Details for Del Valle Army Air Base (Bergstrom Air Force Base)

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5507013778

Data

Marker Number 13778
Atlas Number 5507013778
Marker Title Del Valle Army Air Base (Bergstrom Air Force Base)
Index Entry Del Valle Army Air Base
Address 9515 New Airport Drive
City Austin
County Travis
UTM Zone 14
UTM Easting 628673
UTM Northing 3342813
Subject Codes World War II; aviation; military topics
Marker Year 2005
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Marker Location 9515 New Airport Drive, Hilton Hotel
Private Property No
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 27" x 42"
Marker Text (Bergstrom Air Force Base) Following the U.S. entry into World War II, the Army Air Corps established a base here in the Del Valle community on land once a part of the Santiago del Valle Mexican land grant. The City of Austin purchased 3,000 acres to lease to the federal government for use as an air base. Construction began in May 1942 after the removal of homes, churches and businesses, and the first units of the 316th Troop Carrier Group arrived in late September. The base was a replacement center for the First Troop Carrier Command, training pilots to transport combat troops and supplies. In March 1943, the base was renamed Bergstrom Army Air Field to honor Captain John August Earl Bergstrom, Austin's first casualty of war; he was killed at Clark Field in the Phillipines on December 8, 1941. The base name was shortened to Bergstrom Field in November 1943. Crews from Bergstrom saw duty in the invasions of Normandy, southern France, Holland and Germany. After the war, the air field became Bergstrom Air Force Base, assigned to the Continental Air Command, and planes from here participated in the Berlin Airlift, 1948-49. Over the next 50 years, Bergstrom served as part of both the Strategic Air Command and the Tactical Air Command, sending bombers and reconnaisance aircraft into combat theaters from Korea to Iraq. In 1968, the 12th Air Force moved its headquarters here to a newly completed circular building, nicknamed the "Roundagon." Bergstrom Air Force Base closed in 1992 in compliance with the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, and the city converted it to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in 1999. Texas in World War II, V+60 (2005)
ATLAS_NUM=5507013778

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