Bryan Air Force Base Bryan Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located just west of Bryan , Texas . Today , the location houses the Texas A & M University Riverside Campus . History . World War II . Bryan AFB was established in 1942 as part of the expansion of the flying training program by Army Air Forces Training command . It was activated on 1 March under the Central Flying Training Command ( CFTC ) 77th Flying Training Wing ( Advanced , Single Engine ) , Foster Army Airfield , Texas . Bryan Army Airfield was constructed with three concrete runways , one main 5500x300 ( N / S ) , and two secondary 5000x300 ( NE / SW ) 5000x300 ( NW / SE ) . A large parking apron was built with additional taxiways , landing aids and several hangars . Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled . Most base buildings , not meant for long - term use , were constructed of temporary or semi - permanent materials . Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen , most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper . The base had its own hospital , 40 - acre sewage plant , 9 administration buildings , 4 mess halls , supply rooms , officers ' quarters , a guardhouse , a chapel , and 37 barracks . In addition to the main base and airfield , at least four auxiliary fields were also constructed in the area : Records for Auxiliary field # 3 have not been located . Bryan AAF became the home of the Army Air Forces Instructors School ( Instrument Pilot ) . The school was established as a means of strengthening the AAF instrument program . A substantial improvement in the instrument proficiency of basic graduates was achieved ; this resulted from standardized employment of the more efficient system , proper training of instructors , procurement of adequate equipment , and allocation of more flying hours to instrument work In 1943 , Bryan Field was the starting point of the first intentional meteorological flight into a hurricane . It was assigned to the AAFTC Central Flying Training Command as an AAF Pilot School ( Advanced , Twin - Engine ) . Instructor training continued until the base was inactivated in February 1947 . Following World War II , enrollment at nearby Texas A & M University soared . Housing was in short supply , so between September 1946 and May 1950 an estimated 5 , 500 men were housed and attended classes at an annex on the former Bryan Army Airfield . Cold War . The Air Force retained a recapture right , which it exercised at Bryan to accommodate the Korean War training surge . In the spring of 1951 the government purchased at the site , and Bryan Field was reactivated as Bryan Air Force Base under Air Training Command ( ATC ) . Much construction was necessary to bring the World War II training base up to postwar Air Force standards . In 1951 additional land surrounding the base was appropriated for military facilities and extended runways . A jet runway ( 00 / 18 ) was laid down along with accompanying taxiways , concrete block buildings and other support facilities to replace the temporary wooden World War II structures that were viewed as substandard for a permanent Air Force base . The 3530th Pilot Training Wing ( Advanced Single - Engine ) was activated by ATC on 14 October 1951 . The primary mission of Bryan AFB was to provide advanced single engine pilot training for student officers and aviation cadets of the USAF and foreign nationals . The 3530th PTW qualified aviation cadets as officers in the USAF . The school used T - 28 Trojan single - engine trainers and jet training used F - 80 and T - 33 Shooting Star aircraft . The 3531st Pilot Training Squadron flew T - 28s ; the 3530th PTS flew T - 33s . Gus Grissom , later one of the first astronauts , was a jet instructor at Bryan AFB in the 1950s . In 1954 the 3530th PTW began transitioning to all - jet basic training using the T - 33 / F - 80s and retired the propeller - driven T - 28s . The last T - 28 was sent to storage in early 1956 . In 1956 ATC transferred tanker and bomber training to Strategic Air Command and fighter training to Tactical Air Command . Thus , ATC found itself with a much smaller advanced flying training program . Jet qualification training had been taught at Craig AFB , Alabama , but by moving it to Randolph AFB , ATC was able to free Craig for basic pilot training and closed Bryan AFB . Basic single - engine training ended at Bryan on 12 June 1958 . The command discontinued Bryan ' s 3530th Pilot Training Wing on 25 October and placed the base on inactive status until it transferred to Air Materiel Command on 1 April 1960 for subsequent disposition . The base was turned over to Texas A & M in May 1961 . The land and buildings were deeded to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas ( now Texas A & M University ) in 1962 . Redevelopment . In 2005 the Texas Engineering Extension Service converted a World War II - era hangar at the Texas A & M Riverside Campus into a training facility for electric power and telecommunications workers . The hangar was gutted and modernized , with the installation of smart board s , audio - visual aids , and heating and air conditioning . The runway is also used as an SCCA racetrack . In 2006 , the Texas A & M College of Architecture completed an Built Environment Teaching and Research Facility also known as Architecture Ranch . The building contains a woodshop , a metal shop , and two digital fabrication machines : a CNC Mill and a CNC Plasma Cutter . Architecture Ranch is located on of the Texas A & M Riverside Campus . A joint Texas A & M System - University of Texas system low - circulation library will begin construction in June 2012 . The facility is designed to hold one million books and eliminate redundancy in the collections of the two university systems . USA Georgia