Goodfellow Static 2—Trainer Birds!

Training. Training. Training. Goodfellow Air Force Base has always been all about training. It may be a runway-less base today, but it began as a pilot training facility in 1941 and continued to do so heavily into the 1960s. Today, Goodfellow has three well-preserved static displays of training aircraft that once filled the west Texas sky. Many other models flew here too. Let’s take a look at the statics. (click any photo to enlarge it.)

BT-13A Valiant

The earliest of the three to arrive was the BT-13A Valiant. This aircraft type almost exclusively flew at Goodfellow from 1941-1944 (much of World War II). More than 8,800 pilots trained in Valiants at Goodfellow, including a squadron commander, Lieutenant Colonel Leon Vance who would go on to give his life in the skies over France and be posthumously presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor.


Rare color photo of Valiants on the flight-
line at Goodfellow Field in the 1940s.

Check this 11-second video of a BT-13 Valiant passing by at an airshow in 2008.



The T-6G Texan began arriving at Goodfellow in autumn 1950 and dominated the numbers of training aircraft. More than 15,000 Texans were built from 1935-1950, with the “G” model being the last. The last T-6G departed Goodfellow in summer 1954.

A T-6G Texan in front of the base headquarters building.

Take a look at this 90-second recruiting video that uses footage of T-6 Texans to appeal to young men to join the Army Air Corps (the U.S. Air Force was not separated from the Army until 1947). This was shown in theaters before full-length movies during World War II.



The T-28A Trojan served at Goodfellow from 1953-1955 as the Texan was being phased out. This particular T-28A did not fly at Goodfellow, but represents those that did.

A T-28A Trojan static rests at Goodfellow Air Force Base.

Check this video of a hobby pilot starting up a T-28 Trojan and taxiing it to takeoff. Notice the optical illusion when the propeller spins. It looks like it's spinning slowly. In reality it's running at full speed. Imagine the sound of dozens of these planes flying all over the place when Goodfellow was running a full day of training.



Goodfellow is a very different base today. The runway effectively closed in 1975, but remained ready if needed. The runways were last used in the early 1990s when cargo planes delivered equipment for the firefighters’ training school that moved here from a base that closed in Illinois.

Dozens of BT-13A Valiants lined up at 1940s Goodfellow.

But Goodfellow Air Force Base is still all about training. Training. Training. Intelligence and cryptological specialists and firefighters from every branch of the military make up the thousands of students that pass through each year. The planes on base now forever “rest” as the base mission presses on. HF1