Williams Field, Hangar Complex, Hangar S-27, 6001 South Power Road, Mesa

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-208-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Constructed as one of more than one hundred Army Air Corps flying training bases built in the United States in the first two years of World War II, Williams Field (Williams Air Force Base after January served primarily as a basic flying training base from until its closure in This hangar, one of seven in a complex of hangars on the middle and south aprons, contributed to the significant military operations of the base for more than 50 years.

Measuring 122 feet in width, this hangar is a variation of the most common hangar type of World War II, and was built during the final expansion of Army Air Forces facilities in It illustrates the extensive military construction necessary to meet the demands of training Army Air Corps flyers in World War II, and the subsequent four decades of flying training in the Air Training Command of the U.S. Air Force.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-208-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Melissa Keane Dames & Moore North Dreamy Draw, Suite 145 Phoenix, Arizona Architectural Michael Corbett Dames & Moore 221 Main Street, Suite 600 San Francisco, California Architectural Brian Grogan Photographer: Photography and Preservation Associates Post Office Box 324 Yosemite, California August Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-C (page 2)

Physical Description

This section describes the physical attributes of Building including what is known of the original construction, changes over time, and current features and appearance. Building is one of three similar hangars constructed on the middle apron of Williams Field. Built during the final expansion of Army Air Force (AAF) facilities in it is a variation of the most common hangar type of World War II. It illustrates the extensive military construction necessary to meet the demands of training Army Air Corps flyers in World War II, and the subsequent four decades of flying training at Williams AFB in the Air Training Command of the U.S. Air Force.

According to the historic building survey of Williams AFB, Buildings and were all built in the second half of (Woodward and others Although all three hangars were identical in design, and were used as aircraft maintenance hangars and as an aircraft corrosion control hangar. No original plans are available for these buildings, but they are shown on a map of and in existing conditions drawings of (Williams AFB Although the historic building survey describes the three hangars as products of a "standard design for U.S. Army Air Force hangars" (Woodward no such standard design has been identified in a draft context statement on hangars prepared by Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers (Webster At the same time, aspects of the design of these buildings are similar to those of other standard types, and there is nothing remarkable about the design. Historic maps and plans use the terminology or "Building (in Army Air Corps parlance, the "S" designated a "semi-permanent" building). An existing conditions drawing is the primary basis for the following description of Building (Williams AFB Other sources include the building itself as it exists today, and dimensions shown on later drawings. Building Original Construction The "most often-repeated hangar type of the World War II era" were called "120-foot Temporary Hangars" with steel trusses (Webster Building resembles that hangar type, measuring 122 feet wide with steel trusses of a different design.

In addition, has at least a superficial resemblance to three hangars of "non-standard construction" at Reese AFB (Webster A perspective photograph of the front and side of one of the Reese AFB hangars shows a building with an arched truss roof, a front door that slides in panels into flanking door pockets, corrugated metal siding, and steel sash windows. Building may bear the strongest similarity to the standard "Type Hang-N-A." This hangar type includes a bowstring truss roof, a sliding door with 10 panels, and flanking door pockets.

The Type Hang-N-A hangar was similar to at Williams except that it was made with wood columns and wood trusses instead of the steel used in Also, the Type Hang-N-A hangar included low, one- story sheds along the sides of the building behind the flanking door pockets. Building includes a similar low, one-story shed along the rear of the building (Webster Lacking a set of original plans, a description of Building must be derived from later drawings. A Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-C (page 3) drawing of "Maint.

Field Hangar, Building in showed a building measuring x at its extremes, including the hangar, flanking door pockets, and rear shed (Williams AFB The hangar was a high, one-story, column-free, rectangular space measuring x It was high to the bottom chords of the trusses and to the top of the roof. The door pockets at the two comers of the front projected out from the building and were wide. The rear shed was deep by wide. Building was of steel frame construction with steel columns on concrete footings at the sides supporting six bowstring trusses of riveted steel The exterior walls were clad in corrugated iron. The interior was lit by bands of steel sash windows.

Access to the outside was through standard doors from the rear shed, and through the principal hangar door of 10 rolling panels which could be easily pushed into the side door pockets. Each door panel was of wood construction clad in sheet metal, with a high steel sash window. Each panel measured across by high. The door panels moved on wheels along steel tracks in the ground and were stabilized at the top by metal guides. Covers over the wheels are stamped, "Allith." The main hangar roof was a bowstring arch in shape. The door assembly and rear extension were shed roofs. Each roof was built with a slight overhang and each was clad in sheet metal. A square brick chimney rose out of the rear shed to a height of 39 feet, two feet higher than the crown of the roof.

In plan, the hangar consisted of a column-free rectangular space. The drawing also indicated that a shed at the rear housed support functions for the hangar. The original configuration and functions of these spaces are not known, except that they included toilets and a furnace room. Brick fire walls in common bond were on two sides of this room, as well as a brick chimney in the interior comer. Boilers are visible though windows in the locked doors to these rooms in each building. Original floors, finishes, and furnishings are not known. Walls were finished to the base of the windows with pressed paperboard panels and battens, attached to frames of wood studs between the main steel columns of the building. Windows in the hangar were hinged on the sides and opened by pull chains.

