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» » » History of Ellington
Established during World War I, Ellington Field is the only military air installation in this part of Texas. It was named after Lt. Eric L. Ellington who was killed in a plane crash in San Diego in 1913.
In 1917 Ellington became one of the largest aviation training facilities in the nation. Before World War I ended, approximately 5,000 men and 250 aircraft occupied the base.
Pilots and bombardiers were trained at Ellington, and there was a gunnery and radio school there. Men who trained at Ellington were assigned to combat posts in Europe.
As history would have it, during the succeeding years Ellington gradually fell into decline. The base was in a standby status until 1927, the year it was razed by fire and subsequently closed.
The imminence of World War II prompted Congress to appropriate $7 million to rebuild the base. Nine months after construction began, on June 26, 1941, the first plane landed at the newly constructed Ellington Field. Shortly thereafter the military began training pilots and bombardiers again for combat. With the U.S. in the throes of war, manpower at the base climbed once again to 5,000 personnel.
Ellington Field became Ellington Air Force Base in September 1947 when the U.S. Air Force was designateda separate service. |
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© Houston Airport System.
| Ellington was again fully activated in 1949 as the only post-war U.S. Air Force navigator training school. When the Korean War began in 1950, Ellington resumed its duties of training men for war.
By 1976 the command of Ellington Field had changed hands several times. The 147th Fighter Interceptor Group (ANG) was designated by the Air Force to handle the phase-down transition. The last student of combat crew training was graduated by the 147th group on May 4, 1976, the year Ellington was deactivated by the Air Force.
On July 1, 1984, some 63 years after the military installation opened, Ellington Field was taken over by the City of Houston Department of Aviation. Today, the military still occupies a strong presence there, along with NASA and a variety of other general aviation tenants.
A number of improvements are currently in the construction or planning stages and promise to make Ellington Field a superior facility for the traveler and its tenants. For more information on these, visit our Capital Improvements Program web site.
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