Rattlesnake Bomber Base Site

Pecos Trail Region
10th and Ward Pyote, TX 79777 (432) 389-5660

The Pyote Air Force Station, located just south of Pyote, was known as the Rattlesnake Bomber Base by servicemen training at the base during World War ll. The base, positioned across the remarkably flat terrain characteristic of the area, provided two giant runways, each a mile and a half long. The location provided the military with ideal conditions for training bombardment crews how to fly the heavy-duty B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-29 Superfortress, one of the largest aircrafts in service during the war. The base was home to numbers of military servicemen and women over the war years, as well as an unreasonable population of western diamondback rattlesnakes, the inspiration for the base’s nickname. After the war, the base provided storage for several thousand flying warcraft until 1963, the year the base closed. Today, remnants of the base remain, primarily in ruins, including the mammoth runways. Its artifacts and history reside with the Rattlesnake Bomber Base Museum, located in nearby Monahans at the Million Barrel Museum.

Rattlesnake Bomber Base Site

10th and Ward Pyote, TX 79777

Admission

Free

Hours

By appointment.