Chennault Aviation Academy redevelops abandoned Cut and Shoot airstrip into flight school

The Chennault Aviation Academy, which aims to help young pilots turn lessons into airline careers, opened its new headquarters last week at a redeveloped airstrip that was once the abandoned Cut and Shoot airfield east of Conroe.

The flight school originally opened in 2017 at the Conroe North Houston Regional Airport. Wanting a less busy runway and air space for training pilots to learn and practice, Aaron Wang, president and CEO of the flight school, sought out the airfield that had not been used since the mid-1970s. 

The Cut and Shoot airfield was owned by the Schank family. George Schank is a current resident of the area and his grandfather once used the grass airstrip for his crop-dusting business. 

The airstrip that was most recently pasture land has been redeveloped into a 1,300-foot paved runway with a hangar for three training planes, fueling area, flight simulator and headquarters for the school. 

The flight school has around 170 students and offers a two-year degree for pilots who want to fly for a commercial airline. Students can begin training as a junior in high school. 

The Chennault name is a tribute to American pilot Claire Lee Chennault who helped lead a group of volunteer pilots, “The Flying Tigers,” who brought aid to China during World War II. 

As a boy growing up in the coastal region of Fujian, China in the 1960s, Wang said he could only dream of flight. 

What he did know of airplanes came from stories his elders told of Chennault and the “Flying Tigers.”

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These stories from his childhood and his admiration for the volunteer American pilots remained with Wang throughout his life as he immigrated to Houston in 1981 and later owned a chain of restaurants in Louisiana. 

Today, Wang is helping continue the Chennault legacy by bringing the dream of flight to the next generation of pilots. For him, it keeps the spirit of the Flying Tigers alive.

In the new headquarters building, he has pictures of Chennault and the other pilots who flew as a part of the volunteer group. 

“We did not learn about them in school, but in the streets from the elders and from my uncle. At the time, the education we received wasn’t really correct and they wanted us to know the true stories,” Wang said. “They are heroes.” 

Wang came to Houston at age 19 and began a new life washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant. 

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He went on to open his own restaurant, which led him to Monroe, La., home of the Chennault Aviation and Military Museum. One day, Chennault’s youngest daughter, Rosemary, reached out to Wang hoping to solicit donations to build the Chennault museum. 

“To me as Chinese, we owed that to the Americans and we owed it to the Chennault family. They (the Flying Tigers) are gone but we can’t let that memory disappear,” he said. He knew he had to get the museum going and help keep it going. 

Working with members of the Chennault family, the flight school was launched in the Houston area due to Wang’s history the Bayou City.

Ron Saikowski, engineer for the project, called the redevelopment of the grass strip a pioneering adventure as they sought to establish power to the remote location. 

“The utilities that you and I take for granted, they were not here,” he said. 

For more about the flight school, visit the Chennault Aviation Academy website.