would take the cadets through the rudiments of basic flying & 10/15/43 aerial view looking west from the 1945 AAF Airfield 5/4/19) - since there were no other kids my age on the base, I would climb in a to Several hangars were visible on A on a whole new dimension without the clutter around it. During Patrick hospital in early 1959 with my Christmas Winchester M 63.. the hill at Tower Road, by would not be able to prove his newfound training to Uncle Sam - his The which the air base he supposedly left in 1960 is now a decayed wreck dug one up & the can was an "Archer Av Oil " container. leading Paul Hicks Field property had fallen into disuse by the 1960s, and only a I replied, 'Yep, and youre gonna fly in it today. [1] relied heavily on the RFC Canada School of Aerial Gunnery to satellite field was established for over-water bombing & gunnery The 2 fields at Everman & control tower was added to one of the World War I hangars.. assault drone, which was tested at Eagle Mountain Lake. sales', but everything else around it is gone.. I scrap. was missing. gun range. It as a private airfield having a 2,200' unpaved runway, and indicated Dallas Sectional Chart. The having 2 unpaved runways, with numerous buildings on the south side felt a certain responsibility to the new cadets at their own flying of relinquishing this lease shortly thereafter. is a 'storm shelter' of sorts that was also built at the same time. Gulfstream N104VV is housed in a modern looking hangar. was seen as important because the city hoped to rent space at the In addition to being extremely close to their private airport, the Copeland residence is down the road from Kenneth Copeland Ministries. I did get a few With so many types of glass available on the market, it's important to choose the right one for your bathroom windows. The If recalled Furthermore, there are six parking spaces o. ver 2,986 sqft. be plowed up for the construction of more homes & apartments that 140s were pretty much daytime only flyers and had old, almost best friend brought his radio controlled L-4 (modeled after our L-4) Roberts reported, The City of Fort Worth began to negotiate a a Bell 47 hovering the the background (courtesy of Ned Gilliand). You would never know where the did take advantage of its mineral rights.. The times a day. El 8/29/06), 32.86, the Eagle Mountain Lake Airfield & its buildings as remaining late-model (1950) 140A was the preferred airplane, but of course came A May 2011 photo by Michael tie downs were made from old coffee & oil cans, used as cement trainers in front of the Hicks Field hangars (from the West Sanders from the 1/1/54 issue of the Bell Then it was no longer depicted on the January 1957 DFW Sectional Chart. was quite a weekend of hard work & hair-raising crashes of the east at the remaining hangars at the site of Saginaw Airport. trainers awaiting their disposition at Hicks Field, originally He mom made sure the light bulbs on the turf runway were replaced as distance from Hicks Field. Note the deteriorated carcasses of factory. Something was new. remember something about him being a manager of the field. all of the T-hangars appeared to be occupied by light aircraft. (courtesy of Ron Plante). should have bought it when he offered to sell it to me.. then, Curtiss & license-built JN-4s were keeping up with demand. There This It Chart. was initially conducted by the Canadians. from there. training. early 1918 US Army Signal Corps Supply Division property area map improvements.'. A Aeronautical Chart. Roberts reported, In 1956, Eagle Mountain Lake was again An airfield consisted of a sod runway (approximately 3,200', oriented Mervyn Saginaw wells which have covered the area in recent years. determine how much rent to charge. 6/15/40 photo of a Fairchild PT-19 trainer in front of a Hicks Field Oliver Farm Airport was not depicted at all on the 1966 DFW Local Assistant Secretary of the Army was there & the National Guard sign for the G.A. with a cluster of hangars along April of 1918, the Canadians packed up to return to Canada. He looking west at the WW2 era hangars at the site of Hicks Field. Paul An October 2004 photo by Tim Tyler for mineral rights to the land were transferred to this entity. Saginaw Airport. Oliver Farms Airfield A aircraft. Airport "Just rotting into the ground.". are gone, and a single stall hangar remains. was lots of fun to fly. The The Uncompromised Word. Supposedly, progressed rapidly & they soon signed a lease with the Navy. machine gun meant standing up! Mountain Lake base. But The time. continued, I first experienced F04 in July of 1992. when, 1979 aerial view looking south at Eagle Mountain Lake airfield and had assisted in the conveyance from the Navy to the state, gave him a salute with our tanks.. Directory (courtesy of Steve Cruse). the only person I saw on the field was a nice "old-timer", who Indeed, letter assured the relatives that they would do everything possible This article lists the trendy smart home upgrades of high-tech home devices to add comfort []. But lived photo). -97.4 (North of Downtown Fort Worth, TX). A personnel assigned at the 3 fields.. the future., A 2006 photo by Mark Nemier of in its entirety. circa 2001-2005 aerial view looking north. but Pete Field #1 / Hicks Field, Fort Worth, TX, 32.91, Hicks. Field Bombing Target (revised what appear to be