Fort Worth grants protected status to WWI airstrip remnant
The remnants of a World War I airstrip — marked by the silhouette of an airplane — will be preserved in a far north Fort Worth neighborhood.
Fort Worth City Council members approved zoning Oct. 13 that will maintain a .39-acre site on the western end of the 2700 block of Muscogee Drive, nearly 2 miles from Hicks Field.
The remaining portion of Taliaferro Field No. 1, one of three Fort Worth airstrips established in early 1917 after the United States entered the war, is located in a fenced area off Muscogee. The site, initially recorded in 2002 during a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project, was designated as a highly significant endangered landmark after a 2023 historical survey, according to a city staff report.
Jim Hodgson, executive director of the Fort Worth Aviation Museum, said he was thrilled that the site will be protected and developed into a neighborhood park to inspire youth. The museum led efforts for years to preserve the site.
“Most people don’t know about it,” Hodgson said. “The developer is going to make the site into a park to inspire kids to go into aviation.”
Officials said the new zoning will now protect the site, which is tucked away in a fenced-off area in an emerging housing development southwest of the intersection of Bonds Ranch Road and North Saginaw Boulevard.
Council members added a highly significant endangered overlay to the current one-family residential zoning, a recommendation from the Historic and Cultural Landmark Commission.
Jerre Tracy, executive director of Historic Fort Worth, said she’s happy that the airfield will be preserved, similar to the council’s actions to protect other endangered historical sites, including the TXU North Main power plant at the Trinity River north of downtown.
“That’s the highest level of protection for a historic site,” she said. “We are confident that it is worthy.”
Tracy said she is glad that the site will become a developer-initiated park “so people know the wonderful story” about Fort Worth’s WWI aviation history.
The airfield, originally part of Hicks Ranch, was built quickly in 1917 by the U.S. Army Air Service to train 300 pilots from the Royal Flying Corps Canada. The first flight was in November 1917, a few months after the site was chosen and constructed.
The site’s airplane silhouette — used for target practice — remains on the North Texas prairie and is visible through satellite imagery.
The silhouette was dug into the ground then covered with concrete, Hodgson said. Water was sprayed on the silhouette so pilots in training would know when their bullets hit the target.
“The water helped pilots see their bullets bouncing off the target,” he said.
The airfields were built up with 18 hangars and included trenches dug into the prairie and ziplines for pilot training. Some current buildings from the old airfield were built on the foundations of the old hangars.
“It was quite an extensive operation,” Hodgson said.
Cities across the nation competed for the training airfields but Fort Worth was selected.
“Everyone wanted one of these fields,” Hodgson said. “Fort Worth is the only place in the country with three.”
Taliaferro Field No. 1 was later referred to as Hicks Field, although the current private airport is located less than 2 miles to the northeast. The other airstrips, also related to Camp Taliaferro, later became known by names of their own.
Hodgson said Taliaferro Field No. 2 was renamed Everman while the third field became Carruthers.
The once-rural area is being developed with hundreds of new homes a short distance from Eagle Mountain High School.
Families will be able to visit the airplane silhouette for inspiration once the park is constructed, Hodgson said.
“Many people who moved here are not familiar with the aviation history here,” he said. “Aviation is part of the fabric of the community here.”
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
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