Goodfellow Air Force Base (Images of America)

By: Dr. John Garrett and CMSgt. Tom (Ret.)

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Synopsis: Goodfellow Air Force Base is one of the oldest installations in the US Air Force. It was the first of scores of flying training fields established across Texas and Oklahoma during World War II. What qualified San Angelo as the site for the first of the new fields did not, for the most part, distinguish it much from its neighbors. The clear skies and flat, forgiving terrain so desirable in the training of pilots were regional qualities. But San Angelo also had Bob Carr, a former military aviator who spearheaded a local effort to provide land, an important railroad spur, and key utility connections if the new pilot school were built nearby. Over the next eight decades, nurtured by a special relationship between city and base, Goodfellow has distinguished itself by training more than 400,000 pilots, intelligence operators, and firefighters for all the armed forces of the United States.