At HiTech Creations we like to present a little history of World War 2 for our flight sim players from time to time because that’s what our game is all about. We greatly respect the efforts made by our veterans during that war; in addition, we like to spotlight the efforts made at home during the war. Without the dedication and hard work of hundreds of thousands of civilians and state-side military personnel the United States war effort would have been sorely lacking.
With that stated let’s turn our attention today to the construction of air fields in New Mexico during World War II. The following is a list of air fields built during the war years and what those airfields are currently called.
- Alamogordo AAF, Alamogordo: now it is Holloman Air Force Base
- Clovis AAF, Clovis; now called Cannon Air Force Base
- Kirtland Field, Albuquerque; now called Kirtland Air Force Base
- Albuquerque AAF, Albuquerque; merged with Kirtland in 1944
- Carlsbad AAF, Carlsbad; now Cavern City Air Terminal IATA
- Deming AAF, Deming; now Deming Municipal Airport
- Fort Sumner AAF, Fort Sumner; now Fort Sumner Municipal Airport
- Hobbs AAF, Hobbs; now Hobbs Army air Field
- Walker Air Force Base, Walker; now called Roswell International Air Center
All of these air fields were used to train pilots and aircrews in preparation for active duty in Europe and the Pacific. Because New Mexico has such wide-open spaces and because of its fairly constant climate this state was chosen for a great many flight training courses. The terrain and climate were perfect for training exercises and were used extensively between 1941-1945.
What is interesting when we do these articles is to see that all of the former Air Force bases were easily turned into civilian fields so that the money spent for their construction back in the Forties was actually an investment in the future of the country and are still paying dividends today, seventy years later. The return on investment was incredible when thought of in that perspective.
This is just another way for us to pay our respects to the war efforts home and abroad. Aces High is the number one combat flight simulator because we at HiTech Creations are all-absorbed with that time period. We go the extra mile to make sure that our aircraft, arenas, ground vehicles and skins are as close to replica as they can be, thus adding to the experience when playing our World War 2 Flight Simulator.
