Phoenix Airports - 1927

Pilot Martin Jensen is all smiles as he appears to discuss
his "flight plan" with B.F. Mahoney. Jensen is holding
what appears to be a 1924 Air Navigation Map.
Photo Source: San Diego Air & Space Museum.

A major "issue" with Marty Jensen's fateful flight revolves around three key questions:
1) Was Jensen's Ryan B-1 Brougham carrying extra fuel?
2) If not, did Jensen land in Phoenix to refuel?
3) If he landed, which field did he use?

Many questions remain to be answered and much research looms ahead.  However, in this post we will discuss what airports actually existed in the Phoenix area at the time of Jensen's September 1927 flight.

First and foremost, Sky Harbor Airport definitely did not exist at that time.  Construction of Sky Harbor didn't begin until November 16, 1928, more than a year after The Flyin' Lion Incident.

Several airports did exist in 1927.  They are listed in the order of their probable beginning.

The first so-called "airport" was quite likely the infield of the horse racing track at the Fairgrounds.  By 1927, this substandard, dangerous facility was little used and often scorned.

Bernard Whelan Collection*

The second airport seems to have been one located near Central and Roanoke in Phoenix.  This facility apparently didn't have a name and may have simply been known as the "Central & Roanoke Strip." Arizona's first Aviation Historian Ruth Reinhold wrote an endearing account of what may have been the last aerial activity operating out of this airstrip located beside the palm-lined charm of Central Avenue.  You can read her account here: https://azitwas.blogspot.com/2020/01/central-roanoke-airport-phoenix-1927.html

Continual stinging criticism about suitability of the Fairgrounds led the city of Phoenix to buy a dairy farm far from town.  According to Arizona's current Aviation Historian, Arv Schultz, it was located near 59th Avenue and McDowell.  Reinhold states it was near Christy Road and 59th Avenue.  It was known as either Phoenix Municipal and/or "Christy".  This airfield was dedicated November 9, 1925.

Two other airports appear to have been in operation.  One was known as the "Van Buren Airport" located near the State Hospital at 24th Street.  The other was called "South Central" and it was located at South Central and Mohave. Aero Corporation of Arizona started South Central in mid-1927.  Aero went belly up in the Depression. Various other operators attempted to keep South Central open.  Eventually it was abandoned in near the mid-1930's (See additional information at end of post.)

Based on this Library of Congress 1924 Air Navigation Map, there was only one airport was indicated for the Phoenix area and it is clearly the infamous Fairgrounds.  Note the location to the Southeast of Alhambra and see map below .Map source: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3701pm.gct00064

The 1934 map above clearly shows the Fairgrounds as being located Southwest of Alhambra in the same approximate location as the 1924 Air Navigation Map.
Map Source: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=86c94ac54de8869978e5e77b856ff9a9

Preliminary Speculation:

Pilot Jensen was well familiar with at least the area around Yuma.  IN fact, he and his wife, Marguerite, were married high above Yuma in 1925 aboard a Curtiss JN-4 and then stood on aircraft's top wing to celebrate their union.  It would seem likely that the "gossip network" among aviators might have given Jensen information about the other airports besides just the Fairgrounds as indicated on the 1924 Air Navigation Map.

Jensen papers are located in the Wyoming Heritage Center in Laramie, Wyoming.  We hope to find additional information in that collection.

*The Bernard Whelan Collection is located here:
https://archivescatalog.udayton.edu/repositories/2/resources/55/collection_organization

Obviously, the South Central Airport continued in usage well after Sky Harbor was opened in 1929.  This photo is entitled: "Amelia Earhart and unidentified man with her Beech Nut autogiro at Phoenix South Central Airport." and it is dated 1931. Note the spectators lined up on the other side of the aircraft. Photo source: https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/ahfrein/id/101/

The old South Central airport rather quickly found new life as the first Phoenix Municipal Stadium which was built in 1937 and funded by the federal Works Progress Administration. It hosted several levels of Minor League Baseball – the Phoenix Senators of the old Class C Arizona-Texas League, the Phoenix Stars of the old Class C Arizona-Mexico League, and the original Phoenix Giants of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League – as well as New York Yankees spring training (1951) and New York Giants (1947-1950, 1952-1963). When it opened, Central Avenue and Mohave Street wasn’t exactly the middle of town; as shown in the above photo, the ballpark was surrounded by farm land and limited housing. Source: https://ballparkdigest.com/2015/03/11/new-life-at-phoenix-municipal-stadium/

Howard M. Rinehart, Bernard Whelan (right)
Founders of the Van Buren Airport.
Source: https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/special_ms152_photographs/37/

John Dillon I have lots of info and first hand documents in my collection about the origins of Sky Harbor, first built by J. Parker Van Zandt and his Scenic Airways. Was in 1928. Not ‘29. The first flight departed in a Ford Tri-Motor on Nov 18, 1928. A charter group for a fishing club headed south to Mexico. Cool stuff!

Esther Robart Daley There was an airport on n.19th Ave. It was a dirt strip,but, so was 19th. It was on the west side of the road, and belonged to a man named Earl Pylant. In 1940 my three brothers bought an old by-plane. It was a Swallow with an OX5 engine. It was a wreck,held together with baling wire.They tied it down at that airport, and hired a man to teach the three of them to fly. They went to work at Thunderbird field training cadets though WW2.