Thunderbird Field
Encyclopedia
Thunderbird Field was a military airfield in Glendale, Arizona
, used for contract primary flight training of Allied pilots during World War II
. Created in part by actor James Stewart
, the field became part of the United States Army Air Forces
training establishment just prior to American entry into the war and was re-designated Thunderbird Field #1 after establishment of Thunderbird Field #2
at nearby Scottsdale
, on 22 June 1942. Thunderbird # 1 is located southeast of the intersection of West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue in Glendale, Arizona.
After the conclusion on World War II, the property was sold as surplus for educational purposes, eventually becoming the Thunderbird School of Global Management
, a well-respected post-graduate business school.
, former Air Service
pilot John H. "Jack" Connelly, and Life magazine photographer John Swope, founders of Southwest Airways. Backed by investors that included James Stewart
, singer-actor Hoagy Carmichael
, Cary Grant
, Henry Fonda
, Robert Taylor
, and Margaret Sullavan
, construction of the pilot training facility near Glendale, Arizona
, began on 2 January 1941, and was completed in three months.
The site, 25 miles (40.2 km) from central Phoenix
, was laid out by artist Millard Sheets
to resemble (from the air) an etching of a mythical Anasazi Thunderbird
. The control tower formed the head of the bird, the administration buildings and barracks its body, the hangars its wings, and the gardens its feathered tail. The installation was situated on the southeast corner of what is now West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue. To the southeast, adjacent to its single-story sage
, cream
, and terra cotta
-colored buildings of Spanish Colonial rancheria design, was a square 2800 square feet (260.1 m²) ramp area. Across West Greenway Road to the north was the airfield itself with three 3500 feet (1,066.8 m) runways.
Contractor Del Webb Construction
built a hexagonal barracks, administrative building, mess hall and four hangars on the site, plus twin swimming pools. The US Army Air Forces signed a contract with Southwest Airways to provide instructors and facilities for a primary training school for its aviation cadets in March 1941, beginning with a class of 59 candidates. Eventually 10,000 pilots from 30 nations trained at the field before it was deactivated in June 1945. A 1942 Hollywood movie in Technicolor
, Thunder Birds
(directed by William Wellman), was filmed on location at the field in the spring of 1942. Aerial shots clearly show the original Thunderbird design.
Four unpaved satellite airfields were operated by Thunderbird Field between 1942 and 1944:
Southwest Airways expanded the training complex with the building of two other airfields, Falcon Field
at Mesa
in September 1941, and Thunderbird Field #2
in Scottsdale
in June 1942.
. 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 has been restored), barracks, and two large airplane hangars.
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.
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city is 226,721....
, used for contract primary flight training of Allied pilots during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Created in part by actor James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
, the field became part of the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
training establishment just prior to American entry into the war and was re-designated Thunderbird Field #1 after establishment of Thunderbird Field #2
Scottsdale Airport
Scottsdale Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located nine miles north of the central business district of Scottsdale, a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Although most U.S...
at nearby Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
, on 22 June 1942. Thunderbird # 1 is located southeast of the intersection of West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue in Glendale, Arizona.
After the conclusion on World War II, the property was sold as surplus for educational purposes, eventually becoming the Thunderbird School of Global Management
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Thunderbird School of Global Management is a private business school whose main campus is located in Glendale, Arizona. Founded in 1946 by retired U.S...
, a well-respected post-graduate business school.
History
Thunderbird Field began in 1939 as a collaborative project by Hollywood agent and producer Leland HaywardLeland Hayward
Leland Hayward was a Hollywood and Broadway agent and theatrical producer. He produced the original Broadway stage productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The Sound of Music.-Early years:...
, former Air Service
United States Army Air Service
The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation...
pilot John H. "Jack" Connelly, and Life magazine photographer John Swope, founders of Southwest Airways. Backed by investors that included James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
, singer-actor Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagy Carmichael
Howard Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
, Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
, and Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Sullavan
Margaret Brooke Sullavan was an American stage and film actress. Sullavan started her career on the stage in 1929. In 1933 she caught the attention of movie director John M. Stahl and had her debut on the screen that same year in Only Yesterday...
, construction of the pilot training facility near Glendale, Arizona
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city is 226,721....
, began on 2 January 1941, and was completed in three months.
