Kingman Airport

Kingman’s Aviation started on an open piece of ground across from the Mountain View Cemetery. Before it became an airplane landing strip, the main use was a cattle pasture.

The former Hall Street, now Stockton Hill Road, separated the cemetery and airstrip. This airstrip was commonly known as Wallapai (Hualapai) Field. This is the starting point for aviation history of Kingman and Mohave County.

It was soon to be replaced by Port Kingman which was the first commercial airport in Arizona and TAT was the forerunner of TWA.

On July 8, 1929 the first Ford Tri-Motor "Tin Goose" airplane landed at "Port Kingman". The airport was established and dedicated by Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart as part of a promotional tour on July 8, 1929, for the Transcontinental Air Transport Company. Lindberg is shown above for that event.

In the 1920s and 30s, air mail carriers and passenger aircraft used the town as a refueling stop. While promoting a new coast-to-coast air mail service for the Transcontinental Air Transport Company on July 8, Charles A. Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart were met by thousands of Arizonans when they made a refueling stop here to establish and dedicate "Port Kingman."

Kingman was an important link in early transcontinental air service. It was the first airport terminal dedicated in Northern Arizona by the Transcontinental Air Transport Company. TAT, as Transcontinental was called, was organized by Charles Lindbergh and other to provide 24 hour air service between New York City and Los Angeles. Kingman was the first refueling stop from eastward from Los Angeles.

The Kingman Army Airfield was founded at the beginning of WW II as an Aerial Gunnery Training Base. It was one of the Army Air Corps largest, training some 35,000 individuals. The airfield and Kingman played a significant role in this important era of America's history.

With the disposal of the military aircraft completed, Kingman AAF was returned to civilian use in 1949. It was developed into a civil airport and industrial park. Today, some civilian airliners are stored there and remarketed or recycled into spare parts and into their base metals.

Kingman Airport & Industrial Park now covers an area of 4,200 acres with two asphalt paved runways. It is located five miles north of Interstate 40, along U.S. Highway 66, and adjacent to the main line of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Rail Road. The industrial park is home to more than 70 businesses, employing over 2,100 people.

Location is critical to business, whether it's proximity to market, proximity to transportation, proximity to labor, or all these and more. Kingman has these attributes and allows easy access Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix.