"TooPlaneCrazy7" wrote in message
...

Hello everyone,
I've been lurking in this group for quite a bit and have really enjoyed
some
of the conversations. Now, I am asking for your help in identifying
something
that I just found recently:

I live in South Texas near the Mexican border. There is a national park
nearby
called "Laguna Atascosa (Muddy Lagoon)" which, by the way, holds the
record for
the highest number of diverse bird species that can be seen in one day.
This is
a bird watcher's paradise since thousands migrate from the northern states
to
the warmer, tropical temperatures that can be found in the Rio Grande
Valley of
Texas. Anyways, this area is also the supposed location of where one of
the
Spanish explorers (I forget the name) shipwrecked around the 14/1500s.
Even to
this day, people are reportedly finding gold coins and other artifacts.

But, what I wanted to ask the group is if they have any information about
a
particular army air corps base that used to inhabit this area during WWII.
It
is now a country airport with very sparse traffic. But, just north of the
base
are a couple of gunnery ranges which you can see here
(http://www.texasairmuseum.com/coast.htm). If you scroll to the bottom
you'll
see the base as it looks today. While looking at these gunnery ranges one
day,
we came upon a couple of bunkers that were hidden amongst the brush a
couple of
miles from the nearest road. You can see our journey he
(http://www.texasairmuseum.com/ammo1.htm) and the second page contains
what I
am trying to find out. Since the gunnery ranges were nearby, do you think
these
little bunkers held the ammo? Someone once said that these bunkers were
probably hurricane shelters since the base was so close to the coastline.

What do you guys think? By the way, here's a picture of the base during
WWII:
http://www.texasairmuseum.com/airacobra.htm

Thanks for any help or research on this base and its history.


I believe the range you're referring to is the former Laguna Madre Gunnery
Range of the USAAF. The airfield, present-day Port Isabel-Cameron County
Airport, is the former Port Isabel Naval Auxiliary Air Station.