Gary Air Force Base Gary Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in San Marcos , Texas . After it was closed , it was redeveloped into San Marcos Municipal Airport . History . Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor , San Marcos was selected as a training site for pilots and became the San Marcos Army Air Field . On 25 August 1943 , the 80th Flying Training Wing ( Navigation & Glider ) was activated at San Marcos as part of Army Air Force Technical Training Command . Over a 2 - year period , approximately 10 , 000 highly trained air navigators were trained there . Shortly after the end of hostilities with Japan , the Army Air Forces decided to consolidate all navigator training at Ellington Field near Houston . This consolidation occurred during September 1945 , although the school at San Marcos remained open until November when the airfield was closed . However , with the aid of Congressman Lyndon Johnson and Senator Tom Connally , the facility was reactivated in May 1946 to operate the Army Air Force helicopter and liaison school , which was transferred from Sheppard Field , Texas . With the change in status , San Marcos was reassigned to the Army Air Force Flying Training Command . With the establishment of the United States Air Force in 1947 , the facility was renamed San Marcos Air Force Base . The 3585th Pilot Training Wing ( Liaison - Helicopter ) was activated as the Operational Training Unit on 25 August 1948 . The wing remained active until 1 March 1949 when it was inactivated and helicopter training was moved from San Marcos to Waco ( later James Connally ) AFB . On 31 March , San Marcos AFB was inactivated . On 15 January 1951 , Air Training Command ( ATC ) reactivated San Marcos AFB and moved helicopter and liaison training back from Connally AFB . The availability of several small secondary airfields , as well as the hilly , rough terrain around San Marcos ( similar to that of Korea ) precipitated the change . In addition to the flying training , ATC moved ground helicopter mechanics training to San Marcos from Sheppard AFB to make room for its F - 80 and F - 89 training . On 1 February 1951 , ATC reactivated and assigned the 3585th Pilot Training Wing ( Liaison - Helicopter ) to San Marcos . With nearly 5000 men on duty , the base was home to the largest helicopter training facility in the nation . It trained mechanics as well as pilots . On Armed Forces Day , May 16 , 1953 , the base once again received a new name , the Edward Gary Air Force Base in honor of Lieutenant Arthur Edward Gary , the first Hays County soldier killed in World War II . In 1956 , the Department of Defense gave the Army approval to train helicopter pilots and operate liaison aircraft . To accommodate the transfer of training , the Air Force transferred Gary AFB to the Department of the Army in December 1956 . Under Army control , the facility underwent yet another name change , one which is still referred to by some locals today , Camp Gary . A civilian contractor trained pilots for fixed wing aircraft until the summer of 1959 . In 1963 , the base was essentially closed and marked for disposal . Organized San Marcans fought to save the base , and on November 20 , 1964 , President Lyndon B . Johnson announced in a speech at his alma mater , Southwest Texas State University , that the abandoned Camp Gary would be the site of a new federal vocational training facility called Job Corps . Today it ' s known as the Gary Job Corps Center , the largest in the nation .