Corsicana airport is reviving its rich history
By Chris Sasser
Texas Transportation Institute
As visitors to the Corsicana airport travel down the narrow road leading to the terminal, they pass by two stone pillars that sit about 50 feet off the rood in a barren field. Most probably don’t notice them or, if they do, don’t think the nondescript landmarks ore all that important. But the two pillars mean everything to Gory Farley, a local historian and curator of the Glenn Cumbie Memorial Museum of Aviation and Military History.
“Those two pillars were the main entrance to the Corsicana Army Airfield,” explains Farley. “To get to this base, you had to go through that main entrance. Just thinking about all the men and the history that passed through this gate is amazing.”
Among those men include Thomas McGuire, the second highest scoring American ace during World War II and Medal of Honor recipient. McGuire reported to flying school at the Corsicana Army Airfield in 1941 as an aviation cadet and recorded 38 aerial victories in the war piloting a twin-engined P-38 “Lightning” fighter plane.
The Corsicana Airfield welcomed its first class of young aviation cadets in 1941. Over the next three and a half years, the 301st Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment would see nearly 8,000 cadets enter through the gates of Corsicana Field. Trained by civilian instructors, the cadets are credited with flying essentially every type and model aircraft of the U.S. Army Air Force inventory and served in every theatre of WW II. Approximately one third of them died in action for their country.
After the Army Airfield was closed in 1944, little was done in the following decades to preserve its history until the late 1990s, when Farley began to spearhead an effort to collect and display memorabilia.
“Before the museum opened, the only things denoting the history of the Corsicana airfield were three photos hanging on the wall,” said Farley. Since then, he has compiled an impressive display of artifacts from not only WWII, but from other wars fought by the United States in the last century. Housed in two rooms at the Corsicana airport terminal, the museum bursts at the seams with memorabilia. Uniforms, weaponry, newspapers, flags, models, instrumentation, pictures and other artifacts are on display. The museum also boasts a rare collection of military papers from the WWII era that Farley plans to display one day, along with the rest of the artifacts, in a dedicated building.
One of the old black and white pictures on the wall is of Gerald McClung, an instructor at the Corsicana Field and resident of Corsicana. His son, John, is on the museum board and has contributed some of his father’s collection to the museum. “One of my earliest memories was being asked what my father did. And at that early of an age, I couldn’t quite articulate the full scope of what he did, so I just told them that he taught people how to fly,” said McClung.
Perhaps the most impressive display sits outside in one of the two remaining hangars from the old Corsicana Airfield: A Fairchild PT-19 Primary Trainer. This fully functional aircraft is the same type flown for training during WW II.
As for the stone pillars? They will eventually be the gateway to a memorial walkway that will sit on a five-acre site adjacent to the airport. ”The original sidewalk that leads from the gate to inside the base is still there,” notes Farley. ”That will be part of the memorial.”
The centerpiece of the memorial, slated for delivery in the next few months, is a life-sized bronze statue of an airman. To raise money for the statue, board members did some creative fundraising by holding several WW II-era big band dances in the airfield hangar. “Even though we raised the money we needed for the statue, we still have people asking us when we are having our next dance,” laughs Farley.
Gary’s wife, Sarah, is the local Fixed Base Operator of the Corsicana Municipal Airport and works in the terminal where the museum is currently housed. “Occasionally we have a veteran of the old Army Air Field walk in for the first time and they will be looking around,” recounts Sarah. ”They will ask if they are in the right place and I tell them yes they are.”
The Glenn Cumbie Museum of Aviation and Military History is open daily 9am-5pm. Tours are available upon request.
