Spent some time there in late'68/ early '69 during primary helicopter flight training. The three heliports (Main, Dempsey, Downing) were chock full of H-13's, 23's and 55's. The 55 was my personal method of attempted self-destruction. Mineral Wells Airport was adjacent to one of the Heliports and was used under agreement with the local authorities for fixed wing training and operations. It was populated by T-41's, O-1's,
Beavers, Otters, and assorted other fixed wing types. There was a C-47 which I had the opportunity to ride in as a passenger in '71 when I was assigned to the student brigade as a TAC officer in one of the Warrant Officer Candidate companies. There was a CH-34 at the Beach Army Hospital that was used for patient transfer and crash rescue. It was later replaced by a Huey. We got occassional visits from active Army Hueys and Cobras, but our excitement was usually temperred by the stern admonition of a TAC officer that "you ladies don't have the parts or the smarts to fly one of those so forget it!"
The Army was not PC at the time as one might surmise from the previous quote. The Texas National Guard would fly in one of their relics from time to time. We would get a glimpse of their H-19's and CH-37's (anybody who even cranked one of those beasts should have gotten a DFC).
I returned for a visit in 2004 and nearly fell to my knees weeping. Grass clumps and tumbleweed had replaced the rows of Souix, Ravens, and Osage. The doors and windows of the hangers creaked in the wind. The skeleton of the tower stood silent on the hill overlooking the Main Heliport. The hospital was an empty grey shell. A few businesses occupied the maintenance hangers, but most were abandoned and shutterred. A few of the bases houses were occupied, but you could tell that they were not tended to as well as they had been by earlier tenants. The officers club, PX, and Commissary, once hubs of bustling activity were silent hulks surrounded by brush.
The WOC barracks looked much like they had years ago except for being surrounded by razor wire topped fences. And the air-conditioners in the windows! They were occupied by guests of the state who apparantly are more deserving of life's amenities than we trainees were. Is there no justice? I felt like old Harvey Stovall at the beginning of "Twelve O'Clock High"; standing at the fence looking out over the airfield...it was strange.