Warbird Information Exchange

Was just wondering if you fellas ever made it out to Marfa AAFB, or maybe Pyote AAFB. I"m stuck too far away to get down there as of yet, but Marfa especially looked almost completely preserved, although abandoned. If you happened to have gone, photos would be great to see. Thanks.

Hi George, I've not been to Marfa but I sure would like to but I do believe it is on private property now , Scot
Here's a link that I hope helps:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27185

I visited Marfa a few weeks ago and other than the remnants of the main gate, there's little if anything remaining to view from the road. The site is in fact on fenced private property, but conveniently a very nice viewing platform with telescopes has been erected due north of the site along Highway 90 to provide viewing of the "Marfa Lights" (a phenomenon along the distant mountain range that been documented as far back as the mid-1880's). Using those binocs you can see two distinct concrete foundations that still remain, the basement under one of which reportedly still has artwork applied by German POW's while they were interned there during the war.

I was actually kind of disappointed since the Google Earth image shows what would appear to be a fairly intact base with roads, structures, and runways still clearly outlined. Almost none of this is visible from the road, even from a slightly elevated position with binocs looking over essentially flat terrain.

As a side note, if you look roughly 45 degrees to the right of the base from that position, you'll be looking at the movie set where the outdoor portions of "There Will Be Blood" was filmed. It's about 7 miles away, deep in the desert and well away from the road, so there's nothing really to see, but its there FWIW.

BEAUTIFUL cointryside, especially once you being traveling south toward the Presidio border region.

_________________
Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

George,

I haven't been able to get down to Marfa to document the base either. Once we get Chuckie back on the flight line things will hopefully calm down enough that we can start airfield exploring again. Rob, I have heard from others that you have to get "inside the fence" at Marfa to see much of anything. It certainly appears from the aerial shots that all the concrete and asphalt is still there, which is a big plus for us cantonment buffs. I'm reminded of places like Pampa and Dodge City where only traces of the runways and a couple of buildings remain. At least the concrete recyclers have left Marfa's cement alone. Steve, I never got around to checking with the property owner to see if a visit is possible. And to anyone else interested in these old facilities, make sure you get permission to explore first!

As for Pyote, Ellen and I had intended to go exploring there with Gary this winter.

Scott

Appreciate the info,guys. That was a great report on Pyote, Steve. I really enjoyed reading it again.

So some ole boy just went and bought the whole base at Marfa? Wonder what he's up to. I have read that a couple of old bomb storage buildings are used for art. Seems kinda remote for art museums, but who knows.

Would have been interesting if you could have gotten permission to get through the gate and been able to check the place out, Rob.

George,

You'd be surprised at how many former/abandoned military installations are owned by private citizens. In some cases airfields were acquired by municipalities to become civilian airports, but the out-of-the way fields like Marfa often were taken "off-lease" and in some cases reverted back to the original landowners. There was a messy process involved in selling off the buildings by the War Assets Administration and Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Usually the structures went up for auction and a land purchase agreement was hashed out with farmers or real estate men. Some good examples of airfields reverting to their original uses exist at Pampa, Texas and Dodge City, Kansas. In the case of Pampa, the runways and taxiways are gone and the apron is now used by a large dairy. Dodge is much the same, very little reminds you of an airfield except for a couple of buildings, but a big cattle feeder has a feedlot there. Walker AAF in central Kansas is privately owned also, and all the concrete, including runways and taxiways, is still there. Walker is what it was before the war, a large pasture.

Scott