page_title: Pyote Air Force Base
hierarchical_section_title: Pyote Air Force Base
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the aircraft tarmac of Pyote AAF about 1944 Source: United States Army Air Forces via Thole, Lou (1999), Forgotten Fields of America&#160;: World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub, ISBN: 1575100517
context_page_description: Pyote Air Force Base was a World War II United States Army Air Forces training airbase. It was on 2,745 acres a mile from the town of Pyote, Texas on Interstate 20, twenty miles west of Monahans and just south of U.S. Highway 80, 230 miles east of El Paso.
  It was nicknamed "Rattlesnake Bomber Base" for the numerous rattlesnake dens that were uncovered during its construction.
  At the height of its use in 1944, the base had over 6,000 officers and enlisted men either permanently assigned or temporarily attached. In addition, there were hundreds of civilians that came from all over the United States to work on the base.
  After World War II, thousands of reserve aircraft were stored there, one of which was the B-29 "Enola Gay".
  Today, most of the base is gone. Other than the concrete runways, taxiways and ramp, virtually nothing remains that would tell the casual observer that this was once a major training center responsible for turning out highly trained flying crews. In later years. the West Texas State School was situated on the site; it was closed in 2010. Located on I-20 at exit 66.
context_section_description: Pyote Air Force Base was a World War II United States Army Air Forces training airbase. It was on 2,745 acres (1,111 ha) a mile from the town of Pyote, Texas on Interstate 20, twenty miles west of Monahans and just south of U.S. Highway 80, 230 miles (370 km) east of El Paso.
  It was nicknamed "Rattlesnake Bomber Base" for the numerous rattlesnake dens that were uncovered during its construction.
  At the height of its use in 1944, the base had over 6,000 officers and enlisted men either permanently assigned or temporarily attached. In addition, there were hundreds of civilians that came from all over the United States to work on the base.
  After World War II, thousands of reserve aircraft were stored there, one of which was the B-29 "Enola Gay".
  Today, most of the base is gone.  Other than the concrete runways, taxiways and ramp, virtually nothing remains that would tell the casual observer that this was once a major training center responsible for turning out highly trained flying crews. In later years. the West Texas State School was situated on the site; it was closed in 2010. Located on I-20 at exit 66.
caption: Flightline of Pyote AAF about 1944/45. Notice the mix of B-17 and B-29 aircraft. The walls of the large hangar in the lower left of the photo are the only standing structure left at Pyote today. This photo is not Pyote.  It is Walker, Kansas.
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