Yucca Army Airfield
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Yucca Army Airfield
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|---|---|
| Part of Arizona World War II Army Airfields | |
| About 1 mile west of Yucca, Arizona | |
 31 May 1997 |
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| Type | USAAF Training Airfield |
| Coordinates | |
| Built | 1943 |
| In use | 1943-1946 |
| Controlled by | United States Army Air Forces |
| Garrison | Fourth Air Force |
Yucca Army Airfield is an former military airfield located about 1 mile west of Yucca, on the east side of Interstate 40, 25 miles south of Kingman. It is presently used as a testing facility by Ford Motor Company.
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[edit] Military Use
In 1943-44, the US Army Air Forces acquired 2,284 acres to build a satellite airfield for the use of Kingman AAF & its Gunnery School. Yucca AAF was commanded by the 3019th Army Air Force Base Unit, as part of AAF Western Flying Training Command.
The facility consisted of two 6,000' asphalt runways, taxiways, control tower, a total of 45 buildings, roads, a railroad spur, electrical utilities, water utilities, and a sewage disposal plant.
The adjoining Yucca Air to Air Gunnery Range was located to the southwest of Yucca AAF. It consisted of a total of 550,000 acres, and the range had four runways. Bell P-39 & P-63 fighters were used as gunnery targets at Yucca Aux AAF. B-26 bombers were also used as target tugs at Yucca AAF
The property was declared surplus in 1946 and responsibility for it was given to the War Assets Administration.
[edit] Civil Use
In 1954 the Ford Motor Company acquired the airport facility and began using the runways for automobile testing. Ford eventually built an extensive automotive proving ground surrounding the airfield.
As of 2002, the airfield itself was still operated by Ford as a private airfield, known as the Arizona Proving Ground Airport. Ford also continued to use some of the original military facilities, including the control tower, runways, taxiways, parking aprons, however all of the original military buildings (except for the control tower) had been removed.
The Yucca airfield was evidently closed by Ford at some point between 2002-2006.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- Thole, Lou (1999), Forgotten Fields of America : World War II Bases and Training, Then and Now - Vol. 2. Publisher: Pictorial Histories Pub, ISBN 1575100517
