Trip Report: Killeen Sweep
First published in 2001. Reformatted 2025. This was a trip I've wanted to make for a few years, but never found the time. On this sunny Saturday between college semesters, I made the time! This was a local excursion--all sites described here are in Texas. Just a reminder PIN means Permanent Installation Number and ILC means Installation Location Code; I include these for Air Force properties when I know them.Saturday, 25 August 2001
Temple Intermediate Field TX, 31-07-15, 97-22-00. Getting an early start at 0600, I headed south on I-35 past Waco to Temple; north of W Nugent Road I looked for this former intermediate field. Now an empty field, this was Site 40 on the JI-FV (Brownsville-Fort Worth) airway from the 1930s until sometime in 1944, when it became Site 7B on the DL-LV (Dallas-Louisville) airway. Airfield directories from 1943 and early 1944 show Army use, although a host base is not specified.General view Killeen AFS TX, PIN 3225, 31-03-00, 97-51-45. South on I-35 to US 190, West on US 190 to Fort Hood. Working south then west, I found Radar Hill Road, which led to the site. This radar facility was activated in 1957 and served as an aircraft control and warning station. In 1961, it transferred from ADC to ATC, and was used by Det 1, 3568th Navigator Training Squadron from James Connally AFB. After driving up the access road, I explained the purpose of my visit to the security guard (still using the USAF guard house) and he escorted me around and allowed photos of the former USAF buildings. The foundation for one radar tower exists; I looked but could not find any evidence of other towers. The operations building, a possible maintenance building (inferred by the overhead hoist system still in place), and a couple of administrative buildings still stand and are in use by the Army. A communications building sits in the southeast corner of the site.
Access road
Guard house
Building
Radar tower foundation
Radar tower foundation
Building
Building
Building Air Force Plant #66 TX, PIN 2539, 31-25, 97-27. North to US 190 and head east to Belton, then north on SR 317 to outskirts of McGregor. West on Bluebonnet Parkway to the site. This was known as the Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant, built in the early days of WWII to produce bombs, boosters, and ammonium nitrate. It shut down after the war, and in 1952 was reactivated under the USAF. Phillips Petroleum produced JATO bottles here. By 1961, The Rocketdyne Division of North American Aviation Corporation operated the plant for the USAF. In 1966, USAF transferred the plant to the Navy, who operated it until recently. Some of the land is still Navy property and is being remediated for environmental concerns. The contractor on duty allowed me to proceed through the main gate, past the initial Keep Out signs to the locked gates. I did recognize some Richmond magazines--a wartime substitute for earth-covered concrete storage igloos. An interesting, though non-military, feature is a partially built space launch tower. Beal Aerospace was planning to get into the commercial space launch business, but I'm told they went belly-up and stopped work one day.
Gate
General view
Building
Structure
Building
Structure
Building
Structure
Richmond magazines
Structure
Commercial space launch structure 821A AAF Special Depot TX, 31-30-29, 97-10-24. From McGregor, I headed into Waco and found Beverly Drive. Based on the address, this building complex may have been the depot. This is unverified, but is my best guess based on the WWII address of the depot.
General view 3500th Field Printing Squadron TX, 31-32-10, 97-09-11. A couple miles northeast, I found 2904 Franklin Avenue. I think the site was located in this strip mall. I base this on the published address, but have not verified it through other sources. It is unusual to use the word "squadron" in the title of an installation. Although merely leased space in a commercial shopping center, this was shown on layout maps of James Connally AFB in the same fashion as other annexes.
Building HQ Flying Training Air Force TX, PIN 1172, 31-33-33, 97-10-03. Continuing east on Franklin, then north on 25th Street I found the lot which used to be a headquarters location. This was a leased facility, which the Catholic Diocese of Austin built specifically for the Air Force's use. It consisted of two, single-story, H-shaped buildings that have long since been removed. Using a vintage photo from a Twelfth Air Force history, I was able to validate the location by matching up some concrete sidewalk remnants and nearby buildings. This installation was carried on the James Connally AFB real property account as an off-base annex.
General view
General view
General view 821st AAF Special Depot TX, 31-33-25, 97-07-43. Heading back to Franklin Avenue and east, I looked for 220 S. Third Street. The WWII depot may have been in this building, but this is not verified by an official source.
Building James Connally Radio Beacon Annex #2 TX, PIN 6762, 31-30-14, 97-04-10. Working my way out of Waco on South Third Street, I found the Robinson Non-directional Beacon (NDB), now operated by the FAA. This 0.88-acre site served the USAF from 1959 to 1967, when the lease was transferred to the FAA.
View from outside gate James Connally Weather Visibility Light #04 TX, PIN 7085, 31-35-52, 97-03-29. Weaving my way north on back roads, I located the intersection of Old Mexia Road and Selby Lane. This intersection was the location of a light, approximately in the center of the photo, on the right side of the road. This is an interesting anomaly. While given an installation number, and treated as an installation (an off-base annex of James Connally AFB), there were zero acres involved. This was a "no area license," granted the USAF by McClennan County, to install a 70-foot pole and equipment in the county road right-of-way. I think this is the smallest military installation I have visited!
General view James Connally TACAN Annex TX, PIN 4712, 31-37-18, 97-04-03. Moving closer to the airport, I found the overgrown remains of property. It would have been hard to find without a layout map as a guide.
General view
General view James Connally AFB TX, PIN 1163, 31-38, 97-04. Since I was in the area, I took a quick look around. Activated in 1941 as Waco Army Flying School, and known as Waco AAFld later during the war, this base operated until 1945. Although declared surplus in 1946, it was withdrawn from surplus and assigned to Air Training Command in 1948 as Waco AFB. Renamed James Connally AFB in 1950, it remained open until 1968. A portion of the former airfield was used as Bergstrom Auxiliary Airfield, ILC LSQW, from 1982 until 1987. Most of the former base now belongs to Texas State Technical College, and the airport itself is known as TSTC Waco (CNW).
Hangar
Hangar
Hangar
Hangar and parachute and dinghy shop
Building and elevated water storage tank
Building James Connally ILS Middle Marker Annex TX. Weaving around the east side of the base, then back in line with the runway, I found the former middle marker. Now an FAA navaid, it is still in use.
View from gate James Connally ILS Outer Marker Annex TX, PIN 6689. A few miles to the north, also located on the runway centerline, is the companion piece in the instrument landing system. This component is also operated by the FAA.
General view James Connally Radio Beacon Annex #1 TX, 31-47-12, 97-03-07. A couple miles away, on East Crab Road, I located the former radio beacon. This was hard to verify from the ground, as the USAF building has either been replaced or heavily altered. I was able to match the location and shape of the property from a layout plan.
General view Five-Points Outlying Field 22913 TX, 32-37-25, 97-07-10. In Arlington I made one last exploration stop, only a mile from home. The previous Thursday night, local television news reported that two miniature practice bombs were found near Harris Road, west of Matlock. They went on to say this was a former Naval airfield. Correspondent and author Mel Shettle confirmed this was an outlying field supporting NAS Dallas during WWII. TerraServer imagery from 1995 showed he east half developed into a trailer park, but the west half still showed the distinctive octagon star shape of the landing field. The west half of the field is either covered with new homes or recently graded. The numbers indicate the field was on compass heading 229 from NAS Dallas, and 13 miles away.
General view
General view Arrived home at 1740, covering 464 miles in 11 hours, 40 minutes. Updated January 26, 2025
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