User:Narthring/EDIT Perrin Field

North Texas Regional Airport, formerly Perrin Air Force Base and also Perrin Field and Grayson County Airport, is an airport located in Denison, Texas. The airport originally had three runways, but one 8,000'(2,438m) runway is closed and is used solely as a taxiway. The airport has an operational Category I instrument landing system (ILS) to Runway 17L. In Nov 2007, the airport was renamed "North Texas Regional Airport at Perrin Field.", The former USAF control tower resumed operations in mid-2008.

The airport is used entirely for general aviation purposes. Several of the buildings are occupied by businesses, Grayson County government agencies, as well as Grayson County College.

As a general aviation reliever airport, unconfirmed reports suggest that the airport might potentially (in the distant future) serve as a third airport for the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex to handle travelers from its growing northern suburbs. If this occurs, commercial traffic would be focused on regional jet airline operations. A planned extension of State Highway 289 would pass the airport on the west side.

Established
Perrin Air Force Base began as an Army Air Field and was the first, basic flying training school to become operational after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941.

In the spring of 1941, Grayson County leaders began to discuss the possibilities of a U.S. Army Air Corps basic flying school to be built in Grayson County. In March 1941 Grayson County Judge Jake J. Loy went to [Washington, DC] to further the project idea. After his visit to Washington, Judge Loy returned to Sherman and began to work on the project with county commissioners and a tract of land was subsequently selected that was suitable for use as a flying field.

On 16 Jun 1941, the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps drew up a program for construction. A tentative authorized strength of 199 officers, 422 cadets, 1730 enlisted men, and funds in the amount of $3,966,833.00 were ordered and set aside for the construction of the airfield. The lease was signed by the United States Government and Grayson County on 1 Jul 1941 and the Army Corps of Engineers started construction on the newly established Grayson Basic Flying school the same week.

World War II
On 9 Aug 1941, Major Robert J. Warren was the first person to report to duty at the partially constructed airfield, assuming duties as project officer and temporary Commanding Officer. Ten days later, five enlisted men arrived from San Angelo, TX to assist Maj Warren in the development of the airstrip, hangars, barracks and field headquarters building. On 21 Aug 1941, the first aircraft, a BT-14 arrived at the newly constructed Grayson Basic Flying School. On 12 Nov 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Donald G. Stitt was assigned to the airfield and assumed command on 19 November 1941, with Maj Warren remaining as project officer. Lt Col Stitt was, in effect, the first commander of the field.

On 7 Dec 1941, the strength of the airfield stood at 90 officers and 545 enlisted men, with the first class of cadets expected by the end of December. In Jan 1942, the installation was renamed Perrin Field in memory of the late Lt Col Elmer D Perrin, a native Texan who had been killed in a 21 Jun 1941 crash during an acceptance test of a B-26 Marauder bomber near the Glenn L. Martin aircraft plant in Baltimore, MD.

Normal manpower strength at base occurred in early 1943, averaging 2500 enlisted men and 300 officers. Training aircraft used at Perrin Field included approximately 250 BT-13s and AT-6s, with approximately 550 maintenance personnel working 24 hour shifts. Pilot cadet classes numbered between 300 and 400 students. Perrin Field hosted the 32nd Flying Training Wing from Sep 1943 to Oct 1945, graduating over 10,000 pilots, including cadets from Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Philippines and Ecuador. The airfield also maintained a branch prisoner of war camp, holding about 200 German POWs.

Basic pilot training was discontinued at the base in late 1945 and qn instructor school was established to maintain instructor proficiency and provide refresher training for oversea returnees and behind-the-line pilots, but the base was deactivated in Nov 1946. Perrin became a storage facility for aircraft such as the AT-6 and B-25, and other equipment such as tractors and bulldozers. The only operational aircraft was the C-47.