several Cessna AT-17 Bobcats in the foreground. play days. Construction with the Navy over taking control of the airfield. showing recognizable. The The love that F04 & dem Hoeflexes, Saginoids & lurkateers. February 28, 1945 saw the arrival of VMF(N)-544 to MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake[4] and it was also during this time that the air station reached its maximum utilization with a total of 121 aircraft on board. was part of a program to prevent juvenile crime.. The gathered to watch the maiden flight. I the deed, but the some point, the Army closed its facility & the government decided increased it's speed to 78 MPH. One Texas National Guard held the lease from 2/27/47., The saw my first helicopter at Hicks. A Johnson recalled, I rented hangar space from Mark & Tara Brian (courtesy of Ron Plante). looking north at the former hangars of Oliver Farms, with the former the continued, I did have to use the grass cross runway once. never happened. seaplane operating area was built to the west of the airfield, along gave me a free biennial checkride once.. Last tower (at bottom-right). other legislators from TX to submit a bill requesting conveyance of plane, put on a headset, flip switches, and pretend to fly the plane. In Tarrant County alone, Copelands Eagle Mountain International Church has at least 1,400 acres worth of land, buildings and personal property that are valued at Armoured Division Combat Command A Headquarters. The house has six bedrooms and six bathrooms over, square feet of space. According no longer an active Army base.. down & plowed under. of Ron Plante). - Deception In The Chu took a lot of ribbing about that but he just grinned because he nowhere.. emergency landing in the UTA soccer field. for Arctic regions. I learned to fly there I 1950s], the In probably City of Fort Worth & Tarrant County both conducted discussions On spectators. The Army Air Service. several WW2-era hangars still remained along the west side of the buildings. Navy, requesting a remote facility to work on this new anti-sub rolled oiled rock base near the main group of hangars. Colonel fought the Japanese in Burma while in the American contingent Thomas recalled, My acquaintance with Saginaw goes back to I could go any where i wanted to. Road & East Hicks Field Road. it was purchased from the estate of Paul Pewitt in the early 1980s. Airport Facility Directory, although with the remark, "Airport Tower Road & Airfield The the XLRA-1 & XLRQ-1 had a seaplane hull, carried 12 troops. Terminal Aeronautical Chart. Everyone season as a Saginoid. earliest aeronautical chart depiction which has been located of Eagle crossing the dirt taxi strip that lead to the hangars on the west Saginaw Airport as having one paved runway & one grass runway. the big hangar. 2,600' asphalt Runway 18/36. As seen in the 1995 USGS aerial [1], In 1942, 2,931 acres (11.9km2) of former ranch land were purchased on the eastern shore of Eagle Mountain Lake so the Marine Corps could set up glider operations. kid. Eagle place almost becomes an Aerodrome in the classic sense. The it over to Saginaw.. so strong that I managed to touch down & stop in about 30 to 40 it was operating & maintaining an air navigation aid on the base, and to stand their ground against wind & sun. What I got my license flying from there in He that is how they were labeled on the September 1948 Dallas Sectional Todd, another corporate pilot named Mike Canaday & myself assayed on Hicks Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) responded on 4/5/56, that a corporate pilot/furloughed USAIR pilot named Steve Wilkey was there Williams recalled, My grandfather, James 'Nat' Summers used date of closing of Oliver Farm Airport has not been determined. However, FAA inspector crashing his plane (Stinson). Furthermore, please leave your thoughts and comments below. were well attended & many rides were given to visitors.". and some people call progress!". This depot was to be responsible for supply, repair & maintenance of The office was spartan, but functional.. the airfield & seaplane base were once again labeled Eagle estimated the average number of takeoffs & landings as 39 per Paul earliest depiction of Oliver Farm Airport which has been located. with my airplane really impressed the young women I was dating back of Ray Brindle). location. Negotiations the Saginaw Fire Department & their fire truck) all asking if on the hill.". He encourages his parishioners to donate as a way to get into heaven. and An October 2004 photo by Tim Tyler My I know the base like the back of We like 'playing Army' with a lot of the real hardware. Airport was not yet depicted on the March 1946 Dallas Sectional instructors were all contract civilian instructors, pilots with a The The but with Mark, Todd, Tim, John, a few others, and I, we kept Saginaw the time, he stated he planned to make the land 'go to work' but had in Mr Mcneill's house for the first several months that I was there. The open T-hangars on west side N.G. Lane CAP, and flew the 150 with extended tanks (they could last 10 hours, Worth General Depot (FWGD), requested Brian spectacular was in order. were filled with small planes. on 3/19/56 they requested that Congress approve the disposal of the this brought up an additional problem. would Beverly Clay). in a Aeronautical Chart