Business View Magazine l November 2022

253 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 11 here with some of the smaller dive bombers. As the war progressed and finally finished, the facility switched from an air military school to an aircraft storage facility. There were thousands of those same bombers stored here for several years after the war as well as other military aircraft.” When the war ended, the facility was transformed and became a disassembling facility for the first three years. Everything of use was removed and then the plane would be cut into pieces and placed in a smelter. Three furnaces were operated at Kingman for melting about 70% of an airplane’s metal components into ingots. The furnaces were run 24 hours a day and could consume up to 35 aircraft a day. The main contractor, Wunderlich, recovered 57 million pounds of aluminum, and 21 million pounds of steel having stripped 85 reconnaissance aircraft, 615 fighters, 54 light bombers, 266 medium bombers, and 4,463 heavy bombers. “After that, the airport switched over and was given to Mohave County under the war surplus act,” explains Breckenridge, “and over time ownership went from Mohave County to the city of Kingman. In that meantime, it was a standard general aviation airport. We did have some commercial traffic earlier, but most of the income up until the 1990s was still coming from aircraft storage, but it switched to airlines, private companies, and a much more diverse group of aircraft,” he adds. “There are currently 281 stored aircraft, and we are seeing a massive increase because of the changes in the airline industry. We have 65 General Aviation Aircraft on the field and see from 10-15 operations a day.” Kingman Airport covers an area of 4,200 acres and has two asphalt runways: 3/21 is 6,827 by 150 feet while 17/35 is 6,725 by 75 feet. Air’Zona Aircraft Services operate the FBO and provide fuel. There are Executive and T-Hangars for rent and lease, as well as tie-downs. Kingman Airline Services offers storage, maintenance, and K INGMAN MUNI C I PAL A I RPORT