<– Click to enjoy In The Mood, by Glen Miller of the Glen Miller Orchestra, a song from the 1940’s when Stinson Field was being used to train aviators for World War II!
During World War II Stinson Field was used as an Army Air Corps training facility. Its purpose was to serve as an auxiliary field to Kelly Air Field, and was an operational base providing all the comforts of home to the many GI’s that lived there. For recreation there was a base theater, a base club, and the soldiers were allowed to form a baseball team. In 1946 Stinson Field was given back to the city.
The Stinson Field Weekly Bulletin was a way of communicating with the troops and the San Antonio area. Like a newspaper, it would print the events of the base.
This image is of a military parade. It is an event that allows the troops to perform their marching skills showing discipline to keep their formation and cadence. At this pass and review, you can see the band in the forefront with the commanders observing the parade.
For recreation and fun on the base, the troops had a movie theater and formed a baseball team.
These group pictures were taken of the first troops stationed at Stinson Field during WWII. The top picture is of the people that worked in the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron of the 30th Air Depot Group, dated 12-12-1942. The photo on the bottom is of the Supply Squadron taken on 11-28-1942.
Two buildings dating from World War II are what’s left at Stinson Field, a dinning hall and a soldiers barracks. These would have been the places where a soldier would get something to eat, and a place to rest. They can be found at the intersection of Cadmus St. and L.C. Amos Jr., on the Stinson property.
Stinson was eventually replaced by San Antonio International Airport (built 1941) as the San Antonio commercial airport.
Next we will learn Katherine Stinson – a member of the Stinson Family which included three siblings: sisters Katherine and Marjorie and their brother Eddie. The Stinsons brought aviation to San Antonio through opening and managing Stinson Field.
