Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake

{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox airport 
| name         = MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake
| nativename   = 
| nativename-a = 
| nativename-r = 
| image        = File:MCAS Eagle Mountian Lake3.jpg
| image-width  = 
| caption      = A 1943 matchbook cover from MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake when the USMC glider program was still active.
| IATA         = 
| ICAO         = 
| pushpin_map            = Texas
| pushpin_map_caption    = 
| pushpin_label          = '''Marine Corps Airs Station Eagle Mountain Lake'''
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| type         = Military
| owner        = 
| operator     = 
| city-served  = 
| location     = [[Pecan Acres, Texas]]
| elevation-f  = 
| elevation-m  = 
| coordinates  = {{Coord|32|58|39|N|97|29|32|W|type:airport_region:US-TX|display=inline,title}}
| website      = 
| metric-elev  = 
| metric-rwy   = 
| r1-number    = 17L/35R
| r1-length-f  = 6000
| r1-length-m  = 
| r1-surface   = [[Concrete]]
| r2-number    = 12L/30R
| r2-length-f  = 3000
| r2-length-m  = 
| r2-surface   = [[Concrete]]
| r3-number    = 
| r3-length-f  = 
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| stat-year    = 
| stat1-header = 
| stat1-data   = 
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| footnotes    = 
}}

{{Infobox military installation    
|name= Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake   
|location= [[Pecan Acres, Texas]]   
|image=   
|caption= Overhead shot of the facility during World War II   
|type= Military air station    
|built= 1 December 1942 - December 1946   
|materials=    
|used= 1942 - 1946    
|controlledby= [[United States Marine Corps|USMC]]   
|garrison=    
|commanders=    
|battles=    
}}

'''Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake''' (MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake) was a [[United States Marine Corps]] air station that was located {{convert|23|mi|km|0}} northwest of [[Fort Worth, Texas]] during [[World War II]].  Commissioned on 1 December 1942, the air station was originally supposed to be the home of the Marine Corps glider program.  When the program was cancelled in 1943 the station became home to the newly created Marine Night Fighting Squadrons.  After the war the air station went into caretaker status in December 1946 and became an Outlying Landing Field of [[Naval Air Station Dallas]]. After the war, it was used by various branches of the military before being sold to a private owner in the 1970s.  Today, the airfield is a private airport run by the [[Kenneth Copeland|Kenneth Copeland Ministry]] as [[Kenneth Copeland Airport]].<ref name="Freeman">{{cite web
  | last = Freeman	
  | first = Paul
  | author-link = 
  | title = Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:85/60Texas - Northwestern Fort Worth area
  | work = Eagle Mountain Lake Marine Corps Air Station (4TA2), Pecan Acres, TX
  | publisher = 
  | date = 
  | url = http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_FtWorth_NW.htm#eaglemtn
  | format = 
  | doi = 
  }}</ref>

==History==

===World War II===
In 1942, {{convert|2931|acre|km2|1}} of former ranch land were purchased on the eastern shore of Eagle Mountain Lake so the Marine Corps could set up glider operations.  Construction of the base began on 24 July 1942.  [[Marine Glider Group 71]] (MLG-71) and [[Marine Glider Squadron 711]] (VML-711) under the command of Colonel [[Vernon M. Guymon]] arrived at the base in November 1942 and the station was officially commissioned on 1 December 1942.<ref name="Shettle">{{cite book
  | last = Shettle Jr.
  | first = M. L.
  | author-link = 
  | title = United States Marine Corps Air Stations of World War II
  | publisher = Schaertel Publishing Co.
  | year = 2001
  | location = Bowersville, Georgia
  | url = 
  | doi = 
  | isbn =  0-9643388-2-3}}</ref>

In May 1943, the Marine Corps cancelled its glider program <ref>{{cite web
  | last = McKillop	
  | first = Jack
  | author-link = 
  | title = Piper NLP, Piper NE Grasshopper
  | publisher = www.microworks.net
  | date = 
  | url = http://www.microworks.net/pacific/aviation/piper_ne.htm
  | doi = 
  }}</ref> and on 30 June 1943, the base was redesignated a Naval Air Station.<ref name="Sherrod">*{{cite book
 | last = Sherrod
 | first = Robert
 | author-link = 
 | year = 1952
 | chapter =
 | title = History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II
 | url = https://archive.org/details/historyofmarinec00sher
 | url-access = registration
 | publisher = Combat Forces Press
 | location = Washington, D.C.
 | id = 
}}</ref>  The Navy's '''Strategic Tasks Air Group 2''' used the airfield to test newly developed [[Remotely Piloted Vehicle|remote control aircraft]] until 1944 when they were moved to [[Traverse City, Michigan]].<ref name="Freeman"/>

On 1 April 1944, the air station reverted to Marine Corps control by the authorization of CNO Dispatch 31TWX1715.  The Air Station's next higher echelon command was [[Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base|Commander, Naval Air Bases, Clinton, Oklahoma]].  On 9 April, [[Marine Aircraft Group 33]] (MAG-33) arrived from [[Bogue Field]], [[North Carolina]].<ref name="Sherrod"/>  MAG-33 stayed until 17 August 1944, when they left for [[San Diego]], [[California]].<ref name="Sherrod"/>  In August, [[Marine Aircraft Group 93]] (MAG-93) arrived from [[Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point]] and remained until November.<ref name="Shettle"/>  In December the field became the home of [[Marine Aircraft Group 53]] which was the Marine Corps' first night fighter group.<ref name="Sherrod"/>  From then on the base was used primarily for night fighter training.  Two common night fighters that operated from the field were the [[Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation|Grumman]] [[F6F Hellcat]] and [[F7F Tigercat]].<ref name="Freeman"/>

28 February 1945 saw the arrival of [[VMF(N)-544]] to MCAS Eagle Mountain Lake<ref name="Sherrod"/> and it was also during this time that the air station reached its maximum utilization with a total of 121 aircraft on board.<ref name="Freeman"/>

===Post World War II use===

On 28 February 1946 the air station went into caretaker status on the authority of Aviation Planning Directive 27-NN-46.  Subsequently, the field became an Outlying Landing Field of [[Naval Air Station Dallas]].<ref name="Freeman"/>  By 1955 it was listed on maps as "Eagle Mountain Lake National Guard Base".  In 1959, the severely deteriorated buildings were used in a science fiction film entitled ''[[Beyond the Time Barrier]]'', in which the protagonist, an Air Force test pilot, travels into the future on a [[supersonic|supersonic airplane]] and returns to find that the air base from which he took off is in ruins.  By 1973, maps depicted Eagle Mountain Lake as an abandoned airfield.  In the early 1980s, the property was transferred to [[televangelist]] [[Kenneth Copeland]], and a new hangar had been built on the site of the original World War II-era structure.<ref name="Freeman"/>

==See also==

* [[List of United States Marine Corps installations]]
* [[List of active United States Marine Corps aircraft squadrons]]
* [[United States Marine Corps Aviation]]
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{US Marine Corps navbox}}

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[[Category:United States Marine Corps air stations|Eagle Mountain Lake]]
[[Category:World War II airfields in the United States|Eag]]
[[Category:Airports in Texas]]
[[Category:Military installations in Texas]]
[[Category:Military installations closed in 1946]]
[[Category:1942 establishments in Texas]]
[[Category:1946 disestablishments in Texas]]