Reese Air Force Base
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Reese Air Force Base was a base of the United States Air Force located near Lubbock, Texas. The base was closed 30 September 1997 after being selected for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1995.
[edit] History
Construction of the Air Corps Advanced Flying School began in 1941 on land located about 10 miles (15 km) west of the city of Lubbock. The school name changed to the Lubbock Army Flying School before the first class of aviation cadets reported. The official dedication of the base took place on 21 June 1942. During World War II, the school trained 7,008 pilots. At the end of the War, many active military bases were no longer needed, so the War Department closed the base on 31 December 1945.
During the post-war years, the base was used as a meeting place for National Guard, Air Reserve, and Naval Reserve units. World events preceding the Korean War caused the reactivation of the base on 1 August 1949. In November Air Training Command renamed the installation Reese Air Force Base, in honor of 1Lt Augustus F. Reese, Jr., of Shallowater, Texas. Lieutenant Reese, assigned to the 1st Fighter Group, was killed in a bombing raid over Sardinia, Italy, on 14 May 1943.
The T-33, a single-engine jet, was the only training aircraft at Reese from January 1959 until the T-37 arrived in March 1961. The supersonic T-38 became the basic trainer in 1963 to permit qualification of pilots for quicker transition to larger and faster aircraft. From March 1965 to June 1973, a military version of the Cessna 172, the T-41 , was used. Reese began using the first operational instrument flight simulator in August 1977. The T-1A Jayhawk, the first new training aircraft to be added to the U.S. Air Force inventory in 30 years, arrived at Reese on 18 January 1992.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission indicated the base for closure in 1995, and the base was finally closed in 1997.
Currently, the city of Lubbock has designated it as a business park. There is an office of the police academy there, and South Plains College uses some of the facilities for classes. In addition, the runways are used by model airplane pilots. It recently hosted "Jetfest", an event centered around model jet airplanes.
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
