Corpus Christi, TX
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi (KNGP) and Naval Air Station Kingsville to the south have trained Navy pilots since 1941 — Corpus Christi is the primary training base for all Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard helicopter pilots, plus E-2/E-6 multi-engine. KCRP is the civilian field across the bay, ~6nm NW of downtown. USS Lexington (CV-16, the Blue Ghost) is moored on the bayfront just east of downtown — a museum carrier with vintage aircraft on the flight deck. Class C airspace; Padre Island National Seashore is 30 minutes south by car.
The USS Lexington (CV-16) sits permanently moored in Corpus Christi Bay — one of the most decorated aircraft carriers in US Navy history. From the air, the carrier's flight deck is unmistakable, with vintage aircraft displayed on deck. Commissioned in 1943, the Lexington served longer and set more records than any other Essex-class carrier. The Japanese reported sinking her four times, earning the nickname 'The Blue Ghost.' After combat in the Pacific, she served as a training carrier until 1991. Today she's a museum ship with the flight deck, hangar bay, and crew quarters open to visitors.
Padre Island National Seashore protects 70 miles of barrier island along the South Texas Gulf coast — the longest undeveloped barrier island in the world. The whole island runs 113 miles, the second-largest in the contiguous United States after Long Island, and 1.8 miles wide at its widest. President Kennedy established the seashore in September 1962. The interior is grassland and dune; the Gulf side a continuous white-sand beach largely accessible only by four-wheel-drive. The Laguna Madre, the hypersaline lagoon between the island and the mainland, is one of only six lagoons of its kind on Earth. The island is the most important nesting site for the Kemp's ridley sea turtle — the most endangered sea turtle in the world — and lies on the Central Flyway, hosting roughly 380 bird species, about 45 percent of every species ever recorded in North America. The island takes its name from Father José Nicolás Ballí, the Spanish missionary priest who owned it in the early 19th century.
At 825,000 acres, the King Ranch is larger than the state of Rhode Island. Founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King, a former steamboat pilot, the ranch essentially created the American ranching industry. From the air, the sheer scale is staggering — you can fly over it for 30 minutes and still be above King Ranch land. The distinctive 'Running W' brand is one of the most recognized in the world. The ranch developed the Santa Gertrudis cattle breed (the first breed developed in the Western Hemisphere) and bred the legendary racehorse Assault, who won the Triple Crown in 1946.
Five Spanish colonial missions stretching along the San Antonio River form the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas. The Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero) is the most famous, but four others — Concepción, San José, San Juan, and Espada — form a remarkable chain visible as a series of stone compounds following the river south from downtown. Mission San José, the 'Queen of the Missions,' is the most architecturally intact. From the air, the contrast between the 300-year-old mission compounds and the modern city surrounding them is striking. These missions were the northernmost extent of Spanish colonization in North America.