| W R Byron Airport Gary Field |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 USGS aerial photo | |||
| IATA: none – ICAO: none | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Private | ||
| Owner | Willard R. Byron | ||
| Location | Blythe, California | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 400 ft / 122 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 18/36 | 2,640 | 805 | Asphalt |
W R Byron Airport (FAA LID: 44CA) is a private airport located within city limits, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of central Blythe, California.
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Opened on 29 June 1942. Known as Blythe Field and Gary Field. Began training United States Army Air Corps flying cadets under contract to Morton Air Academy. Assigned to United States Army Air Forces West Coast Training Center (later Western Flying Training Command) as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. Had three 2,100' active hard-surfaced runways and three local axillary airfields for emergency and overflow landings. Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer. Also had several PT-17 Stearmans assigned.
Inactivated on 4 August 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. Declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 30 September 1945. Eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA), and the facilities of the former airport were reused by Palo Verde Community College. The college opened at the site on September 15, 1947 and it was at this point that any aviation use of the airfield presumably ended.
Palo Verde College opened its doors as a junior college, having an initial enrollment of seventeen students. By 1950, enrollment had reached 250. In September 1958, the College moved to East Hobsonway, and closed its facilities at the former airport.
The site of Gary Field was reused as a private airfield beginning in 1981 as W R Byron Airport and is a private-owned airfield.
Today, many of the original hangars & buildings remain standing. In particular, the characteristic irregular arrangement of the barracks buildings which remains at the site make the location of Gary Field very much recognizable. One of the large arch-roof hangars remains standing (at the southwest corner of the group of buildings), as well as the tower/operations building (just north of the large hangar), as well as one smaller hangar (northeast of the tower/operations building). The second large hangar (at the northwest corner of the site) was apparently removed, but its foundation is still clearly recognizable.
An interesting sidebar to history puts billionaire Kirk Kerkorian at Morton Air Academy as a flight instructor during the early WW 2 period--flying throughout the California desert--later discovering Las Vegas--making a first career flying charters--and later building hotels like the MGM Grand years later.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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