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1940–present. During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Arizona for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers. Most of these airfields were under the command of Fourth Air Force or the Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC) (A predecessor of the current-day United ...
With abundant land available and a warm climate, Arizona played a direct role in the military mobilization for World War II during the early 1940s. Before Pearl Harbor was attacked in December 1941, the federal government had already begun building new military bases and airfields in Arizona to provide training grounds for military pilots.
Arizona's Camp Florence, on the Florence Military Reservation, was the first permanent alien enemy camp constructed during World War II. Construction began during 1942 to house 3000 internees, with room to expand to 6000. The initial construction budget was $4.8 million. The United States did not detain numerous enemy aliens here, so the Army ...
Training pilots was a huge job. The military couldn't do it alone so it hired private flight schools to help out. Southwest Airways was one of them. It ran the Thunderbird airfields, in Glendale and Scottsdale and it operated Mesa's Falcon Field, where at the age of 21 civilian pilot Horace Griffin applied for a job. Horace Griffin:
Or, take U.S. 60 west to Wickenburg and U.S. 93 north to I-40, then go west to Kingman. Kingman Army Airfield Museum: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. 4540 Flightline Drive. $5, free for age 12 ...
1940-1944. In use. 1940-Present. During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Arizona for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers. Most of these airfields were under the command of Fourth Air Force or the Army Air Forces Training Command (AAFTC) (A predecessor of the current ...
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On March 28, 2001, Arizona governor Jane Dee Hull signed new legislation to protect military airfields, such as Luke Air Force Base, in Arizona. The law was one of the first by any state created to protect military airfields. [13] It called for compatible use of the land around the airfields.
