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Hicks Field

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Hicks Field

Hicks Field (Camp Taliaferro Field #1) is a former World War I military airfield, located 5.6 miles (9.0 km) north-northwest of Saginaw, Texas. It operated as a training field for the Air Service, United States Army, from 1917 until 1920. It was one of 32 Air Service training camps established after the United States' entry into World War I in April 1917.

After the United States' entry into the war, General John J. Pershing invited the British Royal Flying Corps to establish training fields for the training of American and Canadians volunteers in Texas because of its mild weather. After looking at sites in Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, Wichita Falls, and Midland, three sites were established in 1917 in the Fort Worth vicinity (known as the "Flying Triangle".), those being Hicks Field (#1), Barron Field (#2), and Benbrook Field (#3).

Canadians named the training complex Camp Taliaferro after Walter Taliaferro, a US aviator who had been killed in an accident. Camp Taliaferro was headquartered under the direction of the Air Service, United States Army, which had an administration center near what is now the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.

After the closing of Hicks Field, a new airport, called Hicks Airfield, opened.

Taliafero Field No. 1 was used by the Royal Flying Corps from October 1917 to April 1918 as a training field for American and Canadian pilots. It was then turned over to the Air Service, United States Army. The Americans renamed the field Hicks Field, after Charles Hicks, who owned the Hicks Ranch on which the airfield was built.

The first trainees arrived in November 1917 to a very crude facility. Most structures were unfinished, and personnel lived and worked in canvas tents. The flu epidemic killed many assigned personnel. The airfield was taken over by United States Army in April 1918. The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" became the primary aircraft used for flight training after the Army takeover.

Training units assigned to Hicks Field were:

The 22d, 27th, 28th, 139th, 147th, and 148th US Aero Squadrons trained at the facility. Military use ended in early 1919 after the end of World War I.

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