Pinal Airpark , also known as Pinal County Airpark, is a
non-towered, county-owned, public-use
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 surface ...
located northwest of the
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
of
Marana Marana may refer to:
* Maraña, a village in León, Spain
* Maraṇa, the Pali/Sanskrit term for death
* Marana, Arizona, a town in Pima County, Arizona, United States
* Marana, Estonia, a village in Estonia
* Marana, Syria, a village in Syria
...
, in
Pinal County
Pinal County is in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 census, the population of the county was 425,264, making it Arizona's third-most populous county. The county seat is Florence. The county was founded in 187 ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, United States.
Silverbell Army Heliport is co-located with Pinal Airpark. The heliport is a private-use military facility operated by the
Arizona Army National Guard.
Pinal Airpark’s primary function is to serve as a
boneyard
Boneyard may refer to:
* Cemetery or graveyard
Comics
* A character in the Malibu/Marvel Comics publication ''Mantra''
* ''Boneyard'' (comics), a horror-themed comic book series by Richard Moore
Film and television
* ''Boneyard'' (TV series ...
for civilian commercial aircraft, where the area's dry
desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
mitigates
corrosion
Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
of the aircraft. It is the largest commercial aircraft storage and heavy maintenance facility in the world. Even so, many aircraft which are brought here wind up being scrapped. Nearby the
309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base provides the same service to the
United States federal government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...
.
Aircraft at Pinal Airpark include those formerly operated by
Cathay Dragon
Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Limited (), also known as Cathay Dragon () and Dragonair, was a Hong Kong-based international regional airline, with its corporate headquarters and main hub at Hong Kong International Airport. In the final year be ...
,
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (CPA), more widely known as Cathay Pacific (), is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and subsidiaries have sc ...
,
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...
,
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...
,
Aerosur,
Hellenic,
Surinam Airways
Surinam Airways ( nl, Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij), also known by its initials ''SLM'', is the flag carrier of Suriname, based in Paramaribo. It operates regional and long-haul scheduled passenger services. Its hub is at Johan Adolf Penge ...
, and other carriers.
History
Built in 1942 by the Sundt and
Del Webb Construction Companies and opened in March 1943, the facility was known as Marana Army Air Field. During
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 opposin ...
, the airfield was under the command of the 389th Army Air Force Base Unit, AAF West Coast Training Center and used as a training base, as part of the 50,000 Pilot Training Program.
Marana conducted basic flight training and the training of transport pilots in instrument flying and navigation, being the home of the 3024th (Pilot School, Basic). Chinese pilots were also trained there. Five satellite airfields were established for Marana during World War II:
*
Picacho Field
Picacho Army National Guard Heliport , also known as Picacho Stagefield Heliport, formally Marana Auxiliary Army Airfield No. 1 (Picacho Field), is an Arizona Army National Guard towered training field southeast of Picacho, Arizona. The airpor ...
Aux #1 (currently
Picacho Stagefield ARNG Heliport
Picacho Army National Guard Heliport , also known as Picacho Stagefield Heliport, formally Marana Auxiliary Army Airfield No. 1 (Picacho Field), is an Arizona Army National Guard towered training field southeast of Picacho, Arizona. The airpor ...
)
*
Rillito Field Aux #2 (currently reused as
Marana Regional Airport
Marana Regional Airport , also known as Marana Northwest Regional Airport or Avra Valley Airport, is a non-towered, general aviation airport about 15 miles (13 nmi; 24 km) northwest of Tucson, Arizona in Marana a town in Pima County ...
)
* Coronado Field Aux #3
* Avra Field Aux #4
*
Sahuaro Field Aux #5 (currently
El Tiro Gliderport )
The infrastructure installed at Marana during World War II was extensive. This included water, sewer, and gas systems that were still used until some problems developed in the 1990s. There was also a massive storm drain system. The airfield also had a railroad spur line and railroad station.
Marana was closed after World War II and in 1948, after the establishment of the
U.S. Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
as an independent service, Pinal County accepted a deed to the property, subsequent to the Air Force's disposal of most of the buildings, waterlines, gas lines, and electrical lines. From 1948 to 1951, Pinal County leased the property to multiple tenants, and from 1951 to 1956, Marana was reused as a contractor-operated USAF basic flying school, operated by Darr Aeronautical Technical Company.
Marana became the headquarters of all
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
air operations during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
years, when it was the primary facility of
Intermountain Airlines
Intermountain Airlines, also known as Intermountain Aviation and Intermountain Airways, was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) airline front company. Intermountain performed covert operations for the CIA in Southeast Asia and elsewhere during the ...
, a wholly owned CIA "front" company which was used to supply covert operations in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
and elsewhere. Intermountain was infamous for its thinly veiled CIA special ops which included development and use of the
Fulton Skyhook
The Fulton surface-to-air recovery system (STARS) is a system used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), United States Air Force and United States Navy for retrieving persons on the ground using aircraft such as the MC-130E Combat Talon I ...
, but its cover was its non-scheduled freight and maintenance operations. Marana was the principal continental United States maintenance base for Southeast Asia CIA operations including
Air America and
Continental Air Services
Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers.
Continental started ...