The site, 25 miles (40.2 km) from central Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, was laid out by artist Millard Sheets
Millard Sheets
Millard Owen Sheets was an American painter and a representative of the California School of Painting, later a teacher and educational director, and architect of more than 50 branch banks in Southern California.-Early life:...
to resemble (from the air) an etching of a mythical Anasazi Thunderbird
Thunderbird (mythology)
The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a "supernatural" bird of power and strength...
. The control tower formed the head of the bird, the administration buildings and barracks its body, the hangars its wings, and the gardens its feathered tail. The installation was situated on the southeast corner of what is now West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue. To the southeast, adjacent to its single-story sage
Variations of green
There are many tints and shades of the color green. A large selection of these various colors are shown below.- Green in nature :Green is common in nature, especially in plants. Many plants are green mainly because of a complex chemical known as chlorophyll which is involved in photosynthesis...
, cream
Cream
Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...
, and terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
-colored buildings of Spanish Colonial rancheria design, was a square 2800 square feet (260.1 m²) ramp area. Across West Greenway Road to the north was the airfield itself with three 3500 feet (1,066.8 m) runways.
Contractor Del Webb Construction
Del Webb
Delbert Eugene Webb was an American construction magnate, real estate developer and sports-team owner, who is most significant for founding and developing the retirement community of Sun City, Arizona.-Early life:...
built a hexagonal barracks, administrative building, mess hall and four hangars on the site, plus twin swimming pools. The US Army Air Forces signed a contract with Southwest Airways to provide instructors and facilities for a primary training school for its aviation cadets in March 1941, beginning with a class of 59 candidates. Eventually 10,000 pilots from 30 nations trained at the field before it was deactivated in June 1945. A 1942 Hollywood movie in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, Thunder Birds
Thunder Birds (1942 film)
Thunder Birds is a Technicolor film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, and John Sutton...
(directed by William Wellman), was filmed on location at the field in the spring of 1942. Aerial shots clearly show the original Thunderbird design.
Four unpaved satellite airfields were operated by Thunderbird Field between 1942 and 1944:
- Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-1 (33.64N 112.10W), northeast of West Bell Road and North 19th Avenue;
- Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-2 (33.65N 112.24W), in Sun CitySun City, ArizonaSun City is a census-designated place and unincorporated town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. The population was 38,309 at the 2000 census...
northwest of West Union Hills Road and North 83rd Avenue; - Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-3 (33.58N 112.10W), at West Peoria Avenue and North 19th Avenue;
- Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-4, at West Pinnacle Peak Road and North 43rd Avenue.
Southwest Airways expanded the training complex with the building of two other airfields, Falcon Field
Falcon Field (Arizona)
Falcon Field is a public airport located five miles northeast of the central business district of Mesa, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. According to the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011, it is categorized as a reliever airport.Although most U.S...
at Mesa
Mesa, Arizona
According to the 2010 Census, the racial composition of Mesa was as follows:* White: 77.1% * Hispanic or Latino : 26.54%* Black or African American: 3.5%* Two or more races: 3.4%* Native American: 2.4%...
in September 1941, and Thunderbird Field #2
Scottsdale Airport
Scottsdale Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located nine miles north of the central business district of Scottsdale, a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Although most U.S...
in Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
in June 1942.
After World War II
Following the end of World War II, 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 K. Yount, retired commander of the Army Air Forces Training CommandAir Training Command
Air Training Command is a former major command of the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force. ATC came into being as a redesignation of the Army Air Forces Training Command on July 1, 1946...
. 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
Thunderbird School of Global Management
Thunderbird School of Global Management is a private business school whose main campus is located in Glendale, Arizona. Founded in 1946 by retired U.S...
. The campus still contains many original airfield buildings, including the airfield control tower (which has been restored), barracks, and two large airplane hangars.
Thunderbird Field inspired the name of Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
, 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.
See also
- Arizona World War II Army AirfieldsArizona World War II Army AirfieldsDuring World War II, the United States Army Air Force established numerous airfields in Arizona for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers....
- Thunder Birds (1942 film)Thunder Birds (1942 film)Thunder Birds is a Technicolor film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Gene Tierney, Preston Foster, and John Sutton...
- Thunder Birds (1942 book), Orson Falk, Random House, NY, resource for film
External links
- Arizona Memory Project - period photographs - including photos of key founders Connelly, Hayward and Swope
- Thunderbird Field - period photographs