Thanks to Bob (as always) and to William for the DM history.
My "unnamed source" attempted to answer some of the questions about
Tucson's airfields. I wish he had a computer. It's no wonder there
is confusion. For instance:
The airfield I will refer to as the "Downtown Airport" has had several
different names over the years. One of those names was Macauley Field.
People think that Macauley Field was on Nogales Highway because the
city placed a monument to the Downtown Airport near 6th and Ajo.
Presumably, they located the monument there because they had moved
some of the old hangars to the Rodeo Grounds. They are still there.
Over the years, the borders of the Downton Airport have expanded and
shrank. At one point, it extended as far east as Alvernon. This is
why some people confuse it with the old DM field.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that the Downtown Airport was
converted over to private civilian use in the 1930's and 40's, and
doesn't appear on many maps from that period. During this time, one
of the tenants was the University of Arizona. They used the field to
train their cadets.
One thing we know for certain is that the Downtown Airport was
Tucson's first official airport, opening in 1916. Lindbergh stopped
there, as well as other history-making pilots, male and female.
Blimps made several stops at the field, but we found no evidence of a
mooring tower.
William, my source believes that the hangar you asked about is an Army
Air Corps hangar from the 1940's.
More on the smaller fields later. Anyone have any pictures?
Thanks,
Carlos
--- In vanishingtucson@..., "William V. Sutherland"
<wvsaz@m...> wrote:
How many airports has Tucson had?
Charles A. Lindbergh landed here September 23, 1927, to dedicate the
new city airport located on property that is now part of DMAFB, in the
area immediately southeast of Golf Links & Alvernon. Aviation Highway
was a dedicated dirt road starting at 22nd St. at the SP railroad, and
paralleling the tracks directly to the airport. This city airport,
called Davis-Monthan Municipal Airport, was the largest municipally
owned airport in the country when it opened.
In 1940 it was announced that a military air base was to be located
"somewhere in Arizona", and both Tucson and Phoenix badly wanted it.
The city offered to give D-M to the military if they would locate the
base here. The military accepted, and retained the D-M name for the
base. The base continued to handle the American Airlines passenger
flights until the present Tucson International Airport opened in 1948.
So, what airport do the hangers near Kino & 36th belong to? The
property is listed as belonging to the City of Tucson, and the parcel
certainly contains enough acreage for an airport.
The airport prior to 1927 was supposed to have been south of town on
Nogales Highway. Another was called Macauley field, but I don't know
the location. The city obtained the first portion of land for the
present airport in 1941.
A 1940 street map shows the airport bordered by Alvernon on the west,
Golf Links on the north, the SPRR tracks on the south, and an eastern
border on the same alignment as Rosemont. The base is shown as an
eastern extension from the Rosemont alignment to Craycroft. The map
does not indicate anything southwest of 36th & Kino.
The 1940 map shows Aviation Highway ending at Alvernon. It also shows a
city bus line (the # 7!) running south from Broadway on Craycroft,
entering the base at its eastern boundary about a half mile south of
Golf Links. The downtown bus terminal is shown located at 6th Ave. &
Congress, where the Ronstadt Transit Center is today!
Does anyone know if the small hanger at the corner of D-M near Golf
Links & Alvernon is an original building from the municipal airport?
All of this is fascinating. I hope others have information to clear up
these mysteries.
----- Original Message -----
From: "mistercopacetic" <mistercopacetic@y...>
To: <vanishingtucson@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 11:23 AM
Subject: [vanishingtucson] Tucson Drive-In theaters plus airport note...
These yellowed 1954 newspaper fragments have another significance.
We recently rescued them from inside the ruins of Tucson's first
airport. You can still see the metal skeletons of the old airplane
hangars by looking southwest from the corner of Kino and 36th. At the
site, you can find evidence of even older wooden hangars. If it's
quiet, you can almost hear the sound of the propeller-driven planes
taking off and landing on the packed-caleche runways.
The city was using the hangars for storage until recently. They are
now completely abandoned and will certainly be gone soon.
Carlos
