and running past swimming holes and a hike-and-bike trail through town.
• Val Verde Winery — 6.0 mi
  The family winery an Italian immigrant founded on Del Rio's irrigated land in 1883, which outlasted Prohibition by selling table grapes and kept Texas wine alive into the 1970s.
• Whitehead Memorial Museum — 6.1 mi
  A village of old Del Rio buildings set along a working irrigation canal, from an 1870 store to a 1925 doctor's office, with Judge Roy Bean buried on the grounds.
• Amistad National Recreation Area — 13 mi
  The American side of the reservoir the United States and Mexico finished in 1969 where three rivers meet, with painted shelters still reachable by boat when the water allows.

More markers nearby

• Lt. Jack T. Laughlin — steps away
• Military Aviation in Val Verde County — steps away
• Rudolf Anderson, Jr. — steps away
• San Felipe Independent School District — 5.0 mi