Moore Field
Alton, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A United States aviation training field, originally financed by the nearby cities of Edinburg, McAllen and Mission, was started here in 1941. Named for Lt. Frank M. Moore, a pilot killed in World War I, it was used for the training of World War II airmen. After the field was closed in 1945, the facilities were shared by a tri-cities commercial airport and the Weaver H. Baker Memorial Tuberculosis Hospital. Reactivated as Moore Air Force Base during the Korean War of the 1950s, the site has housed research offices of the United States Department of Agriculture since 1960. (1981)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Financed by the neighboring cities of Edinburg, McAllen, and Mission, Moore Field opened in 1941 as a U.S. aviation training base, named for Lt. Frank M. Moore, a pilot killed in World War I. It trained airmen throughout World War II before closing in 1945, was reactivated during the Korean War, and since 1960 has housed research offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Its runways trace the long shadow of three American conflicts across a single Rio Grande Valley site.
Why it matters
Training fields like Moore turned rural America into the classroom of the air war, producing the thousands of pilots on whom mid-century American power depended.
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Related people
- · Frank M. Moore
Related events
- · World War II
- · Korean War
Themes & tags
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