Page "Fort Sumner, New Mexico" Paragraph 3

In the 1920s the Transcontinental Air Transport airline built an airfield in Fort Sumner as part of its coast-to-coast air passenger network, but the site was abandoned when the airline's ambitious plans collapsed in the Great Depression.

The airfield was reopened by the Army Air Corps as a training base during World War II.

After the war, the base became the Fort Sumner Municipal Airport, and was chosen as a launch site for NASA's high altitude balloon program.