South Plains Army Airfield

South Plains Army Airfield in Lubbock Texas was a major training base for US Army Air Force glider pilots during World War II. Approximately 80 percent of the roughly 6000 pilots trained to fly the combat cargo glider received their advanced training and were awarded their G Wings at SPAAF as it was known. The base was conceived built used and then closed in a short five-year period during World War II. Today little remains to remind one of the feverish and important military training program that once took place on the flat featureless South Plains of Texas. During World War II American military strategy and tactics included a significant airborne component. Major invasions such as D-Day at Normandy were preceded by huge aerial fleets carrying paratroopers and their equipment. These airborne invasion fleets sometimes exceeded well over 1000 Allied gliders. The American airborne forces depended upon an ungainly looking aircraft the CG-4A glider to carry the vehicles munitions and reinforcements needed to survive. The pilots who flew them learned their trade at South Plains Army Airfield.