Lapaz County

Salome Field

Built in the early 1930s, this field served as an emergency landing site for early air routes.

Salome Field is an old dirt airstrip located 38 miles west of Tonopah. Originally established in the early 1930s, the field was primarily intended to be used for emergency landings between Phoenix and Los Angeles. Today, the site sits mostly overgrown, but is occasionally still used by local astronomy, rocket, and aviation clubs. It sits just a mile and a half south of I-10 near the Hovatter Road exit. 

Salome Field was built sometime between 1931 and 1934 based on when it appeared in the list of active airfields put out by the Commerce Department. Initially called American Airways Field, the site featured two 2500’ runways. The runways were arranged in a cross shape with one north/south runway and one that faced east/west.

The airfield was located along the Phoenix-Los Angeles route, which was flown by early airmail and commercial carriers. Standard Air Lines (established in 1927) was an airmail contractor that flew mail and passengers throughout the southwest including destinations such as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, and El Paso. Standard became the first interstate & intrastate scheduled airline in Arizona. The first flights flew three times a week -- Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Flights departed Los Angeles at 10 A.M. and arrived in Phoenix four and a half hours later. Return flights departed Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. Standard Airlines was sold in March of 1930 and merged with T.W.A. later that year.

Looking south onto Salome Field.

The name of the field, “American Airways” was likely based on the fact that this was a common brand name used by numerous independent airlines at the time. It wasn’t owned or built to serve any single carrier. After 1941, American Airways Field was changed to Salome Landing Field (site 28B). The site continued to primarily serve as an emergency landing site.

By 1945, the field was expanded to contain a 4,100’ east/west runway and a 3900’ north/south runway. It was owned by the U.S. Government as an intermediate field (emergency site) and operated under authority of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, an early version of the FAA. By 1956, Salome Field was listed as closed. While it may have been briefly reopened between 1958-1964, it eventually reverted to ‘closed / emergency use only’.

Some kind of compass marker near the intersection of the two runways.

Today the two runways remain just a bit southeast of the Hovatter Road exit along I-10. While overgrown, the field is still occasionally used by small aircraft, although the emergency landing by large commercial aircraft seems to have fallen by the wayside. The foundations of a beacon remain to the southwest of the two runways, and an interesting small fenced area remains on the west end of the field. It is unclear what this was used for. The area remains a popular place for astronomy and rocketry clubs to meet for events. The dark sky and remote nature of the area provide a perfect place for these groups to meet from time to time. While nothing significant remains today, it is still an interesting relic of the early commercial air program that remains in the Arizona desert today.

 
 
 

Sources:

  1. Freeman, Paul. "American Airways Field / Salome CAA Site 27B Airfield, Salome, AZ." Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Western Arizona. Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields, 24 Apr. 2020. Web. 30 Oct. 2020. <http://www.airfields-freeman.com/AZ/Airfields_AZ_W.htm>. 

  2. "Standard Air Lines." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2020. Web. 30 Oct. 2020. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Air_Lines>.

  3. "Civil Aeronautics Board." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 08 Oct. 2020. Web. 30 Oct. 2020. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Aeronautics_Board>.

  4. "Transcontinental Air Transport." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Oct. 2020. Web. 30 Oct. 2020. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Air_Transport>. 

  5. "History of American Airlines." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Oct. 2020. Web. 30 Oct. 2020. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_American_Airlines>.