Air Force Historical Research Agency
The Matagorda Peninsula Army airfield was built during 1942 by the Army Air Corps, primarily to support the Matagorda Bombing Range on Matagorda Island to the south.
In addition, it was also developed as a training school by Army Air Forces Training Command.
Matagorda AAF was the home of the AAF Pilot School (Advanced Single Engine), and also conducted a Single-Engine pilot transmission school.
The major military units assigned were the 62d Single Engine Flying Training Group and 79th Bombardier Training Group.
Initially built with three runways, during the war two additional runways were added to accommodate the large number of landings and takeoffs.
Aircraft assigned to the base were North American AT-6 Texans, Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, and North American P-51 Mustangs.
A series of curved roads on the east side of the parking ramp had dozens of buildings.
After the war ended, the training school was inactivated and the facility was closed in November 1945.
Civil Use
After the war ended, the airfield was transferred to civil control, and was known as Matagorda Peninsula Airport.
In the late 1940s, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics considered Matagorda Island as a rocket launch site, however, Cape Canaveral, Florida was chosen instead.
However, in the 1980s, after his 1982 retirement from NASA, astronaut Deke Slayton became president of Space Services Inc., a Houston-based company which used Matagorda Island, with support on Matagorda Peninsula, as a launch site for their commercial space rockets.a private firm,
Space Services Inc established a rocket launch facility on the island for commercial rockets with the peninsula airport, known was Pierce Field, providing aircraft access.
Today, privately owned Matagorda Peninsula Airport has been recently repaved and given fresh markings.
It's still marked as abandoned on the sectional charts, however.”