Cold War
On 1 Apr 1948, Perrin Field was reactivated under the newly established United States Air Force, hosting the 3555th Basic Pilot Training Wing from Aug 1948 to Jun 1952. It resumed its mission of basic single-engine pilot training under the Air Training Command (ATC) and continued until Dec 1951. Beginning in Jan 1952, Perrin began advanced single engine pilot training, flying the T-28 Trojan. This training ended in December 1952. In March 1952, A-26 Invader medium bomber training was transferred and conducted at Perrin.

Beginning in 1951, NATO/Allied students began pilot training at Perrin, which continued until 1962 when this role was transferred to the flying training wing at Sheppard AFB, TX. On 17 Jul 1952, Perrin was designated a permanent Air Force installation and its name officially changed to Perrin Air Force Base. Perrin was transformed to crew training role for all-weather fighter interceptors and longer 8000 and 9000 foot runways were built to accommodate the T-33 Shooting Star and F-86 Sabre that arrived in Dec 1952.

During the 1950s to early 1960s, Perrin host wing, the 3555th, went through several name changes, being known as the 3555th Flying Training Wing (fighter [Jun 1952 - Sep 1954]), the 3555th Combat Crew Training Wing (advanced interceptor [Sep 1954 - Aug 1958]), and the 3555th Flying Training Wing (advanced interceptor [Aug 1958 to Jul 1962]).

In July 1962, Perrin was transferred from ATC to the Air Defense Command (ADC) and the 4780th Air Defense Training Wing absorbed the 3555th Training Wing. The 4780th conducted training in the F-102 Delta Dagger and TF-102 Delta Dagger. From 1962 to 1971, Perrin had the largest fleet of F-102s in the U.S. Air Force and became the only F-102 replacement training base within the Air Defense Command. In Oct 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a number of Perrin aircraft were placed on alert, while others were deployed to bases in Florida for alert and air defense missions.

The 4780th had two flying squadrons, the 4781st and 4782nd Combat Crew Training Squadrons. In 1964, the 4780th Air Defense Wing was chosen to host the Air Defense Command Life Support School at the nearby Lake Texoma. The school was initiated to give life support and ejection training to aircrews flying ADC aircraft and Air National Guard units that supported the ADC mission. Prior to the school's establishment, ADC had a twenty-two percent aircraft mishap fatality rate, but after the first year it fell to five percent.

The school trained and graduated over 11,000 aircrew members including forty-nine United States astronauts, several USAF F-102s having been bailed to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for astronaut proficiency training at the NASA Flight Operations Facility at Ellington AFB (later Ellington Field Air National Guard Base) near Houston. Perrin also utilized the HH-43 HuskieB helicopters for local aircraft rescue and fire fighting duries. In Apr 1967, Perrin assumed as added training mission with the activation of the Air Training Command's 3251st Flying Training Wing. As a tenant unit, the 3251 FTW trained already qualified USAF pilots as T-37 Tweet instructors.

Deactivated
On 3 Mar 1971, it was announced that Perrin AFB would close. On 13 May 1971, the last graduating class flew its F-102s in formation over Sherman and Denison as a farewell to its two host cities. A few days later, the last of the F-102 Delta Daggers left the base and the 4780th Air Defense Wing was deactivated. T-37 instructor pilot training transferred to Randolph AFB, also in Texas.

The closing of Perrin on 30 Jun 1971 was due mainly to a change in pilot training requirements and the crowded airways from the opening of the new Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The base that then consisted of over 1875 acres was given to the Grayson County Community College and to the County of Grayson. The name of the field was changed to Grayson County Airport and is home to a small industrial park and civilian flight operations.

Since the base's closure, a small group of local Sherman and Denison citizens have held the memory of Perrin together, hosting nine Perrin Field reunions since the early 1980s. The Perrin AFB Research Foundation was established in 1998. Today, in addition to serving as a general aviation airport, several businesses, as well as a juvenile detention center/boot-camp and adult probation center are built upon former barracks and nearby areas. There is a small museum dedicated to the former Perrin Air Force Base at the airport and Grayson County College uses several of the buildings for its course offerings. The college also operates the former base golf course.

Scratchpad
Named after Lt. Col. Elmber D Perrin

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