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- Palm Springs Army
Air Field
-
- In March 1941, the War Department certified
improvements to the existing airport in Palm Springs as essential
to National Defense. Palm Springs had been used by the Army and
Commercial airlines as an emergency landing field due to its
clear weather and its proximity to March Field and the Los Angeles
area. The airport was approved to serve as a staging field by
the Air Corps Ferrying Command in November 1941. Land was acquired
to build a major airfield one half miles from the old airfield
site. The new airfield was completed in early 1942, and thereafter
the old air field was used only as a backup landing site. Many
of the field's personnel stayed at the comfortable Lapaz Guest
Ranch nearby. In the spring of 1944 the ATC's training operations
moved to Brownsville, TX. The auxiliary field or backup field
was declared surplus on 12 May 1945 and the main airfield was
declared excess and transferred to the War Assets Administration
for disposal in 1946.
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- Known Units at Palm Springs
Army Air Field
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- 560th Army Air Forces Base Unit (21st
Ferrying Group)
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