Del Valle Army Air Base (Bergstrom Air Force Base)
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(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)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Soon after the United States entered World War II, the Army Air Corps established an air base on Del Valle land once part of a Mexican land grant, with the City of Austin buying 3,000 acres to lease to the government. Opened in 1942 as a troop-carrier training center, it was renamed for Capt. John A. E. Bergstrom, Austin's first war casualty, killed at Clark Field in the Philippines in December 1941. Crews trained here flew in the invasions of Normandy and beyond, and over the next half-century the base served through the Berlin Airlift, Korea, and Iraq before closing in 1992 and becoming Austin's international airport in 1999.
Why it matters
From a WWII troop-carrier field to a Cold War strategic base to a civilian airport, Bergstrom traces the changing role of American military aviation and its lasting mark on Austin.
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Related people
- · John August Earl Bergstrom
Themes & tags
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