Oxnard Field

Last updated
Oxnard Field
Summary
Location Albuquerque, New Mexico
Opened1928
Closed1948

Oxnard Field (also known at various times as Albuquerque Airport and Albuquerque Army Air Field) was the first airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It served as the home of commercial aviation in Albuquerque from 1928 to 1929 and remained in use for other purposes until 1948. The field was located on Albuquerque's East Mesa, east of the present site of Albuquerque International Sunport.

Airport location where aircraft take off and land

An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports often have facilities to store and maintain aircraft, and a control tower. An airport consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface such as a runway for a plane to take off or a helipad, and often includes adjacent utility buildings such as control towers, hangars and terminals. Larger airports may have airport aprons, taxiway bridges, air traffic control centres, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services. In some countries, the US in particular, they also typically have one or more fixed-base operators, serving general aviation.

New Mexico U.S. state in the United States

New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States of America; its capital and cultural center is Santa Fe, which was founded in 1610 as capital of Nuevo México, while its largest city is Albuquerque with its accompanying metropolitan area. It is one of the Mountain States and shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona; its other neighboring states are Oklahoma to the northeast, Texas to the east-southeast, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua to the south and Sonora to the southwest. With a population around two million, New Mexico is the 36th state by population. With a total area of 121,592 sq mi (314,920 km2), it is the fifth-largest and sixth-least densely populated of the 50 states. Due to their geographic locations, northern and eastern New Mexico exhibit a colder, alpine climate, while western and southern New Mexico exhibit a warmer, arid climate.

Albuquerque International Sunport airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Albuquerque International Sunport is a Class C public international airport 3 miles (5 km) southeast of downtown Albuquerque, in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. It is the largest civil airport in New Mexico, handling 5,467,693 passengers in 2018.

Contents

History

The field was originally constructed in 1928 by Santa Fe Railroad workers Frank G. Speakman and William Langford Franklin, using grading equipment loaned by the city after hours. Working with the town of Albuquerque, they graded two runways on the East Mesa—one approximately 5,300 feet (1,600 m) long and the other just under 4,000 feet (1,200 m). The venture became Albuquerque Airport. Other individuals and promoters soon became interested in Albuquerque as a crossroads location for southwestern air traffic.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Large railroad company in the United States.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the railroad reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876. To create a demand for its services, the railroad set up real estate offices and sold farm land from the land grants that it was awarded by Congress. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult; the town ultimately was reached by a branch line from Lamy.

James G. Oxnard, a New York entrepreneur, bought out Franklin's share in the airport soon after it was completed and renamed it Oxnard Field. [1] Oxnard expanded the facility to 480 acres (1.9 km2), adding an administration building and other facilities.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2018 population of 8,398,748 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 19,979,477 people in its 2018 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 22,679,948 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

In its brief stint as the city's main airport, Oxnard Field was served by two competing airlines, Western Air Express (WAE) and Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT). However, the proximity of the field to the Sandia Mountains made pilots uneasy, and Western Air Express built a new facility, West Mesa Airport, in 1929. Following the merger of TAT and WAE to form Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), all commercial air service shifted to West Mesa. This airport became known as Albuquerque Airport—while the former Albuquerque Airport on the East Mesa took on the name Oxnard Field, continuing as a private venture.

Transcontinental Air Transport 1928-1930 American airline, predecessor of TWA

Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) was an airline founded in 1928 by Clement Melville Keys that merged in 1930 with Western Air Express to form what became TWA. Keys enlisted the help of Charles Lindbergh to design a transcontinental network to get government airmail contracts. Lindbergh established numerous airports across the country in this effort.

Sandia Mountains mountain range located to the east of the city of Albuquerque in New Mexico in the southwestern United States

The Sandia Mountains, are a mountain range located in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, immediately to the east of the city of Albuquerque in New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The range is largely within the Cibola National Forest, and part of the range is protected as the Sandia Mountain Wilderness. Its highest point is Sandia Crest, 10,678 feet (3,255 m).

West Mesa Airport airport in New Mexico, United States of America

West Mesa Airport, also known as Western Air Express Airport, TWA Airport, or Cutter-Carr Airport, was an airport on the West Side of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was the city's main commercial aviation facility during the 1930s. It was built in 1929 by Western Air Express as a stop on the airline's Los Angeles–Kansas City route, with a hangar and passenger terminal added in 1930. It was the city's second airfield after the original Albuquerque Airport, which was used by a rival airline, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT). The two airlines merged in 1930 to form TWA, moving all of their operations to the West Mesa field. The merger gave TWA control of the nation's first coast-to-coast passenger airline route and allowed it to secure a lucrative federal airmail contract.

The onset of World War II brought new activity to Oxnard Field. By 1939, Army and Navy pilots had begun using Oxnard Field for refuelling and maintenance. The Army eventually bought the Oxnard Field property and its subsequent transfer to the federal government on April 3, 1942 restricted the runways to military use only. The Army established a training depot for aircraft mechanics near Oxnard Field. An Army Air Forces Air Depot Training Station was established in June, and shortly thereafter the airport was designated Albuquerque Army Air Field. Two new runways and a variety of other facilities were built during this period.

World War II 1939–1945, between Axis and Allies

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 70 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

United States Army Air Forces aerial warfare branch of the United States army from 1941 to 1947

The United States Army Air Forces, informally known as the Air Force, was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army during and immediately after World War II (1939/41–1945), successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force of today, one of the five uniformed military services. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the Services of Supply, and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.

By 1943, however, the mechanics' training program had ended and the depot was used as a convalescent center for wounded air crewmen and then as a storage and dismantling facility for war-weary and surplus aircraft as the war ended. Over 2,000 such planes were stripped and melted down, reclaiming some 10 million pounds of aluminum. [2]

The field was used for the last time between 1945 and 1948, when it served as the final destination for hundreds of surplus warplanes which were assembled there for scrapping. Following the end of this operation, the airport was closed permanently.

Facilities

The airport initially had two dirt runways, east-west (4300 ft) and northeast-southwest (2500 ft). The only facilities consisted of gravity-fed fuel tanks. Oxnard added the administration building, a hangar, and a 52-foot (16 m) beacon. The Airport Inn was a popular dining establishment. The airport reached its final configuration during the war, when the north-south and northwest-southeast runways were added.

Oxnard Field today

The former airport is now part of Kirtland Air Force Base, and new development has covered most of it. However, part of the northeast-southwest runway remains visible and the former administration building and hangar are still standing. Another legacy of Oxnard Field is the major streets Wyoming Boulevard and Ridgecrest Drive, both of which were originally developed as airport access roads.

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References

  1. ↑ U.S. Air Force, Fact Sheet, Kirtland Air Force Base History, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2011-10-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), retrieved April 4, 2008
  2. ↑ Kirtland AFB Fact Sheet

Notes

  1. ^ Oppenheimer, Alan J. (1962). The Historical Background of Albuquerque, New Mexico. City of Albuquerque Planning Department. p. 47.
  2. ^ Oppenheimer, p. 48.

Coordinates: 35°03′03″N106°33′15″W / 35.0507°N 106.5541°W / 35.0507; -106.5541

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