Hicks Field Hicks Field ( Camp Taliaferro Field # 1 ) is a former World War I military airfield , located North - northwest of Saginaw , Texas . It operated as a training field for the Air Service , United States Army between 1917 until 1920 . It was one of thirty - two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917 . After the United States ' entry into World War I in April 1917 , General John J . " Blackjack " Pershing invited the British Royal Flying Corps to establish training fields in Texas for the training of American and Canadians volunteers because of its mild weather . After looking at sites in Dallas , Fort Worth , Waco , Austin , Wichita Falls and Midland , three sites were established in 1917 in the Fort Worth vicinity ( known as the " Flying Triangle . " ) , those being Hicks Field ( # 1 ) , Barron Field ( # 2 ) , and Benbrook Field ( # 3 ) . Canadians named the training complex Camp Taliaferro after Walter Taliaferro , a US aviator who had been killed in an accident . Camp Taliaferro was headquartered under the direction of the Air Service , United States Army , which had and administration center near what is now the Will Rodgers Memorial Center in Fort Worth , Texas . History . Taliafero Field No . 1 was used by the Royal Flying Corps from October 1917 to April 1918 as a training field for American and Canadian pilots . It was then turned over to the Air Service , United States Army . The Americans renamed the field Hicks Field , after Charles Hicks , who owned the Hicks Ranch on which the airfield was built . World War I . The first trainees arrived in November 1917 to a very crude facility . Most structures were unfinished and personnel lived and worked in canvas tents . The Flu Epidemic killed many assigned personnel . The airfield was taken over by United States Army in April 1918 . The Curtiss JN - 4 " Jenny " became the primary aircraft used for flight training after the Army takeover . The 22d , 27th , 28th , 139th , 147th , and 148th US Aero Squadrons trained at the facility . Military use ended in early 1919 after the end of World War I . In 1923 , the field became the location of the world ' s first helium plant , operated by United States Navy . It became a Navy blimp facility until 1929 when shortages closed facility . Taken over by United States Army Air Corps in 1940 , facilities improved and it was used as a contract primary flight training facility by the USAAF Gulf Coast Training Center ( later Central Flying Command ) . Texas Aviation School & W . F . Long Flying School provided flying training to aviation cadets . Initially under supervision of 307th Army Air Forces Flying Training Detachment , later re - designated as 2555th Army Air Forces Base Unit ( Contract Pilot School , Primary ) on 1 May 1944 . A ten - week course of primary training continued at Hicks , and a total of 2 , 403 cadets were processed , and about 70 % made it to the next level of training at Randolph Field . Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT - 19 s as the primary trainer . Also had several PT - 17 Stearman s and a few P - 40 Warhawk s were assigned . The field was inactivated 20 July 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC ' s pilot training program , declared surplus , and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers . It was eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration ( WAA ) and returned to civil control . Postwar use included storage and sale of surplus military aircraft , and it was also used by Bell Helicopter as flight test airfield during 1950s . Bell activities ended in late 1950s and the facility became a general aviation airfield , eventually falling into disuse and then closed .