Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Shavers Summit
Army Air Field
An
Army Air Forces C-47 landing at Shevers Summit AAF (California
Military Department)
Located 29.5 miles southeast of Indio
and adjecent to Camp Young, Shavers
AAF was used by the Army Air and Ground Forces to support training
within the California-Arizona Maneuver Area.
Source: World War II Sites in
the United States: A Tour Guide and Directory by Richard E. Osbourne
US Army Corps
of Engineers History (1993)
The Shavers Summit Airfield was used by
the Army Air Forces as an emergency auxiliary landing field in
connection with activities at the Blythe
Army Air Field. The airfield was located adjacent to Camp Young, the Administration
Headquarters for Major General Patton California-Arizona
Maneuver Area/Desert Training Center. The former airfield
consisted of an east-west runway approximately 200-foot wide
by 6,000-foot long, constructed of hard black top, a parking
apron approximately 100-foot wide by 300-foot long, constructed
of hard black top located adjacent to the runway, a 12-foot by
18-foot frame house used as a guard house, nine or ten tent frames,
a small latrine and shower room, a 50,OOO-gallon above-ground
water tank, and a beacon. The airfield contained no housing or
gasoline storage facilities. According to Mr. Gordon Chiriaco,
operator of the Chevron gasoline station and son of Mr. Joseph
L. Chiriaco, all fuel for Army Air Forces airplanes was obtained
from the Chevron gasoline station. All structures were dismantled
shortly after occupation by the military.
The former Shavers Summit Airfield is currently owned and operated
by Riverside County as the Chiriaco Summit Airport. The original
runway and wind sock still exist. A majority of the former parking
apron has been covered with a new coricrete apron, with only
a small portion of the original blacktop exposed on the easternmost
end. No buildings are located on the current airport grounds,
and the airport still does not have airplane refueling capacities.
According to information obtained from Ms. Tina Pickens at the
General Patton Memorial Museum and Mr. Gordon Chiriaco, the Shavers
Summit Airfield was established prior to military occupation.
Army Corps of Engineers - Los Angeles District real estate project
files suggest that the site was undeveloped prior to military
occupation. The operator of the Chiriaco Summit Chevron gas station
verified that no underground storage tanks have ever been located
at the airport. There were no reports of ordnance having been
found at this site.
US Army Corps
of Engineers History (1994)
The War Department acquired a total of
562.271 acres for an air support command base. The Army acquired
158.895 acres of public land by transfer from the Department
of the Interior by Public Land Order No. 43, dated 29 September
1942. Three parcels of land, totaling 403.376 acres fee, were
acquired by declaration-of-taking by the Army from three private
owners (acquisition dates unknown). These included 27.265 acres
from Joseph L. and Ruth E. Chiriaco, 25.313 acres from the State
of California, and 350.798 acres from the Southern Pacific Land
Company.
The Shavers Summit Airfield was used by the Army Air Force as
an emergency auxiliary landing field in connection with activities
at the Blythe Army Air Field. Improvements included an east-west
runway approximately 2oo-foot wide by 6,000-foot long, constructed
of hard black top, a parking apron approximately loo-foot wide
by 300-foot long, constructed of hard black top located adjacent
to the runway, a 12-foot by 18-foot frame house used as a guard
house, nine or ten tent frames, a small latrine and shower room,
a 50,000-gallon above-ground water tank, and a beacon. The airfield
contained no housing or gasoline storage facilities.
The entire Shavers Summit Airfield was placed in the category
of surplus effective 2 November 1944. Accountability for all
acreage was assumed by the War Assets Administration on 3 January
1947. The subject acreage has since been subdivided and is currently
owned by private individuals, private companies, and federal
and county government agencies. Total disposal was 526.271 acres.
Extract,
US Army Air Forces Directory of Airfields (January 1945)
Units Assigned
to Shavers Summit AAF
Reference
Date
Units
Army Station
List
7 May 1943
Army Ground Forces:
Medical Detachment
Detachment, Headquarters Squadron,
IV Air Support Command
Extract, War
Department Inventory of Owned, Sponsored and Leased Facilities,
1945
Shavers Summit AAF Sub-Base of March
Field
Capacity:
Enlisted:
Permanent:
Mobilization:
Theater of Operations:
Hutments:
Tents:
Total:
Officers:
Station Hospital:
Acreage
Owned: 653
acres
Leases:
Total:
653 acres
Storage:
Covered:
Open:
Cost to Government Since 1 July 1940:
Annual lease payments:
Land: $500.00
Construction: $292,987.00
Total (less annual leases): $293,487.00
Remarks:
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