About this tour
Two things put Hondo on the map: a blunt-spoken 1930 roadside sign and a wartime navigator school that trained more airmen than the town had residents. This driving tour starts with the famous 'This Is God's Country' sign at the city limits, then heads to the site of Hondo Army Airfield, where the Army Air Corps trained over 14,000 World War II navigators between 1942 and 1945 — a facility so large the federal government made Hondo incorporate as a city just to host it. From there the route runs through Hondo's courthouse square and church district before finishing at the 1842 battle site on Hondo Creek itself, where Texan and Mexican forces clashed during the last serious invasion of the Republic of Texas.