View source for James Connally Air Force Base

{{Short description|Former USAF base,  now TSTC Waco Airport.}}
{{for|the civil use of this facility after 1968|TSTC Waco Airport}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox military structure
| name=James Connally Air Force Base<br>{{smaller|Waco Army Airfield}}
| ensign=[[File:Tactical Air Command Emblem.svg|50px]]
| partof=Tactical Air Command
| location= [[Waco, Texas]]
| image= James Connally Air Force Base - Texas - 2006.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption= Aerial photo of Connally Air Force Base, 2006
| pushpin_map= Texas
| pushpin_label=James Connally AFB
| pushpin_mapsize=200
| pushpin_map_caption=Location of James Connally Air Force Base, Texas
| coordinates={{Coord|31|38|16|N|97|04|45|W|type:airport_region:US|display=inline,title}}
| type=Air Base
| code= 
| height= 
| ownership= 
| controlledby=[[United States Air Force]]
| condition= 
| built=1941
| builder= 
| used=1941-1966
| materials= 
| demolished= 
| battles= 
| events= 
| past_commanders= 
| garrison=[[Tactical Air Command]]
| occupants= 
}}
[[File:Waco Army Airfield - 44F Classbook.pdf|thumb|220px|Waco Army Air Field 1944 Classbook]]
'''James Connally Air Force Base''' was a [[United States Air Force]] base located north of [[Waco, Texas]]. After its closure in 1968, the airport reopened as [[TSTC Waco Airport]].

==History==

===World War II===
The airport opened May 5, 1942 as '''Waco Army Air Field''' and was the headquarters of the Army Air Force Central Instructors' School during [[World War II]]. It was deactivated after the war in 1945 but was reactivated in 1948 as a pilot training base under the [[Air Training Command]].

===Air Training Command===
Waco Field was renamed for Colonel James T. Connally who had been killed in Japan in 1945.  The airport was initially called '''Connally Air Force Base''' but the name evolved to also include his first name.

In 1951, pilot training was discontinued and replaced with academic and flight training for  navigators, radar operators, and bombardiers, with particular emphasis for those officers slated for eventual assignment to [[Strategic Air Command]]'s [[B-36 Peacemaker]] and its ever-increasing fleet of [[B-47 Stratojet]]s.

Pilot training returned in 1953 and an advanced jet pilot training organization with [[T-33 Shooting Star]]s was established in addition to navigator training in [[B-25|TB-25 Mitchells]].

In January 1958, the base became a support facility when the USAF located headquarters of [[Air Forces Southern|Twelfth Air Force]] (12 AF) in nearby Waco TX.  The Headquarters complex was located near 25th Street and Windsor Ave.  No remains of the buildings are present today.

In 1965, the Air Force began sharing the base with the State of Texas, the latter having established the James Connally Technical Institute (JCTI) of [[Texas A&M University]]. which would eventually become the main campus and headquarters of [[Texas State Technical Institute]] (TSTI).

===Tactical Air Command===
In 1966, [[Convair]] / [[General Dynamics]] also established a modification center at the base to modify [[B-58 Hustler]] bombers.

The [[602d Tactical Control Group]] was established at the base on 1 March 1966, but moved within two months to [[Bergstrom Air Force Base]], Texas.

===Base Closure===
In 1968, as part of a nationwide reduction in air force bases and naval air stations to stay within congressional funding limits while continuing to prosecute the war in Vietnam, James Connally AFB was closed.  All navigator training consolidated at [[Mather Air Force Base]], [[California]], and 12th Air Force relocated to [[Bergstrom Air Force Base]] in [[Austin, Texas]].  At this point, the facility was conveyed to the State of Texas by the [[General Services Administration]] (GSA).  The airport and the base facilities were used as a technical school while General Dynamics remained as a tenant performing modification work on various military aircraft.  The General Dynamics facility later ceased operation.

From January 2001 through January 2009, the former airfield of James Connally AFB  was used by [[Air Force One]] when US President [[George W. Bush]] visited his Prairie Chapel Ranch, also known as the Western White House, in [[Crawford, Texas]].

===Civilian Operations===
In 1984, ElectroSpace Systems Inc. (ESI) constructed a new hangar at the airport for aircraft modification that opened in 1985.  In 1987, Chrysler bought ESI and the facility was later named Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems or CTAS.  [[Chrysler]] subsequently sold the operation to [[Raytheon]] in 1996 which renamed the facility Raytheon Aircraft Integration Systems.  In 2002, Raytheon sold the facility to [[L-3 Communications]] and it is currently known as L-3 Communications Platform Integration Division (PID).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.l-3com.com/is/waco/wacoCorpHistory.html |title=L-3 Communications Integrated Systems |accessdate=2009-04-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220045434/http://www.l-3com.com/is/waco/wacoCorpHistory.html |archivedate=2009-12-20 }}</ref>

In 1991, TSTI was renamed Texas State Technical College (TSTC).

==See also==

* [[Texas World War II Army Airfields]]
* [[32d Flying Training Wing (World War II)]]

==References==
{{Commons category|Waco Army Airfield}} 
{{Air Force Historical Research Agency}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Tactical Air Command}}
{{USAAF Training Bases World War II}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in McLennan County, Texas]]
[[Category:Airports in Texas]]
[[Category:Installations of the United States Air Force in Texas]]
[[Category:Military installations closed in 1968]]
[[Category:Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Texas]]
[[Category:Waco, Texas]]
[[Category:1941 establishments in Texas]]
[[Category:1968 disestablishments in Texas]]
[[Category:Military installations established in 1941]]