Oxnard Field (also known at various times as Albuquerque Airport and Albuquerque Army Air Field) was the first
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...
in
Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
. It served as the home of commercial aviation in Albuquerque from 1928 to 1929 and remained in use for other purposes until 1948. The field was located on Albuquerque's East Mesa, east of the present site of
Albuquerque International Sunport
Albuquerque International Sunport is the primary international airport serving the U.S. state of New Mexico, the Albuquerque metropolitan area, and the larger Albuquerque– Santa Fe– Las Vegas combined statistical area. It handles around ...
.
History
The field was originally constructed in 1928 by
Santa Fe Railroad
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
workers Frank G. Speakman and William Langford Franklin, using grading equipment loaned by the city after hours. Working with the town of Albuquerque, they graded two runways on the East Mesa—one approximately long and the other just under . The venture became Albuquerque Airport. Other individuals and promoters soon became interested in Albuquerque as a crossroads location for southwestern air traffic.
James G. Oxnard, a
New York entrepreneur, bought out Franklin's share in the airport soon after it was completed and renamed it Oxnard Field. Oxnard expanded the facility to , adding an administration building and other facilities.
In its brief stint as the city's main airport, Oxnard Field was served by two competing
airlines
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whic ...
,
Western Air Express
Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and ...
(WAE) and
Transcontinental Air Transport
Transcontinental Air Transport (T-A-T) was an airline founded in 1928 by Clement Melville Keys that merged in 1930 with Western Air Express to form what became TWA. Keys enlisted the help of Charles Lindbergh to design a transcontinental network ...
(TAT). However, the proximity of the field to the
Sandia Mountains
The Sandia Mountains (Southern Tiwa: ''Posu gai hoo-oo'', Keres: ''Tsepe,'' Navajo: ''Dził Nááyisí''; Tewa: ''O:ku:p’į'', Northern Tiwa: ''Kep’íanenemą''; Towa: ''Kiutawe'', Zuni: ''Chibiya Yalanne'') are a mountain range located i ...
made pilots uneasy, and Western Air Express built a new facility,
West Mesa Airport, in 1929. Following the merger of TAT and WAE to form
Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), all commercial air service shifted to West Mesa. This airport became known as Albuquerque Airport—while the former Albuquerque Airport on the East Mesa took on the name Oxnard Field, continuing as a private venture.
The onset of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
brought new activity to Oxnard Field. By 1939, Army and Navy pilots had begun using Oxnard Field for refuelling and maintenance. The Army eventually bought the Oxnard Field property and its subsequent transfer to the federal government on April 3, 1942 restricted the runways to military use only. The Army established a training depot for aircraft mechanics near Oxnard Field. An
Army Air Forces Air Depot Training Station was established in June, and shortly thereafter the airport was designated Albuquerque Army Air Field. Two new runways and a variety of other facilities were built during this period.
By 1943, however, the mechanics' training program had ended and the depot was used as a convalescent center for wounded air crewmen and then as a storage and dismantling facility for war-weary and surplus aircraft as the war ended. Over 2,000 such planes were stripped and melted down, reclaiming some 10 million pounds of aluminum.
[Kirtland AFB Fact Sheet]
The field was used for the last time between 1945 and 1948, when it served as the final destination for hundreds of surplus warplanes which were assembled there for scrapping. Following the end of this operation, the airport was closed permanently.
Facilities
The airport initially had two dirt runways, east-west (4300 ft) and northeast-southwest (2500 ft). The only facilities consisted of gravity-fed fuel tanks. Oxnard added the administration building, a hangar, and a beacon. The Airport Inn was a popular dining establishment. The airport reached its final configuration during the war, when the north-south and northwest-southeast runways were added.
Oxnard Field today
The former airport is now part of
Kirtland Air Force Base, and new development has covered most of it. However, part of the northeast-southwest runway remains visible and the former administration building and hangar are still standing. Another legacy of Oxnard Field is the major streets Wyoming Boulevard and Ridgecrest Drive, both of which were originally developed as airport access roads.
References
Notes
#Oppenheimer, Alan J. (1962). ''The Historical Background of Albuquerque, New Mexico''. City of Albuquerque Planning Department. p. 47.
# Oppenheimer, p. 48.
{{coord, 35.0507, -106.5541, scale:20000_region:US-NM, display=title
Defunct airports in the United States
Airports in New Mexico
Transportation in Albuquerque, New Mexico
History of Albuquerque, New Mexico