Riverside Campus is part of Texas A&M University. It is located adjacent to State Highway 47 and Highway 21, west of Bryan, Texas. Texas A&M University, often Texas A&M, A&M or TAMU for short, is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. ... Location in the state of Texas County Brazos County, Texas Area  - Total  - Water 112. ...

History

Riverside Campus was originally Bryan Army Airfield^[1]. The base was activated in 1943 as an instructors' school assigned the task of developing a standardized system of instrument flying. The Full Panel Attitude System developed at the base was one of the most significant contributions the base made to pilot training. The instrument-training school at Bryan AAF was the only one of its kind in the United States Army Air Forces. 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ...

In 1943, Bryan Field was the starting point of the first intentional meteorological flight into a hurricane. The name Hurricane Hunters is the nickname for two groups that fly instrumented aircraft into Atlantic hurricanes for the purpose of data collection. ...

Gus Grissom, later one of the first astronauts, was a jet instructor here. Gus Grissom Virgil Ivan Gus Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was a U.S. Air Force pilot who became one of the first American astronauts and one of the first to die in the U.S. space program. ...

The base became Bryan Air Force Base upon separation of the Air Force from the Army in 1947. It was deactivated in May 1961. The land and buildings were deeded to the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University) in 1962. 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ...

Today

Riverside Campus is currently a 1,900-acre campus hosting three training divisions of the Texas Engineering Extension Service^[2]. TEEX occupies about 100,000 square feet of offices, classrooms and laboratories. The agency also maintains outdoor training facilities at Riverside, including overhead and underground electric power training fields, a firing range for law enforcement officers, a heavy equipment training field, an emergency vehicle-driving track, unexploded ordnance ranges and search grids, and simulation prop houses for tactical training.

A vintage World War II hangar at the Texas A&M Riverside Campus was recently transformed into a state-of-the-art training facility for utility workers in the electric power and telecommunications industry. Classrooms in the new facility include state-of-the-art, interactive Smart boards, custom-built workbenches and cabinets, built-in audiovisual systems and automatic lighting.

The runway is also used as an SCCA racetrack^[3]. The SCCA could be considered the grass-roots level of auto racing in the United States. ...

References

1. ^ Handbook of Texas Online
2. ^ Texas Engineering Extension Service website
3. ^ North American Motorsports