Biggs Army Airfield
El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Military aviation in El Paso began circa 1913 at what had been the first location of the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy on Fort Bliss. Used by the 1st Aero Squadron in support of the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, 1916-17, Fort Bliss Field became home to the Border Air Patrol, 1919-21. On January 5, 1925, the War Department renamed it for James B. "Buster" Biggs, a native El Pasoan and World War I fighter pilot killed in France in 1918. In 1926, six years after activation of the 8th Airship Company, the field relocated to Camp Owen Bierne, north of the Fort Bliss cantonment area. During World War II, the Army expanded the runway and added new facilities on adjacent land east of Camp Bierne. With the improvements, Biggs Field became an important training base and headquarters for the 20th Bombardment Command of the Second Air Force. It also served as a key transient point for new aircraft en route from West Coast factories to the European Theater. With the establishment of the U.S. Air Force as a separate military branch in 1947, Biggs Field became Biggs Air Force Base on February 1, 1948. The arrival of the 97th Bomb Wing marked its inclusion into the Strategic Air Command, resulting in the need for further expansion. Declared inactive as an Air Force base in 1966, Biggs once again came under U.S. Army command, and it is the largest of the Army's airfields. Capable of accommodating all aircraft, Biggs Army Airfield has supported National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space shuttle ferry flights since 1979. Today, through a variety of aviation activities, the airfield continues to support military operations at Fort Bliss. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
El Paso's military aviation story began around 1913 at Fort Bliss and matured through the 1st Aero Squadron's support of the 1916–17 Punitive Expedition into Mexico. In 1925 the War Department named the field for James B. "Buster" Biggs, a local World War I fighter pilot killed in France in 1918. Expanded into a major World War II bomber training base and later a Strategic Air Command post, it became Biggs Army Airfield in 1966 and has since supported operations including NASA space shuttle ferry flights.
Why it matters
Biggs charts the birth and growth of American military aviation across a century of conflict, from horseback pursuits along the border to the jet and space age.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early years of the twentieth century, El Paso sat at the busy seam between the United States and Mexico, a desert crossroads where the U.S. Army kept a large presence at Fort Bliss. The Progressive Era was a time of restless invention, and nothing captured that spirit more than the airplane, barely a decade old when it first buzzed over the Franklin Mountains.
Military flight in El Paso began around 1913, on ground that had first served as the Texas School of Mines and Metallurgy. That a fledgling mining school and a fledgling air service should share the same patch of Fort Bliss soil is a fitting emblem of the age: the frontier of the American Southwest was becoming a frontier of technology.
The border itself was tense. Revolution churned in Mexico, and the U.S. Army watched the line closely. Into that unsettled landscape came a machine that could do what cavalry never had — see over the horizon.
People & events
The field's first real test came with the Punitive Expedition of 1916–17, when the Army pushed into Mexico under General John J. Pershing in pursuit of the revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa. The 1st Aero Squadron flew in support, and El Paso's field became one of the earliest proving grounds for American military aviation in the field rather than the classroom.
The field carries the name of a hometown son. James B. "Buster" Biggs was a native El Pasoan who became a fighter pilot in World War I and was killed in France in 1918. On January 5, 1925, the War Department renamed the field in his honor — a local boy's memory fixed to the place where his city first learned to fly.
From there the story only grew. After serving as home to the Border Air Patrol and, briefly, an airship company, the field relocated and then expanded dramatically during World War II, becoming a training base and headquarters for the 20th Bombardment Command of the Second Air Force, and a waystation for new aircraft ferried from West Coast factories toward the war in Europe.
Its place in the American story
Biggs is a single site that traces the entire arc of American air power. It begins with canvas-and-wire biplanes scouting for a horseback pursuit along the border, passes through the massed bomber fleets of World War II, and enters the Cold War when the arrival of the 97th Bomb Wing folded it into the Strategic Air Command — the nuclear-age force built to fly anywhere on earth.
When the U.S. Air Force became a separate branch in 1947, the field became Biggs Air Force Base in 1948. Declared inactive as an Air Force base in 1966, it returned to Army control and today is the largest of the Army's airfields, able to handle aircraft of any size.
Few places let you stand in one spot and see a century of flight. From 1979 onward Biggs even supported NASA space shuttle ferry flights, a reminder that the same runways that once launched border patrols later helped move spacecraft — the desert field keeping pace with each new frontier of the sky.
If you visit
Biggs sits within the vast expanse of Fort Bliss, and the first thing to take in is simply the scale of the place — a runway built to swallow the largest aircraft ever made. The wide desert light and the Franklin Mountains on the horizon give you a sense of why aviators favored this country: enormous skies and clear air.
Read the marker slowly and let the dates do their work. Picture the same ground in four different eras — a wood-framed mining school, a line of fragile biplanes, ranks of World War II bombers, and the sleek jets of the Cold War — all layered on one field.
On a road trip through West Texas, Biggs pairs naturally with El Paso's other border and military history; it makes a fine anchor for a day spent thinking about how a frontier town became a century-long chapter in the story of American flight.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · James B. "Buster" Biggs
- · John J. Pershing
- · Francisco "Pancho" Villa
Related events
- · Punitive Expedition (1916-17)
- · World War I
- · World War II
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