From 1929 to 1934, there was an airline based out of northwest Tucson owned by Charles William Gilpin that flew charter service in southern AZ, southern CA, and the Sonoran State of Mexico. Following the death of Bill Gilpin in a weather accident in Mexico during a revenue flight, the airline foundered as an operation, and instead changed to a flight school and charter-only operation operated by famed Tucson aviation pioneer Walter Douglas. The airport, known as Gilpin Field, later became Tucson-Freeway Airport, which operated from 1959 until its closure in 1978. Today, the former airport's runway has been taken over by industrial development, but some of the "modern" Freeway Airport hangars remain, as well as the much older and historical Gilpin Airlines hangars and operations bullding/terminal.
The hangar with the faded Gilpin Airlines logo on the front is scheduled to be demolished shortly. Constructed of a truss-type interior ceiling, the sections are old and no longer safe for weight-bearing. The hangar has a collapse hazard potential, so the picture I took of it will likely be one of the last taken.
The main terminal is photographed in its original red brick construction. It is two-story with its ATC tower located on top center of the building. Both front and backside pictures of this building are taken, and it is still in use, complete with an old-school airport beacon which is of course non-operational.
The flat brick building/hangar was built by German POWs during WWII. Arizona was the location of a large POW camp for captured German Navy U-Boat crews to be interned. There was a famed escape attempt in Phoenix on Christmas Eve 1944 from the Papago Camp, when German U-boat crews constructed a wooden boat and planned to float down the Salt River to freedom, not knowing that the Salt River that runs through south Phoenix is normally a dry sandy wash, vice a perennial flowing river. Their escape was successful, but was spent escaping and evading within downtown Phoenix until caught by Phoenix Police, Military Police, and Maricopa County Sheriff deputies.
The hangar with the faded Gilpin Airlines logo on the front is scheduled to be demolished shortly. Constructed of a truss-type interior ceiling, the sections are old and no longer safe for weight-bearing. The hangar has a collapse hazard potential, so the picture I took of it will likely be one of the last taken.
The main terminal is photographed in its original red brick construction. It is two-story with its ATC tower located on top center of the building. Both front and backside pictures of this building are taken, and it is still in use, complete with an old-school airport beacon which is of course non-operational.
The flat brick building/hangar was built by German POWs during WWII. Arizona was the location of a large POW camp for captured German Navy U-Boat crews to be interned. There was a famed escape attempt in Phoenix on Christmas Eve 1944 from the Papago Camp, when German U-boat crews constructed a wooden boat and planned to float down the Salt River to freedom, not knowing that the Salt River that runs through south Phoenix is normally a dry sandy wash, vice a perennial flowing river. Their escape was successful, but was spent escaping and evading within downtown Phoenix until caught by Phoenix Police, Military Police, and Maricopa County Sheriff deputies.