. The Marana facility was subsequently acquired by
Evergreen International Airlines
Evergreen International Airlines was a charter and cargo airline based in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. Wholly owned by Evergreen International Aviation, it had longstanding ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It operated co ...
which performed aircraft modification and maintenance at the airfield.
Pinal Airpark was also the first home of Marana Skydiving Center operated by Greg Berhens and Tony Frost before moving to Avra Valley Airport in 1991.
Current usage
Pinal Airport
The airport is home to many private companies including: Ascent Aviation Services and Jet Yard Solutions, Aircraft Demolition, and Jet Yard.
Since the early 2010s, airport economic development director Jim Petty has opened the facility to the public, giving free tours of the airport and the airplanes stored there.
Silverbell Army Heliport
Pinal Airpark is co-located with Silverbell Army Heliport (SAHP). The 98th Aviation Troop Command, the Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (WAATS) and other numerous
Army National Guard
The Army National Guard (ARNG), in conjunction with the Air National Guard, is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States A ...
units are located inside SAHP. WAATS discontinued training of the
AH-64 Apache
The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vis ...
attack helicopter at the site in 2012. Currently WAATS provides training for the
UH-72A Lakota
The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) UH-72 Lakota is a twin-engine helicopter with a single, four-bladed main rotor. The UH-72 is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145, built by American Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters, Inc.), a ...
.
Pinal Airpark and SAHP also hosts the
US Special Operations Command
The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Arm ...
's Parachute Training and Testing Facility. On 28 March 2013,
Navy SEAL
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...
Brett Shadle was killed during parachute training here and another SEAL was injured.
Facilities and aircraft
Pinal Airpark covers an area of at an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
of 1,893 feet (577 m) above
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
. It has one
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
designated 12/30 with an asphalt surface measuring 6,849 by 150 feet (2,088 x 46 m). Silverbell Army Heliport has four
helipad
A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft.
While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...
s, three measuring 100 by 100 feet (30 x30 m), and the fourth measuring 165 by 165 feet (50 x 50 m). For the 12-month period ending 1 April 2020, the airport had 58,200 aircraft operations, an average of 159 per day: 86%
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
and 14%
general aviation
General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
.
Notable aircraft
One of the notable aircraft assigned to Marana during its CIA years was a Boeing
B-17G Flying Fortress
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...
, AAF Serial 44-85531. As of September 1957, the aircraft was registered to Western Enterprises Inc., a paramilitary front company founded by the CIA in 1951 for operations in Taiwan. In late 1957, missions were staged from Kurmitola Air Field in East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
) to parachute agents into
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. The aircraft was disassembled for parts at
Clark Air Base,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
between March and October 1958, and it is believed that this plane was eventually scrapped. The serial number 44-85531 appeared again as registered on another B-17G, 1 September 1960 registered to Atlantic General Enterprise, Washington DC (another CIA front) as N809Z. These registration numbers were then changed to the true numbers of 44-83785. Based again at Marana, this aircraft later flew black operations over
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
and was used to retrieve two American agents from an abandoned Soviet scientific base in the Arctic using the Fulton Skyhook in
Operation Coldfeet Project COLDFEET was a 1962 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation to extract intelligence from an abandoned Soviet Arctic drifting ice station. Due to the nature of its abandonment as the result of unstable ice, the retrieval of the operative ...
.
Gallery
File:Marana Army Air Field 1945 Phoenix Sectional Chart.jpg, 1945 Phoenix Sectional Chart showing Marana Army Air Field and Marana Auxiliary Army Airfield No. 2, No. 4, No. 5
File:Vultee BT-13 Valiant 42-42228 in hangar at Marana AAF AZ.jpg, Vultee BT-13 Valiant
The Vultee BT-13 Valiant is an American World War II-era basic (a category between primary and advanced) trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces. A subsequent variant of the ...
in hangar at Marana AAF
File:Pinal_Air_Park_1.jpg, A Boeing 767
The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
formerly operated by Delta Air Lines being disassembled for parts at Pinal Airpark
File:Pinal_Air_Park_2.jpg, A Boeing 757
The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978.
The prototype completed its mai ...
being disassembled for parts at Pinal Airpark
File:Pinal Airpark 2006 Topo.jpg, 2006 USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
aerial image
See also
*
Arizona World War II Army Airfields
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Arizona for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers.
Most of these airfields were under the command of Fourth Air Force or the ...
*
37th Flying Training Wing (World War II)
*
Pacific Corporation
*
List of airports in Arizona
This is a list of airports in Arizona (a U.S. state), grouped by type and sorted by location. It contains all public-use and military airports in the state. Some private-use and former airports may be included where notable, such as airports that w ...
References
Other sources
*
* Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas
* Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC
External links
Pinal Airpark (MZJ)at
Arizona DOT
The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT, pronounced "A-Dot") is an Arizona state government agency charged with facilitating mobility within the state. In addition to managing the state's highway system, the agency is also involved with p ...
airport directory
Field Guide To Aircraft Boneyards: Pinal Airpark
*
{{authority control
1942 establishments in Arizona
Airports established in 1942
Airports in Pinal County, Arizona
World War II airfields in the United States
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Arizona
Aircraft boneyards
USAAF Western Flying Training Command
American Theater of World War II
Aviation in Arizona
Del E. Webb buildings