The Commemorative Air Force may move its headquarters out of West Texas but not without facing a fierce dogfight. The nonprofit group, dedicated to preserving military aviation history and memorabilia, sent Midland-Odessa into a tailspin after announcing plans to move part of the organization to another Texas city, including potential sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The proposed move, to be voted on by members at the group’s annual “AirSho” in Midland in mid-October, has created such angst that the two local papers, historic rivals, decried the proposal in a rare joint editorial.
“If they vote to move it, then they have forgotten the Moses that led them out of bondage,” said an incredulous David Smith, executive director of the Abell-Hanger Foundation.
The foundation, a major supporter, helped relocate the CAF — now known for its museum and long-running air show — from Harlingen in 1991.
CAF chief executive officer Stephan Brown, the focus of much of the fury, insisted the organization is not abandoning Midland. He said the CAF and the city of Midland have formally agreed on what will move and what will stay.
“We’re going to continue to keep our world-class museum there and continue to produce an air show there,” said Brown.
Offices, staff
Initially, the plan is to move its administrative offices of about 10 people to the new location, Brown said. Later, the CAF would establish a new “national airbase” and an air show at the new site.
The CAF already has about 60 sites around the country where planes and exhibits are located. The museum in Midland is the only accredited museum.
Board chairman Neils Agather of Fort Worth said members are unanimous in their desire to relocate their headquarters.
The decision has been “several years in the making in people’s minds,” he said. “But no one talked about it because it’s controversial.”
Agather still remembers the emotional turmoil of leaving South Texas, where the CAF was founded in 1961. “People don’t take change really easily,” he said.
“I have no complaints at all about Midland,” he said. “They’ve been really good to us.”
The move is necessary, Agather said, because the CAF has grown to national prominence and needs to be in a more urban environment.
“The feeling was the time was right to have our headquarters and airbase be in a larger metropolitan area,” he said. “Our criteria was a population of 500,000 or more, two interstates and a larger reliever airport.”
Blowback in Midland
The proposed sites include Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney, Dallas Executive Airport in southern Dallas, North Texas Regional Airport in Sherman-Denison, Ellington Field in Houston and Lackland/Kelly airport in San Antonio.
All offer huge metropolitan audiences and easy accessibility, Brown said.
“The reason large museums — large art museums and science museums — are located in large cities is because they’re more accessible to more people,” he said.
CAF supporters in West Texas have been skeptical the move would be limited to the headquarters.
“We will not be told to accept that the museum and AirSho will continue, and those concessions should be good enough,” said the joint editorial, which ran Sept. 15. “We will not … be resigned to status as a consolation CAF site.”
Midland City Council member Scott Dufford, who had threatened to seek “reparations” if the CAF moved, sounded mollified after meetings with CAF officials last week.
“I think we have an agreement that everything is going to be ‘as is’ with the exception of them moving their headquarters out of Midland,” he said.
City officials are working on a contract to guarantee that the CAF maintains the museum, produces the air show and ensures certain assets remain in Midland.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be a win for us and win for them,” Dufford said.
Brown agreed. “I guess it just took us sitting down with everybody and going through it again,” he said.
State Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, who threatened to cut off state funding if the CAF moved, didn’t return calls for comment.
Any move must be approved by three-fourths of voting members. About 6,200 are eligible to vote. Only about 300 are from the Permian Basin.
Commemorative Air Force weighs move from West Texas, maybe to Dallas area