Palm Springs airport began as Army hub
PALM SPRINGS – Long before commercial airlines began carrying passengers out of Palm Springs International Airport on non-stop flights to Chicago, New York and myriad hubs around the country, the airport was used primarily for military purposes.
During the World War II years, the airport was called the Palm Springs Army Air Field, home to the 21st Ferrying Group, Ferrying Division Air Transport Command.
Almost a year before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the city of Palm Springs inked a 25-year deal for the land with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians for the purpose of building a municipal airport.
"The new Palm Springs Airport was under construction in late 1941," F. Thomas Kieley Jr., one of Palm Springs's founders, wrote in a note to the Palm Springs Historical Society in 2000. "Shortly after the Dec. 7 start of World War II, the U.S. Army Air Corps took over the project."
The Air Transport Command, created during World War II, as the strategic airlift component of the U.S. Army Air Forces had two main missions: Delivery of supplies and equipment between the U.S. and overseas combat theaters and the ferrying of aircraft from manufacturing plants in the U.S. to where they were needed for training or for operational use in combat.
"The principal reason for establishing the base in Palm Springs was to provide a dispersal and deployment location for planes being ferried to the East Coast, mid-continent, Pacific Theater and even Europe by means of South Africa and the South Atlantic," Kieley said.
But before the Army Air Corps secured the site for its own use, the Marine Corps made a play for the coveted piece of property.
"When the landing strips were about three-fourths finished it was discovered that the Marine Corps was working on a plan to secure the field for the use of the Marines ..." according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report.
Ultimately, the Army Air Corps won out.
On April 2, 1942, after a flurry of phone calls a detachment of 41 soldiers were ordered to fly into Palm Springs to occupy the land and secure it as an Army Corps airfield.
"They landed (a day later) in a sand storm and pitched tents to the tune of a howling wind," according to historical accounts.
"Early conditions were rugged, to say the least," according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report. "The men were divided into two groups and were transported to town by truck in relays to eat at Bill Murray's Amado Café. Drinking water was delivered daily in a tank truck from the Village of Palm Springs. For a while, any man wishing a bath had to walk to nearby Palm Springs High School to find a shower."
After about six months, headquarters, which had been located in an old tent, were moved into brand new buildings. By that time, the enlisted men's and officers' barracks had been built — many of these living quarters lined both sides of what is now Tahquitz Canyon Way — the control tower was up and running and a base hospital had been established.
"Protected from coastal fogs and rain by gigantic Mt. San Jacinto, the Palm Springs Army Airfield is frequently used by the ferrying command as the first stop made on flights from the west coast to the east coast," the publication, Palm Springs Pictorial, reported at the time. "By utilizing the airfield as an overnight landing place instead of having ships remain in the weather-bound Los Angeles, the Command saves one day of delivery time."
1st Lt. Paul W. Herbert, who commanded those stationed at the airfield, reported that by the later part of 1942, an average of about 800 planes a month were stopping overnight at the airfield.
The first major change at the airfield was the activation of the 459th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron in October 1942. From then on, the base population continued to increase, and in March 1943, the 21st Ferrying Group was activated as a sub-unit under the 6th Ferrying Group. Although subordinate to its mothership in Long Beach — by then, the provisional detachment had returned to the coast — Palm Springs had a unit it could call its own.
On April 12, 1943, the 1st Weather Squadron reported to Palm Springs from McClellan Field in Sacramento County.
"Up until the arrival of this weather detachment all weather information had come into operations by teletype and the individual pilots deduced their own weather maps," a base weather officer said at the time. "Now, a complete weather station was set up."
The 878th Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Post Headquarters Company, AAF, was activated on July 5, 1943. The first WAAC to report to the airfield was Second Officer Theodora Smith, who was designated commanding officer of the 878th.
Between July 21, 1943 and May 31, 1944, the ranks of the WAAC swelled from 29 to 107. They were assigned to base operations, the motor pool, performed administrative duties, and worked as cooks and bakers in the mess hall.
During November of 1943, The 21st Ferrying Group took over a new and specialized role in Ferrying Division activities. The mission of delivering bombers and pursuit aircraft (fighter planes) to the battlefronts of the world was temporarily suspended as Palm Springs Army Air Field became the site for the Ferrying Division's Pursuit Flight Transition School, according to the ferrying group's historical accounts:
"Here, selected pilots, many of them with hundreds of flying hours to their credit, are being trained in Uncle Sam's speedy pursuit fighter aircraft. Pilots who have already graduated from the concentrated course now being given at this air base are even now speeding our fighter planes to four corners of the world."