Departure
92%
vs 95% ▼ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Dyess Air Force Base sits on Abilene's southwestern edge in west Texas, home to the 7th Bomb Wing's B-1B Lancers and the 317th Airlift Wing's C-130J Super Hercules fleet. Its single enormous runway, over 13,500 feet of lit, ILS-equipped hard surface, reflects its role as a strategic bomber and airlift hub rather than a civil field. As an active military installation it is of interest to the simulator pilot chiefly for its scale and its long Cold War and modern-day flying history.
Dyess Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation on the southwestern outskirts of Abilene, Texas, roughly 150 miles west of Fort Worth. It is the home station of the 7th Bomb Wing, one of only two Rockwell B-1B Lancer strategic bomber wings in the USAF, and of the 317th Airlift Wing, one of the Air Force's four active-duty C-130 Hercules locations. For the simulator pilot, Dyess offers an exceptionally long, ILS-equipped runway and a working military traffic pattern of heavy bombers and tactical airlifters, set within controlled airspace around a mid-sized Texas city.
Dyess lies within Class C airspace, about 7 miles (11 km) southwest of downtown Abilene, Texas. Approach and departure control for the area is provided by Abilene Approach/Departure. The base covers some 6,400 acres and is a military-only field with no scheduled civil airline service.
Dyess has a single physical runway, 16/34, a hard-surfaced, lit strip roughly 13,511 to 13,512 feet long and equipped with an ILS, reflecting the field's role in supporting heavy bomber and large transport aircraft operations.
Radio services at Dyess include Abilene Approach/Departure, an ATIS on 38.57 MHz, Ground on 118.35 MHz, and Tower on 133 MHz. Additional frequencies published for the field include a Pilot-to-Metro Service (PMSV) channel on 38.325 MHz with a Metro post on 31.1 MHz, an Air Traffic Control Command Post frequency of 34.94 MHz, and an AMCC PTD frequency of 139.3 MHz. The runway is equipped with an instrument landing system.
The site was established by the United States Army Air Forces in 1942 as Tye Army Air Field, opening on 18 December 1942 under the name Abilene Army Air Base; it was renamed Abilene Army Airfield on 8 April 1943. During the Second World War it served as a flying training centre for cadets, hosting the 77th Reconnaissance Group, the 69th Tactical Reconnaissance Group and the 408th Fighter-Bomber Group, the last of these training with A-24, A-26, P-40 and P-47 aircraft. From March 1944 the 261st Army Air Force Base Unit took over P-47 Thunderbolt training, which continued until April 1946. With the war's end the base was declared inactive on 31 January 1946 and, though nominally an inactive subbase of Fort Worth Army Airfield, was sold to the city of Abilene for one dollar and used for some years as a Texas Army National Guard training facility. Following the outbreak of the Korean War, city leaders lobbied for a new military installation on the former Tye AAF site, raising almost a million dollars to purchase an additional 3,500 acres and securing the support of Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. Congress approved $32 million for construction in July 1952, and the new Abilene Air Force Base opened on 15 April 1956, with the 341st Bombardment Wing activating as its first combat unit on 1 September 1955. The base was renamed Dyess Air Force Base on 6 December 1956 in honour of Lieutenant Colonel William Edwin Dyess, a native of Albany, Texas, who survived the Bataan Death March, escaped Japanese captivity in April 1943, fought with guerrilla forces on Mindanao, and was evacuated by submarine in July 1943, before dying in December 1943 while attempting to crash-land a burning P-38 Lightning away from a populated area.
Dyess remains an active USAF installation under Air Force Global Strike Command, hosting the 7th Bomb Wing, which flies the B-1B Lancer and serves as the Air Force schoolhouse for all B-1B aircrew training through its 9th and 28th Bomb Squadrons, alongside the tenant 317th Airlift Wing operating the C-130 Hercules. The base employs more than 5,000 people and is the largest employer in the Abilene area, with nearly 200 facilities across its roughly 6,400 acres. As a military installation, Dyess is not open to the public and prior permission is required for any flying activity.
