# US "vanished and abandoned airfields"



## syscom3 (Nov 14, 2005)

I found this cool site.

"Vanished and abandoned airfields."

Many of the airfields listed were built during WW2 for training reasons, so I listed it under this forum.

http://www.members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/

I was looking at the list of the airfields for Palmdale, California area, called "Gray Butte Airfield", and scrolling down the information, I noticed an important airplane had some testing done on it. http://www.members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/CA/Airfields_CA_PalmdaleS.htm#graybutte


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## Gnomey (Nov 14, 2005)

Interesting site syscom. Good find! Some really good stuff on there.


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## evangilder (Nov 14, 2005)

That's an interesting site. I looked up some fields in my area on it.


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## syscom3 (Nov 14, 2005)

Evans, look at the "Boron" airfield.

http://www.members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/CA/Airfields_CA_Mojave.htm#boron

It might have been a planned site to produce fuel for the nuclear engined bombers!


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## evangilder (Nov 14, 2005)

I was looking at that some time back when I was looking at the 2 airports in Thousand Oaks. There is some cool info there. One of my museum friends has contributed to that site, Larry Simmer.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 14, 2005)

syscom3 said:


> I found this cool site.
> 
> "Vanished and abandoned airfields."
> 
> ...



I knew people who flew out of there.

The Polaris Air Academy was a famous training field and many RAF pilots were trained there, today it's a prison but some of the original buildings are still standing. It's even supposed to be haunted...

The guy who owns the salvage company at El Mirage was my first aviation employer.

All over the Antelope Valley there are dozens of abandoned and dirt strips dating back to WW2. I used to live about 5 minutes from the Quartz Hill strip in the article.

That's a great site!


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## syscom3 (Nov 14, 2005)

I think this is the airfield youre referring to, "war eagle" field.

http://www.members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/CA/Airfields_CA_PalmdaleS.htm#wareagle

The Boron field was well south of their, on the southern boundry of Edwards.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 14, 2005)

Yep - I know both of them, I used to live there and flew extensively over the area, including the restricted airspace by Edwards.

War Eagle actually paralleled Fox Field which is a few miles to the north.


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## syscom3 (Nov 16, 2005)

Heres another web site I found regarding abandoned airfields.

http://www.airforcebase.net/aaf/grphtml.html

and

http://www.airforcebase.net

Its amazing the number of training fields that were built by the USAAF/USN in WW2, and then simply abandoned right after the war!


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 16, 2005)

Barstow Dagget is another old AAF field, P-38s operated out of there in the last years of the war. There's a lot of wrecks in the area....

Down in Burbank you got the old Glendale Terminal, I think it's off San Fernando, the tower building is still standing. Roscoe Turner used to fly out of there...


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## pbfoot (Nov 16, 2005)

we got tons up here also dating back to the bcatp within 30 miles of here theres about 10 which 3 are still used


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 16, 2005)

pbfoot said:


> we got tons up here also dating back to the bcatp within 30 miles of here theres about 10 which 3 are still used



I used to visit a company in Amherst NS. Their parking lot was an old hangar that used to house Lancasters during WW2. I was told the site was a depot center. After the war the same aircraft were scrapped there. F-86 mods were completed at the same site in the 1950s. From the air you could make out the old runways


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## pbfoot (Nov 16, 2005)

the guy near me that has the 109 etc managed to locate an aux field that had never been re zoned bought it and tuned into hi own personal ww2 field and they could'nt do squat since it was already zoned


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 16, 2005)

I love it when that happens.....

In California, because of property values, many small strips been pushed aside by developers.


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## evangilder (Nov 16, 2005)

Sadly so, Joe. Geez, there were 2 in Thousand Oaks at one time.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 16, 2005)

Yep! Simi Valley airport was off of Tapo Canyon....

You also have San Fernando


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## syscom3 (Nov 16, 2005)

Here is the field Jimmy Doolittle practised his B25 takesoff's from for his historic mission. Its an aux field for Eglin AFB

http://www.members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/FL/Airfields_FL_Eglin.htm#wagner


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## evangilder (Nov 16, 2005)

I used to drive past the old tower just off of San Fernando road every day when I worked in Glendale. I always thought it looked like an old tower, so I looked it up and was correct. I didn't know about the one off tapo, but that would explain the road near a friends house called "Runway Road".


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