Part One – On April 14, 1940, the early morning stillness in Kingman, Arizona was shattered by the thundering roar of a B-17 as it made its landing approach to Port Kingman, an airfield initially established by Charles Lindbergh. It was the ghost of Christmas future for this dusty little town nestled along Route 66 and the main line of the Santa Fe Railroad in the foothills of the Cerbat Mountains.
As the clouds of war boiled into towering thunderheads on the eastern and western horizons, and it became increasingly obvious that the neutrality of the United States would soon be abandoned, President Roosevelt guided the nation through the period of transition. One manifestation of the changes that were about to transform the country was Senate Bill 4066 introduced by Senator McCarran of Nevada, the namesake for McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas.
This bill addressed the importance and vulnerability of the electric power grid in the western United States and proposed establishment of a military post to protect the cornerstone of that infrastructure, Boulder Dam, now Hoover Dam. It was this bill, as well as a report issued by the War Department that detailed the importance of Route 66 in the southwest as a military artery and and a location feasibility study by the Civil Aeronautics Authority for the establishment of military airfields in Arizona that prompted the Mohave County Chamber of Commerce to send a telegram to President Roosevelt extolling the attributes of the Hualapai Valley bisected by the railroad and Route 66 east of Kingman.
Port Kingman had served as a key component in the development of TAT, a pioneering transcontinental passenger airline that combined the use of trains and planes for rapid cross country travel. Now the dusty desert airfield served as a key hub in the transport of military aircraft added weight to the barrage of sales pitches being put forth by the Mohave County Chamber of Commerce.
In January of 1941, with announcement that completion of US 93 from Kingman to Boulder Dam was being given top priority as a result of its potential military importance, the city prepared its most aggressive effort to acquire a military airfield to date. On March 27, the efforts bore fruit in the form of Major John Horton, assistant director of the West Coast Air Training Corps, and Captain Mauhan from Moffett Field who arrived in California arrived in Kingman for a two day inspection of possible sites for a newly proposed airfield that would serve as a primary training facility.
Horton’s report submitted on April 3rd proved favorable enough to warrant engineering evaluations on April 17th, and a more detailed inspection tour on the 29th. On May 1st the final report with recommendation for approval was submitted to the Army Air Corps.
Indicative of the increasing priorities being given to military construction is the speed with which the project was given the green light. On June 5th it was announced that bids were being accepted for construction of an advance bomber training school to be built along Route 66 east of Kingman in Hualapai Valley.
On the first of July, Camp Sibert with 850 troops assigned, was established near Boulder Dam and negotiations for lease of lands from the Neal family ranch in the Hualapai Valley commenced. Meanwhile Port Kingman was transformed into a temporary military facility with planes making refueling stops, cadets training with Curtiss aircraft, and military aircraft being transferred to pilots of the Brazilian Air Force.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor, completion of the airfield was given the highest priority and construction of Davis Dam on the Colorado River was temporarily suspended with crews and equipment relocated to Kingman.
