Perrin Field Went From Basic Trainers to Jets

Perrin began with 1,160 acres and a fast wartime timetable. The site was acquired in June 1941, Air Corps personnel arrived in August, and the first flight students arrived on December 16. Their February 1942 graduation also dedicated the base to Lt. Col. Elmer D. Perrin, a Texas test pilot killed in the line of duty in 1941.

Training changed with the aircraft. Basic trainers of the 1940s gave way to jets in the 1960s and 1970s, and pilots trained here served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Base jobs became part of the Grayson County economy. In 1961, the president, vice president, and other dignitaries landed at Perrin for Sam Rayburn's funeral in nearby Fannin County. The base closed in 1971, partly because of increased air traffic in the area.

The field kept an aviation life after the military closure. Grayson County now calls it North Texas Regional Airport/Perrin Field, on a large site between Sherman and Denison with long runways and broad aircraft ramps. The current name is a small act of memory: Perrin never quite left the map.