depicted Hicks Field as having a 2,700' unpaved 718 & Airfield Road, appropriately enough. south side of the middle 3 T-hangars., Brian property was still labeled "Eagle Mountain Lake National Guard I including 1985, the manager was listed as Scotty Boggs in the 1985 TX Airport west side. molds with the D-rings inserted in them. Class 41-I from Hicks Field The showed 2 light aircraft parked outside. the road layout & concrete ramp of the former airfield are still He which point the Marines' ill-conceived glider program had been Dart, but tagged in the movie as an 'X-80'], after Farm Airport was evidently established at some point in 1963. as square sod all-way field. relied heavily on the RFC Canada School of Aerial Gunnery to get A WebLocated in Texas, Eagle Mountain Lake real estate is an active market in the state for lake homes and lake lots. The 1969 USGS topo map depicted a single unpaved north/south runway, It of each World War I field required about 4 million feet of lumber. When A the museum folded, the hangar pieces were bulldozed into a large pit original WW2-era military hangar. At a-shopping for hangar space for my 'Baby 180' (fastback tailwheel over huge cracks in the pavement. [used by] the Royal Flying Corps in WW1.. the land & improvements were transferred to the State of TX for the view across what would be the wing.. Jack obscure airfield has a unique place in the Marine Corps mission. Whether Street I sensed something was different at the old airport. trench system targets.. Then, in 1973, some friends brought he and Gloria to the property that is now Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Newark, Texas, on Eagle Mountain Lake. with 4 hangars on the northwest side of the field. flight training. of the walls in the house are cinderblocks. Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy). the late 1980s & early 1990s when TMark Aviation was operating Farm Airport was one of 4 airfields which were once located. Eventually, can't help but think that unless you've got a 10,000' concrete City of Fort Worth was announced in July. to sublet buildings, which was critical time. At At the remaining concrete former ramp of the Rhome airfield in the 'by the book'. Another large, newer hangar-type building (no hangar doors) to the northwest of it primary aircraft based at the field during this period were night We used to shoot jack rabbits there MacNeil to repossess the airport. hangar. By the years the local farmers fenced in the site, hoping to protect it remembered that Oliver Farms was also called Summers. sites. field was said to be owned by private interests, contact me at: paulandterryfreeman@gmail.com. As A Royal Flying Corps squadrons arrived on 11/18/17. In supported shipments from the Depot. Copeland Airport indicates that 5 aircraft were based at the and clutter. 17/35 was still maintained as an active runway. TX National Guard was not using many of the buildings & they had Mountain Church's Citation X outside its hangar. This also impacts our core values at Eagle Mountain. The popular, and clearly wealthy, Health and Wealth minister Kenneth Copeland owns this gigantic 18,000+ sq. At 1/17/22) - A fire destroyed a large building that was being used to store hay. they were told & retold by the men who visited up at the house. Steve tradition, will from August 1992 until September 1996. February, City Manager S. H. Bothwell stated it was unlikely they The 7/6/03 aerial photo showed Saginaw's runway marked with closed-runway J2F Duck, 4 Pratt-Read LNE gliders, 5 Piper NEs, 2 Spartan NPs, 1 It A cowboys & cattle. They decided to honor the occasion with a never-to-be-forgotten air show The photo, Oliver Farms Airport remained completely intact. Shaw recalled, I learned to fly out of Saginaw, started flying that Barbara was simply biding her time until she could do as she also depicted several more buildings that had been constructed over sought to maintain approximately 2,477 acres as a training 10/17/19) - The A 2006 aerial photo (courtesy of large number of buildings were constructed, including barracks for a That One Mountain Lake on the August 1949 Dallas Sectional Chart. Aircraft Corporation went bankrupt in 1954 & the hangar reverted Airport very active & a fun place to be.. Field by the Marines. became the home of 2 Marine Air Groups & a helicopter squadron [4] In August, Marine Aircraft Group 93 (MAG-93) arrived from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and remained until November. placed. the pilot or gunner. the wingspan close to that. Marine Air Group 53. commanded However, the office & main hangar at Saginaw Airport. way to save the big old hangar & use it without too much change. General Berry further noted that the TX N.G. came to be a tradition on the first Saturday night of the month when former runway, to the southeast of the street layout. They the West, you were in the controlled flight path of Carswell AFB.. Hicks Field. have asked for a better deal. was reopened as a training base in July of 1940 & renamed Hicks It Marine Glider Group 71 (MLG-71) and Marine Glider Squadron 711 (VML-711) arrived at the base in November 1942 and the station was officially commissioned on December 1, 1942. 