Cuero Municipal Airport
Encyclopedia
Cuero Municipal Airport is a public airport located approximately 1 miles (1.6 km) east-southeast of Cuero, Texas
. It provides general aviation
service.
flying cadets under contract to Brayton Flying Service, Inc.. Assigned to United States Army Air Forces Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command) as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. had four local axillary airfields for emergency and overflow landings. Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT-19
s as the primary trainer. Also had several PT-17 Stearmans and a few old Curtiss P-1 Hawk
s and Airco DH.4s assigned.
Inactivated on 4 August 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. Declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 30 September 1945. Eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) and became a civil airport.
Today, there are 6 tiedown areas and 3 hangars at the Cuero Municipal Airport. One of the hangars is open, a roof over 2 tiedown areas. The second hangar, ajacent to the area where the airport office was once at (taken down in 2008), can only house 1 aircraft. And the third can house a few small aircraft. The hangar rental fees are expensive, which is the reason why a lot of pilots keep their aircraft at Victoria Regional Airport to save money. The runway is asphalt, 2800' long and 60' wide, with slight grass encrochments on either side of the runway.
The city of Cuero, which owns the airport, has now been debating whether the airport should be moved somewhere else or to simply change the runway heading (direction of where it should point). If so, the runway should be extended back to 5000' so that larger aircraft can land. The whole reason for this is because the oil industry in Dewitt County is getting to be a great deal, and real estate agents or anyone else who works in this booming industry can land larger aircraft without being limited to where they can land. Also, there have been rumors about starting a soaring club in Cuero, which glider aircraft will be pulled in the air by another aircraft, needing more runway to do so.
At the same time, the City of Cuero has also considered perhaps moving the entire airport, because aircraft pilots need all the concentration they can get to ensure a safe landing. The lights at the Cuero baseball complex can make it hard for the pilots to see the runway upon takeoff and landing at night, creating a safety hazard, so the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) specifically ensured that medium runway lighting would be used to compensate for the brightness of the baseball complex lights. With that, buildings such as Cuero JH, Cuero HS, and Walmart provide an even greater challenge to pilots with 50' trees at the other end of the field.
Cuero, Texas
Cuero is a city in DeWitt County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,571 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of DeWitt County. It is also unofficially known as the "turkey capital of the world"...
. It provides general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
service.
History
Opened on 1 April 1941 with 5,000'(Now 2800') all-way turf runway. Began training United States Army Air CorpsUnited States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
flying cadets under contract to Brayton Flying Service, Inc.. Assigned to United States Army Air Forces Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command) as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. had four local axillary airfields for emergency and overflow landings. Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT-19
Fairchild PT-19
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Mondey, David. American Aircraft of World War II . London: Bounty Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7537-1461-4....
s as the primary trainer. Also had several PT-17 Stearmans and a few old Curtiss P-1 Hawk
P-1 Hawk
The P-1 Hawk was a 1920s open-cockpit biplane fighter aircraft of the United States Army Air Corps. An earlier variant of the same aircraft had been designated PW-8 prior to 1925.-PW-8:thumb|alt=PW-8|PW-8...
s and Airco DH.4s assigned.
Inactivated on 4 August 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. Declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 30 September 1945. Eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) and became a civil airport.
Today, there are 6 tiedown areas and 3 hangars at the Cuero Municipal Airport. One of the hangars is open, a roof over 2 tiedown areas. The second hangar, ajacent to the area where the airport office was once at (taken down in 2008), can only house 1 aircraft. And the third can house a few small aircraft. The hangar rental fees are expensive, which is the reason why a lot of pilots keep their aircraft at Victoria Regional Airport to save money. The runway is asphalt, 2800' long and 60' wide, with slight grass encrochments on either side of the runway.
The city of Cuero, which owns the airport, has now been debating whether the airport should be moved somewhere else or to simply change the runway heading (direction of where it should point). If so, the runway should be extended back to 5000' so that larger aircraft can land. The whole reason for this is because the oil industry in Dewitt County is getting to be a great deal, and real estate agents or anyone else who works in this booming industry can land larger aircraft without being limited to where they can land. Also, there have been rumors about starting a soaring club in Cuero, which glider aircraft will be pulled in the air by another aircraft, needing more runway to do so.
At the same time, the City of Cuero has also considered perhaps moving the entire airport, because aircraft pilots need all the concentration they can get to ensure a safe landing. The lights at the Cuero baseball complex can make it hard for the pilots to see the runway upon takeoff and landing at night, creating a safety hazard, so the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) specifically ensured that medium runway lighting would be used to compensate for the brightness of the baseball complex lights. With that, buildings such as Cuero JH, Cuero HS, and Walmart provide an even greater challenge to pilots with 50' trees at the other end of the field.
See also
- Texas World War II Army AirfieldsTexas World War II Army AirfieldsIn today's United States Air Force, many personnel have spent some of their military service being trained in Texas during World War II. Be it basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, technical training, officer training, or flight training at other facilities across the state...