South Plains Army Air Field

After the Army left, the field became Lubbock's airline gateway. Braniff, Continental and Pioneer had scheduled service by 1945, Pioneer merged into Continental in 1955, and jets came with Braniff in 1965 and Continental in 1966. Southwest began flying here on May 20, 1977, followed by American in 1981 and Delta in 1982; Braniff shut down in 1982 and Continental left the next year. The present terminal dates from about 1976, the airport was renamed for Governor Preston Smith in 2004, and it counted 520,181 boardings in 2019.

What the plaque says

South Plains Army Air Field During World War II, nine preliminary and advanced military glider pilot training fields operated in Texas; one of the most prominent sites was located here. The U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) leased Lubbock Municipal Airport, and with help from the City of Lubbock expanded it for glider training. Opened in October 1942, the site was initially named South Plains Army Flying School, and later renamed South Plains Army Air Field (SPAAF). The mission of SPAAF was ground and advanced flight training for glider pilots who flew the "Waco CG-4A" glider--the USAAF's primary glider during the war. During its tenure, SPAAF trained nearly 80% of America's combat glider pilots who served in major operations, such as Market Garden (Invasion of the Netherlands), Varsity (Invasion of Germany) and overlord (the "D-day" Allied Invasion of Normandy, France). SPAAF closed on April 1, 1945, more than a month before victory in Europe was declared. Designated surplus, the site was transferred to the War Assets Administration in December 1947. In 1949 the airfield returned to the City of Lubbock for municipal use, and in 1950 the city built a modern air terminal. Regional combat glider training facilities -- located in the Texas panhandle and South Plains -- were vital components of U.S. Military force projection capability during the war. In addition, the creation and maintenance of these bases contributed significantly to local economies during the war. In 1971, former glider pilots formed the National World War II Glider Pilots Association, Inc., providing the framework for the preservation of the history of the U.S. Combat Glider Program. Today, a key element in telling this story is the Silent Wings Museum, moved to this site and opened in October 2002. (2010)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Silent Wings Museum — steps away
  The museum of the American combat glider pilots of World War II, in Lubbock's old airport terminal on the field where most of them earned their wings.
• Lubbock Lake Landmark — 4.1 mi
  A bend of Yellow House Draw on Lubbock's north edge where digging has found nearly 12,000 years of people on the Southern High Plains, layer on layer, from Clovis to the 1880s.
• American Windmill Museum — 5.3 mi
  Lubbock's park of restored water-pumping windmills and early wind chargers, more than 70 of them turning outdoors and the rare ones under roof, with a megawatt-era turbine overhead.
• Buddy Holly Center — 5.5 mi
  The city's museum of Buddy Holly and West Texas music in a 1928 railway depot, with the house where the Crickets worked on That'll Be the Day moved next door.

More markers nearby

• W. G. McMillan Construction Company — steps away
• Site of Old Lubbock — 1.8 mi
• Migrant Labor Camps of Lubbock County — 4.2 mi
• Yellowhouse Canyon — 4.5 mi