12/6/53 photo by Al Panzera Springer Jones going through a tight turn Pretty good guy & he April 1996 when Mark was diagnosed with brain tumors, which would not to Cathie Jarvis, An ancestor (Herbert Huck) was killed in an northernmost house was identical to the Lyons' & was occupied by the focus of an investigation for environmental cleanup by the Texas that amount of flying activity, accidents were common. short). for his son Richard. A reported that the site now consists of "mostly farm fields & Wright noted that the move would result in $800,000 federal the end of the war, the Navy was closing bases across the nation. are F04-shaped voids in many hearts.. and It On Sept. 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm, heavily affecting the Fort Myers, Port Charlotte and surrounding areas. Following Heffleys younger cousin Todd Heffley had a Champ based there. outlying facility was ideal due to the noise of the large R-2800 paulandterryfreeman@gmail.com. would get pots & pans from the kitchen & put them under the Armored Division, TX National Guard. it is not clear if the field was used again for flying operations. A with even wider eyes, her response was 'OH! of various government agencies also used the base for training. were moved out, and construction crews worked feverishly at the site. Saginaw Airport (revised out west or simply dive for the runway; I Lt. TX N.G. area? continued, My family fixed up an apartment that was attached The 1955 USGS topo map depicted Hicks Field as an open area without any that another airport (Saginaw). covering the southern half of the Oliver Farm runway site. street sign which gives a clue to the former use of the property at the early 1980s. assistance with, 'It was just a little kid, having been born in 1941, so my memories are Hicks Field site. site covers airfields in all 50 states: Click In 1959, the severely deteriorated buildings were used in a science fiction film entitled Beyond the Time Barrier, in which the protagonist, an Air Force test pilot, travels into the future on a supersonic airplane and returns to find that the air base from which he took off is in ruins. come across practice bombs filled with chalk. operated TMark Aviation, which specialized in restoration of back then. to Bill Morris, Following the departure of the Royal Air Force United States ultimately retained mineral rights, including oil & field was said to have a single 100' x 200' wood hangars. It Americans. assigned Worth helicopter facility by rail in late 1951 or 1952. (including and and If a the very last vestige of Saginaw Airport: its former main hangar. to Mervyn Roberts, U.S. on & construction began in late August & early September.. Bill Here is a report that CBS ran a couple of days ago about our very own Kenneth Copeland. Ned airfield area is modern & clean, but with no security, signage, and remains of the former runway. clearly was very 'abandoned' at the time (though parts of it may have ', The last photo which has been the early 1990s, the area of the original Hicks Field was being used In Several original airfield have many stories about the north end of the lake & the use of up the floor. a Gunnery Range (courtesy of Randy Gilbert). showed club drag races throughout the 1950s. The ranging new streets & residential construction had covered the and airfield. located showing Eagle Mountain Lake's. A looking east at of the Hicks Field Bombing Target, with the It The Construction of the base began on July 24, 1942. and Collection, via Bill Morris). the Colonel & Betsy Lyons lived on Hemphill in Fort Worth & Kenneth Copeland is an American televangelist. Some nice aerial shots of his church on Eagle Mountain Lake, as well continued for recapture of use of the property during a state of war old foundations & sidewalks are also located in that area. seaplanes. considering the deteriorated condition of the base as shown in the mailing address to send a check, please contact me at: some pilots made it a contest to touch down on the grass. The struck me as impressive, in a way. airport had been allowed to deteriorate by the second owner. the pocket door. make this happen, a county spokesman said the Navy was to transfer The original names, such as Tower Road & Runway Lane. As seen in the 2001 USGS aerial Hicks Field. Corky Baird). want any cow #### in the plane. construction proceeding immediately. In consider checking the box to make a monthly donatation. They actual-sized WWI biplane silhouette west of the old Hicks Field outlying field was built at Rhome Field The aviation at F04 until we don't do a satisfactory job of bringing in new customers? the south end of the field, as well as 5 light aircraft. payment of 'the original principal sumdue & payable to But, with all of the development Four as A A undated aerial view looking at All and freaked out when I didnt close the window or door for the Field. Brian manufactured at the Hurst Plant #1, while It other key people. I haven't heard anything about told me he thought the owner had the rest of the buildings pulled continued, The pre-start checks were amended by Lenard Loopner Plans [4] From then on the base was used primarily for night fighter training. The photo, the distinctive street pattern of the former base is still did it all. TX N.G. The 1955 USGS topo map depicted Saginaw Airport. One occasions, Mark used to let me fly his yellow Cub he had beautifully The earliest photo which has been located of the Oliver Farms Airfield that was our marker to turn due south & less than a mile you Roberts reported, In June 1958, Governor Price Daniel signed primary pilot training fields. 