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| CAA Emergency Airfield 27B, AZ | |
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| | CAA Emergency Airfield 27B, AZ | | | |
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CAA Emergency Airfield 27B, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.47 Miles |
63 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.47 Miles | 3 Hrs 13 Mns | | 2.46 mph |
| 63 ft AEG | 1 Hour 24 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | CAA Emergency Airfield 27B
The Airfield was built in the early 1930s, in La Paz County a few miles south of what is now I-10.
(CAA = Civil Aeronautic Administration) - It's the forerunner of the FAA (Federal Aviation Agency).
The FAA was formed in 1958 and took over most of the tasks of the CAA.
CAA Emergency Airfield 27B was built as an emergency landing airfield for government air mail planes and for our fledgling airline industry. This emergency field is along the flight path of Los Angeles to Phoenix.
You have to "time-warp" back to the early 1930s to realize that air travel then, was a very risky endeavor. The planes were much less reliable and the infrastructure on the ground for them was very primitive. The "arrows painted on the ground" for day navigation and airway beacons for night flights, were all over the country to assist those early aviators.
Building emergency fields was a prudent move.
The CAA built many Emergency Airfields in the 1930s, and expanded some of the fields as planes got bigger and faster with time. Faster airplanes usually need longer runways for takeoffs and landings.
This emergency field 27B started out with two perpendicular, non paved runways, that were about 2,100 feet long. Later on, in the 1940s, both runways were extended to 4,100 feet.
One runway was (is) a north/south runway (R/Y 36/18), and the other is an east/west runway (R/Y 9/27). Both runways were built very wide.
An Airway Beacon (27B) was built on the SW portion of the field. It's gone now but its foundation along with its generators' foundations are still there.
The airport was built on very flat hard packed sand. Getting rid of all vegetation was necessary, and building a berm all around the perimeter deterred water erosion.
Specifics are hard to come by as to airfield infrastructure.
Basically, other than fuel tanks to run the generators, for powering the airway beacon lights, no other structures existed. No hangers etc.
Through the years, aviation maps called the emergency field by different names. Officially it was CAA Emergency Airfield 27B, but the name "Salome Emergency Airfield 27B" was used on many early aviation maps, probably due to the town of Salome being the closest town to the field.
In fact, in 1948 the NGS surveyors monumented a benchmark, two reference marks plus an azimuth disk. They called the BM, "Salome Field".
A USGS survey group, 1951, also monumented their own survey disk named "31 D" (with no RMs).
I located all five disks, and the location of Airway Beacon 27B. All items located (except the azimuth mark) were in the SW corner of the field and were a short 10 minute hike from my TH.
My total hike entailed locating the disks etc, then hiking the length of the two runways, plus going off the runways to look for any artifacts.
This was a fun endeavor and a first hand look at a bit of early aviation. |
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Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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