Kingman Army Airfield

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Kingman Army Airfield (1942-1948) - A World War II U.S. Army Airfield that was established in 1942 near Kingman, Mohave County, Arizona. First named Kingman Army Airfield after the location. In 1946 the name was changed to Storage Depot #41, one of four depots in the U.S. charged with storage and scrapping of now war surplus aircraft. It closed in 1948 after processing some 7,000 aircraft.

Kingman Army Airfield Auxillary & Sub Airfields
No Name Location State GPS Notes
Sub Yucca Army Airfield Yucca AZ 34.8756, -114.1258 Sub Base
Aux 1 Cyclopic Auxiliary Field Cyclopic AZ 35.7400, -114.0900
Aux 3 Hackberry Auxiliary Field Antares AZ 35.4200, -113.8000
Aux 5 Topock Auxiliary Field Topock AZ 34.7200, -114.4400
Aux 6 Lake Havasu Auxiliary Field Powell AZ 34.4600, -114.3600
Aux 7 Signal Auxiliary Field Signal AZ 34.3700, -113.9100


World War II

Kingman Army Airfield was built in 1942 by the Del E. Webb Construction Company with architect Kemper Goodwin. The airfield was established as a training base for Army Air Force aerial gunners. The Kingman Ground to Ground Gunnery Range and Kingman Air to Air Gunnery Range were located north of the present city limits of the City of Kingman and the practice gunnery ranges extended northward approximately 31 miles, up the Hualapai Valley.

The base was officially named the Kingman Army Airfield on 7 May 1943. The facility had three runways and some 488 structures and buildings including staff housing, a post headquarters complex, a railroad siding, recreation building, grocery store, hospital, U.S. Post Office, photo lab, gas station, six exchanges, tailor shop, bakery, chapels, theater, guardhouse, radio tower, and a library and many other structures. The base had a number of water wells and reservoirs and could supply 500,000 gallons of water daily.

The Wartime Aircraft Gunnery School at Kingman could handle two classes of about 200 students at a time. The first class started on 8 Jan 1943. Class sizes eventually grew to 300 students and more instructors were added. Each class would fire 1,200 rounds per student for one week on the Kingman Air to Air Gunnery Range and then move on to the Yucca Army Airfield to fire 1,000 more rounds. B17s were the primary aircraft assigned to the base, but other aircraft were also used for training. By September 1944, 214,826 gunners had graduated from the seven schools. On 25 Feb 1946, the gunnery training school ended with some 35,000 cadet graduates.

Post World War II

On 26 Feb 1946 the base became the War Assets Administration Sales & Storage Depot 41, one of four such depots charged with receiving, storage, and disposal of surplus wartime aircraft. An estimated 7,000 aircraft were flown into Kingman and stored there, some to be sold but most were disassembled and melted down into aluminum ingots. Over 70,000,000 pounds of ingots were created, mostly from B-17 bombers, this task was completed in 1948.

Current Status

The City of Kingman Airport now occupies the location.


Kingman Army Airfield Partial Commanders List (edit list)
Assumed Relieved Rank Name Cullum Notes
1942 Lt. Colonel Hughn, Harvey P. N/A
10 Dec 1943 Colonel Henry, George E. N/A
15 Jun 1944 Colonel Phillips, Don B. N/A
1 Apr 1945 Colonel Wheeler, Walter L. N/A
30 Jun 1945 Colonel Call, Lance N/A
Lt. Colonel Meadows, James L. N/A
25 Feb 1946 Lt. Colonel Radigan, John J. N/A
Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly.
The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy.

Location: Near Kingman in Mohave County, Arizona.

Maps & Images

Lat: 35.259444 Long: -113.938056

  • Multi Maps from ACME
  • Maps from Bing
  • Maps from Google
  • Elevation: 3,449


GPS Locations:

See Also:

Sources:

  • US Army Owned, Sponsored and Leased Facilities Report, AMD-1, Office of the Chief of Engineers, 31 Dec 1945, CDSG Pdf
  • Shaw, Frederick J. Ed., Locating Air Force Base Sites: History's Legacy, updated 2014, Air Force History and Museums Program, USAF, Washington DC, 2004, 268 pages

Links:

Fortification ID:

  • AZ0320 - Kingman Army Airfield

Visited: No


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