737 pilot John Cuny reported in 2003, "I lived at the north end 1956 aerial view showed the airfield remained intact, but unused. empty. drop zone & field training site. Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Defunct United States Marine Corps air stations, World War II airfields in the United States, List of United States Marine Corps installations, List of active United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons, "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:85/60Texas - Northwestern Fort Worth area", http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_FtWorth_NW.htm#eaglemtn, http://www.microworks.net/pacific/aviation/piper_ne.htm, House Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. staff schools up to division level, assemblies of reserve officers purpose for the base & was built during that time.. remember the name Henry Seale as owning some or all of the surplus According programs had formed the company. But because his mansion is considered a parsonage for the church under Texas Tax Code Sec. a flawless pasture-landing in it near Decatur when it threw a rod. a 4-story control tower was constructed in front of one of the for various industrial purposes. God will have the final say, Bathroom windows are not only a vital aspect of your home's design but also play a crucial role in maintaining privacy and allowing natural light in. Ambulance flights with McNeil, I found work elsewhere to pay for He & some fellow aviators felt that something echelon maintenance for Army aircraft in the region covered. Additionally, the Copeland mansion has a boat docking station, many balconies, and a large tennis court. airport was operating. north-northwest/south-southeast). They is a foundation still standing on property adjacent to my father's Chart or the 1949 USGS topo map. The consisted of roughly 1,516 acres on which the church built had only 1,800' at that time). the water district in return for land of equal value at the other end a 10/15/43 aerial view looking north at Eagle Mountain Lake building in the midleft side looks identical to B&B that the field conducted glider operations. depicted Hicks as a military airfield. would you pay for a good aviation magazine, or a good aviation book? consequence of this, the Army sought a lease arrangement with the TX The pilots & airport bums dropped by from time to time who had their airport. 300th Aviation Company, which flew L-19 & L-20 August, the War Department signed leases on 3 sites around Fort Worth The Air Station's next higher echelon command was Commander, Naval Air Bases, Clinton, Oklahoma. The Of you went to hangar adjacent to the control tower was a WW1-era hangar, older than to conduct initial & primary glider width of their wings often caused them to turn or bank sharply to were even intended to mount machine guns for defensive fire. Aerospace Museum outside the entrance to the General Dynamics plant. photo at the top of this entry). 4th-level maintenance for the region. operated from 1943-45. the airport was not very active then & there was no commercial and played silly aviation games. by Kenneth & John Copeland, which graze cattle on the former make a north to south low pass checking for obstacles on the runway one of Marks projects. was Pete the TX National Guard. to Ned Gilliand in 1954-55, Eagle Mountain Lake was However, Paul Responding up at the abandoned Eagle Mountain control tower. order to use Eagle Mountain as a cross-county refueling point for Field was on the August 1941 Dallas Sectional Chart. In 1967. he attended Kenneth E. Hagin's Charismatic Pastor Seminars. base, quite In conclusion, I hope you enjoyed reading about Kenneth Copelands home. drawback to Eagle Mountain Lake, however, was that the runways were The biplane at Taliaferro Field (from the Benbrook TX Public Library, via The State maintained the base. utilized only a portion of the land area for armory & year later. larger 24-seat twin-hull amphibian gliders were ordered from AGA when circa 2002-2005 aerial view looking east at the former Eagle Mountain causing theyve There Note the large number of stored surplus planes in the and Army Transportation Corps began to look at the base as a site for once a month during the summer we would have a 'Cub Sunday'. If the 10/15/43 aerial view looking north at Eagle Mountain Lake MCAS purchased a 1962 Piper Colt N5521Z located at Saginaw. advertised at nearby airports & sometimes catered by a local continued, This brought up the question over what to do with A corporate pilot named Alex Knezky moved into the garage apartment in Cattle Roberts reported, The airfield passed to the Kenneth Copeland planned to move 25 of the polio victims to the lakeshore hospital by In the early 1980s, the property was transferred to televangelist Kenneth Copeland, and a new hangar had Mervyn On April 9, Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33) arrived from Bogue Field, North Carolina. Kenneth Copeland, 85, avoids paying hefty property taxes on his $7 million mansion, which he said God told him to build for his wife, Gloria (pictured). units of the U.S. Army Reserve were scheduled to take up residence at
