Posted: 1/15/2016 9:24:01 PM EDT
This is a neat little museum that is kind of overlooked because of its location out in the middle of West Texas, and because it is fairly close to the more well-known Commemorative Air Museum in nearby Midland. This is a shame because the museum is well done - well worth a stop if you are traveling I-20. It is set up in a restored WWII-era hangar and tells the story of when the Big Spring airport used to be a bombardier training base in WWII and a USAF pilot training base in the 50s-70s. There are 3 planes outside, 5 planes inside, along with interpretive displays telling about bombardier and pilot training, including a Norden bombsight and a fairly complete collection of training class yearbooks. Interestingly, they also have a B-52 cockpit trainer that people are allowed to climb inside, with all the switches and buttons and levers for all the crew positions.
http://hangar25airmuseum.org/main/index.asp
From the history section of their website:
"Construction of the Army Air Forces Bombardier School on a plateau approximately two miles southwest of Big Spring, Texas began on May 15, 1942. The purpose of the installation was to train aviation cadets in high altitude precision bombing. Training consisted primarily of ground school courses and practice missions over a target area larger than some of the nation's smaller states. The post proper covered an area of 1,280 acres. The first class of cadets (118 men) arrived Sept. 16, 1942, to begin bombardier training in the B-18 and the AT-11 training aircraft. After an intense three month course, the class graduated, exactly one year and ten days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor... The forty-second class of cadets to finish the school completed the course of training and received the silver wings of bombardiers on Sept 26, 1945. At that time, nearly 6,000 students had graduated and the field's training aircraft had flown approximately 400,000 hours and more than 60 million miles. Over 1,200,000 practice bombs had been released on nearby bombing ranges. While engaged in this huge training program and under wartime conditions, only four fatal accidents occurred.
Big Spring Air Force Base, was activated on October 1, 1951 on the 1300 acre site of the former Big Spring Army Air Field, a World War II Bombardier Training School... The base was renamed on May 18, 1952 to memorialize Lt. James L. Webb, a Big Spring native and World War II combat pilot, killed in the crash of his P-51 off the Japanese coast in 1949. For the six years prior to its reactivation by the Air Force, the facility served as the Big Spring Municipal Airport. Many of its World War II buildings had been removed or dismantled, so a $3,133,000 construction program was begun to provide the necessary facilities to train jet pilots, including a new runway and extensive parking aprons... With the end of war in Vietnam and a decreased need for Air Force pilots, as well as with the advent of a Carter administration determined to cut defense expenditures, Webb's days were numbered. Rumors came true in the spring of 1977 with the announcement that the base would be shut down. The last commander of the 78th FTW, Col. Harry A. Spannaus, made his own final flight from Webb AFB in a T-38 Talon on September 2, 1977. Within hours of his flight, the last remaining planes from Webb had been flown to Reese AFB, near Lubbock, TX and other ATC bases. By then, just over 14,000 pilots had received their silver wings at Webb AFB. The base was formally deactivated on September 30, 1977 and the property became the responsibility of the Big Spring Industrial Airpark, whose first manager was the newly retired Col. Spannaus."
http://hangar25airmuseum.org/main/history1.html
Outside display aircraft: T-33, Harrier, F-100:
Inside display- AT-11, T-28, T-33 visible:
Norden bombsight display:
"Briefing room" with reference library and patch collections:
B-52 trainer inside hangar:
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