Thunderbird Field was a military airfield in Glendale, Arizona, used for contract primary flight training of Allied pilots 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 opposing ...

. Created in part by actor James Stewart, the field became part of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

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 of World War II, the property was sold as surplus for educational purposes, eventually becoming

Thunderbird School of Global Management Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University (or simply Thunderbird) is a global management school in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1946 as an independent, private institution, it was acquired by Arizona State University ( ...

, a post-graduate business school. In November 2018 the property was transferred to

Arizona Christian University Arizona Christian University is a private Christian university in Glendale, Arizona. History Founded in 1960 as Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College, Arizona Christian University's original campus was located at 2625 E. Cactus ...

. ACU now operates its undergraduate liberal arts university on the site.

Television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon ...

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

names Thunderbird Field as the inspiration for the naming of the television show '' Thunderbirds'' as his brother, Lionel, was once stationed there.''Gerry Anderson – The Authorised Biography'', by Simon Archer & Stan Nicholls, 1996, pp. 85–86, .

History

Thunderbird Field began in 1939 as a collaborative project by Hollywood agent and producer

Leland Hayward Leland Hayward (September 13, 1902 – March 18, 1971) 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''. ...

, former Air Service pilot John H. "Jack" Connelly, and ''Life'' magazine photographer John Swope, founders of Southwest Airways. Backed by investors who included James Stewart, singer-actor

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...

, 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, from central

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

, was laid out by artist

Millard Sheets Millard Owen Sheets (June 24, 1907 – March 31, 1989) was an American artist, teacher, and architectural designer. He was one of the earliest of the California Scene Painting artists and helped define the art movement. Many of his large-scale bu ...

to resemble (from the air) an etching of a mythical

Ancestral Puebloan The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, an ...

Thunderbird Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...

. The control tower formed the feathered tail of the bird, the administration buildings and barracks its body, the hangars its wings, and the gardens its head. The installation was situated on the southeast corner of what is now West Greenway Road and North 59th Avenue. To the southeast, adjacent to its single-story

sage Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

, and

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

-colored buildings of Spanish Colonial rancheria design, was a square ramp area. Across West Greenway Road to the south was the airfield itself with three 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 Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

, '' Thunder Birds'' (directed by

William Wellman William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on a ...

), 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 City 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 at

Mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...

in September 1941, and Thunderbird Field#2 in Scottsdale 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 Command The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corp ...

. He established the American Institute for Foreign Trade and became its first president. Classes began on the site within a few months, but 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. Thunderbird Field inspired the name of '' Thunderbirds'', a British mid-1960s television show that used

marionettes A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...

. The eldest brother of

, the creator of the show had been stationed at the base and wrote about his experience there.

Historical structures

Today the location of the school is known currently as

. The campus still contains many original airfield buildings, including the airfield control tower (which has been restored), barracks, and one large airplane hangar.

References

* Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas * Nalty, Bernard C. (1997). "Reaction to the War in Europe", ''Winged Shield, Winged Sword:A History of the United States Air Force'', Air University Press, USAF Washington, D.C. , pp. 177–178. * Orson Falk, ''Thunder Birds'', Random House (1942). * 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

Arizona Memory Project – period photographs
– including photos of key founders Connelly, Hayward and Swope

{{USAAF Training Bases World War II Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Arizona Transportation in Glendale, Arizona USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields Buildings and structures in Glendale, Arizona Airports in Maricopa County, Arizona History of Maricopa County, Arizona Military installations closed in 1946

History

After World War II

Historical structures

See also

References

External links