Forerunner of Bergstrom Air Force Base is activated near Austin

On this day in 1942, Del Valle Army Air Base was activated. The facility was constructed on 3,000 acres of land donated by the city of Austin. It was renamed Bergstrom Field on November 11, 1943, in honor of Capt. John A. Bergstrom, the first Austinite killed in World War II. In 1948 the name was changed to Bergstrom Air Force Base. The base closed on September 30, 1993. The land was returned to the city of Austin, and in May of 1999 Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was opened on the site and Robert Mueller Municipal Airport was closed.