Thunderbird Field

Infobox Military Structure
name=Thunderbird Field
partof = Arizona World War II Army Airfields
location= About 2 miles northwest of Glendale, Arizona
coordinates=Coord|33|37|21.78|N|112|11|6.82|W|type:airport


caption= 30 April 1997
type=USAAF Contract Flight Training School
code=
built=1939
builder=
materials=
height=
used= 1942-1946
demolished=
condition=
ownership=
controlledby=United States Army Air Forces
garrison= Fourth Air Force
commanders=
occupants=
battles=
events=

Thunderbird Field was the premier flight training facility for US pilots during World War II. It was created in part by actor Jimmy Stewart. [From The Soldier's Book of Inspirational Stories, by R.Dale Jeffery, 1997.]

History

There was no US Air Force until 1947, and all air power that wasn't on a ship was part of the US Army Air Forces or US Army Air Corps. Stewart, actor Hoagy Carmichael and a few others pooled their money in 1939 and built an air training base in Arizona. [From "The History of Thunderbird," Parts 1 and 2, in "Das Tor", October 1992.]

The site, now 25 miles from central Phoenix in Glendale, Arizona, was laid out to look from the air like an etching of a mythical Anasazi Thunderbird, and so it was called Thunderbird Field. The installation consisted of a number of hangars, barracks, and other buildings, which were situated on the southeast corner of West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue. Adjacent to the buildings to the southeast was a 2,800' square ramp area, and across West Greenway Road to the north was the airfield itself, with three 3,500' runways.

Stewart, Carmichael and the other backers built dormitories, a cafeteria and two hangars on the site, plus twin swimming pools. They fostered pilot training (and paid $25,000 per month for fuel) until 1942, when the US Army Air Corps took over control and funding of the training of pilots.

More than 20,000 pilots had been trained by the time World War II began for the Americans in December 1941. By the end of the War more than 2 million pilots would be taught how to fly at Thunderbird Field. A 1943 movie was created about the pilots trained here called, "The Flying Thunderbirds".

Luke Air Force Base, some 30 miles away, was another base built by the US Government at this time. It was much larger, and took over both control of the field as well as advanced training for certain types of combat planes.

Because of its facilities and star power (Jimmy Stewart, when he wasn't on active duty as a bomber pilot, would visit the facility), the Thunderbird Field was called "the country club of the Army Air Corps."

Thunderbird Field closed on October 16, 1944.

After World War II

Following the end of WW2, Thunderbird Field was declared surplus by the War Assets Administration in 1946. That same year, Thunderbird was purchased for $1 from the federal government by Lt. General Barton Yount, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Training Command. He established the American Institute for Foreign Trade and became its first president.

Classes began on the site within a few months, however the airfield at Thunderbird may have continued in operation alongside the new school for some time. Thunderbird Field was apparently closed (permanently) at some point within the next year.

Today, the former airfield is still the location of the school, known currently as Thunderbird School of Global Management. The campus still contains many original airfield buildings, including the airfield control tower (which is soon to be renovated), barracks, and two large airplane hangars.

Thunderbird is located southeast of the intersection of West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue in Glendale, Arizona.

The USAF Thunderbirds, the United States Air Force flight demonstration team, began operating out of Luke AFB in 1953 and are currently based at Nellis AFB).

Thunderbird Field inspired the name of "Thunderbirds", a British mid-1960s television show that used marionettes. The eldest brother of the creator of the show had been stationed at the base and wrote about his experience there.

ee also

* Arizona World War II Army Airfields

References

External Links