Rattlesnake Bomber Base

The base took the name of a town that had already boomed once. Pyote began as Pyote Tank, a Texas and Pacific telegraph office of 1881, and its name is credited either to Chinese railroad workers' pronunciation of coyote or to the region's peyote cacti. Most town lots sold at a three-day barbecue in 1907. After the Hendrick oilfield opened in 1926, Pyote became the area's oil trading and shipping center, with 3,500 people by 1928 and thirty-one rooming houses and hotels. A railroad spur to Monahans ended the boom, and by 1941 Pyote had 201 people.

What the plaque says

Rattlesnake Bomber Base Nicknamed for the numerous rattlesnake dens that were uncovered during its construction, Pyote Army Air Base was established in 1942 to train replacement crews for bombers during World War II. Located on 2,700 acres of University of Texas land, the base consisted of two 8,400-foot runways, five large hangars, and hundreds of buildings used to house 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers an 2,000 civilians. On Jan. 1, 1943, the 19th Bombardment Group (later known as the 19th Combat Crew training B-17 bomber crews. Pyote came to be highly regarded as a top training field, and its crews set many new records for flying hours. This reputation continued after the transition to B-29s was made in July 1944. During the post-war years, the base served as a storage facility, at one time housing as many as 2,000 aircraft, including the "Enola Gay", the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb. Pyote also was used for a short time as a radar station, but by 1966 it was no longer economical to maintain such a large base for so small an operation, and the facility was closed. (1984)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Million Barrel Museum — 16 mi
  An oil reservoir that could not hold oil, then a water park that lasted one day, now a museum in Monahans with the story of the Pyote bomber base beside it.
• Roy Orbison Museum — 16 mi
  A volunteer-run room in the oil town where Roy Orbison spent his high school years, opened on request, with a guitar he played and his tinted prescription sunglasses.
• Monahans Sandhills State Park — 20 mi
  A small corner of a 200-mile dune field east of the Pecos, where fresh water lies just under the sand and a forest of shin oak grows no higher than your knee.

More markers nearby

• Ward County — 3.8 mi
• Willow Springs — 11 mi
• Roy Orbison — 16 mi
• Million Barrel Tank — 16 mi