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Thunderbird Field was a military airfield in Glendale, Arizona, used for contract primary flight training of Allied pilots during World War II. Created in part by actor James Stewart,〔From The Soldier's Book of Inspirational Stories, by R.Dale Jeffery, 1997.〕 the field became part of the United States Army Air Forces training establishment just prior to American entry into the war and was re-designated Thunderbird Field #1 after establishment of Thunderbird Field #2 at nearby Scottsdale, on 22 June 1942. Thunderbird # 1 is located southeast of the intersection of West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue in Glendale, Arizona. After the conclusion on World War II, the property was sold as surplus for educational purposes, eventually becoming the Thunderbird School of Global Management, a well-respected post-graduate business school. ==History== Thunderbird Field began in 1939 as a collaborative project by Hollywood agent and producer Leland Hayward, former Air Service pilot John H. "Jack" Connelly, and ''Life magazine '' photographer John Swope, founders of Southwest Airways. Backed by investors that included James Stewart, singer-actor Hoagy Carmichael, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Robert Taylor, and Margaret Sullavan, construction of the pilot training facility near Glendale, Arizona,〔From "The History of Thunderbird," Parts 1 and 2, in ''Das Tor'', October 1992.〕 began on 2 January 1941, and was completed in three months. The site, from central Phoenix, was laid out by artist Millard Sheets to resemble (from the air) an etching of a mythical Anasazi Thunderbird. The control tower formed the head of the bird, the administration buildings and barracks its body, the hangars its wings, and the gardens its feathered tail. The installation was situated on the southeast corner of what is now West Greenway Road & North 59th Avenue. To the southeast, adjacent to its single-story sage, cream, and terra cotta-colored buildings of Spanish Colonial rancheria design, was a square ramp area. Across West Greenway Road to the north was the airfield itself with three runways. Contractor Del Webb Construction built a hexagonal barracks, administrative building, mess hall and four hangars on the site, plus twin swimming pools. The US Army Air Forces signed a contract with Southwest Airways to provide instructors and facilities for a primary training school for its aviation cadets in March 1941, beginning with a class of 59 candidates. Eventually 10,000 pilots from 30 nations trained at the field before it was deactivated in June 1945.〔("History of Falcon Field", Mesa, Arizona, City Government site ).〕 A 1942 Hollywood movie in Technicolor, ''Thunder Birds'' (directed by William Wellman), was filmed on location at the field in the spring of 1942. Aerial shots clearly show the original Thunderbird design. Four unpaved satellite airfields were operated by Thunderbird Field between 1942 and 1944: *Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-1 (33.64N 112.10W), northeast of West Bell Road and North 19th Avenue; *Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-2 (33.65N 112.24W), in Sun City northwest of West Union Hills Road and North 83rd Avenue; *Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-3 (33.58N 112.10W), at West Peoria Avenue and North 19th Avenue; *Thunderbird #1 Auxiliary Airfield A-4, at West Pinnacle Peak Road and North 43rd Avenue. Southwest Airways expanded the training complex with the building of two other airfields, Falcon Field at Mesa in September 1941, and Thunderbird Field #2 in Scottsdale in June 1942. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thunderbird Field No. 1」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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