The buildings were originally provided with electricity and steam for heat. Some original lamps, attached to the bottom chords of the trusses remain in place. Steam radiators made by the American Radiator Company are still used in the rear shed. Buildings and were built near the center of the flight line at Williams Field, facing east. Building was built just west of the edge of the concrete parking apron, was built directly west and behind and was built directly south of Although and were set back behind the row of buildings along the edge of the flight line, concrete paving provided aircraft access to the two hangars. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No.

AZ-208-C (page 4) Building As It Changed Over Time In the metal roofs of the three hangars were painted "medium neutral gray to match Air Force Standard Color No. (Williams AFB Drawings dated showed an enclosed space in the northeast comer of the hangar for tool box storage. These drawings labeled the rooms in the shed, from north to south, "heater," "bench stock," "latrine," "read room," "office," and "office" (Williams AFB In the roof was rebuilt, replacing the original metal roof with shingles over the door housing and shed, and a "built-up roof with cap sheet surface" over the hangar (Williams AFB Building Current Features and Appearance Building today ~ppears largely as it was built, with the changes noted above from drawings.

In addition, some features which were not shown on drawings but which are now present, are described below. A sign on the front identifies the current occupant, "Phoenix Composites." The exterior walls are gray with blue trim and a tan roof. The interior of the hangar is painted white. Uses of the rooms in the shed, from north to south, are heater, office, latrine, office, and classroom. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-C (page 5)

Sources of Information

This section describes the sources of information for this report, both oral and documentary. Interviews The authors of this report interviewed several people with knowledge of this project. First, we would like to thank the following from the Williams Gateway Airport Authority for their help: Lisa Laird, Environmental Manager; Jan Dodson, Director of Development; Art Allen, Airport Engineer; and Leo Huppert, Property and Assets Manager. Bob Gasser, formerly with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office and now with the Arizona Department of Transportation, described for us the "maze of compliance" that surrounded the closure and proposed reuse of the former base.

Mesa retiree Paul Bates detailed his experiences for us as a pilot and a pilot trainer at Williams in World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the War in Vietnam. Dan Lane of the AFB Conversion Agency (AFBCA) guided us to drawings of the hangars, now temporarily located in AFBCA files at the former Williams AFB. Bibliography AAF Aid Society AAF: The Official World War II Guide to the Army Air Forces, A Directory, Almanac and Chronicle ofAchievement. Bonanza Books, New York. Reprint of The Official Guide to the Army Air Forces, Simon and Schuster, New York. Albrecht, Donald, editor l 995 World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building Changed a Nation. The National Building Museum, Washington, and Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bruder, J.

Simon, and Melissa Keane Historic Properties Mitigation Planfor Phase I Development Proposed by the Williams Gateway Airport Authority. Dames & Moore, Phoenix, Arizona. Coffman Associates, Inc. Airport Master Plan for Williams Gateway Airport. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. Craven, Wesley Frank, and James Lea Cate, editors The Army Air Forces in World War II. Volume Six: Men and Planes. Office of Air Force History, Washington, EDAW,Inc. Williams AFB Economic Reuse Plan: A Report to the Williams Air Force Base Economic Reuse Advisory Board. Phoenix, Arizona. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-C (page 6) Fine, Lenore, and Jesse A. Remington The United States Anny in World War II: The Technical Services.

The Corps of Engineers: Construction in the United States. Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, Washington, Garner, John S. World War II Temporary Military Buildings: A Brief History of the Architecture and Planning of Cantonments and Training Stations in the United States. U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, Illinois. Haller, Stephen A. The Last Word in Airfields: A Special History Study of Crissy Field, Presidio of San Francisco, California. National Park Service, San Francisco. Keane, Melissa, J. Simon Bruder, Michael Corbett, Deborah Olszewski, and Glenn P. Darrington Pilots in Training: A Historical and Archaeological Inventory of Luke Air Force Base and the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field.

Dames & Moore Intermountain Cultural Resource Services Research Paper No. 23. Phoenix, Arizona (draft). Landreth, Keith Interim Report: USACERL WWII Temporary Building Documentation Project. U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, Champaign, Illinois. Luckingham, Bradford P. Phoenix: The History of a Southwestern Metropolis. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. RKG Associates, Inc. Williams Gateway Airport Strategic Development Plan and Industrial/Commercial Master Plan. Prepared for the Williams Gateway Airport Marketing Committee. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. Runyon, Damon "The Brighter Side." Five newspaper columns reprinted by the Phoenix Gazette.

SWCA Inc., and Ryden Architects Treatment Plan for Archaeological Resources and Historic Structures and Buildings at Williams Air Force Base, Maricopa County, Arizona. Prepared for AFCEE/ESEM, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. U.S. Department of the Air Force Final Environmental Impact Statement: Disposal and Reuse of Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. Record of Decision on the Final Environmental Impact Statement. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-C (page 7) U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Architectural and Engineering Documentation: HABSIHAER Standards.

Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, Cultural Resources Program, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Washington, Webster, Julie L. U.S. Army Air Forces and Air Forces Construction during World War II: Construction Engineering Research Laboratory, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Champaign, Illinois (draft). Williams Gateway Airport Authority (WGAA) Request for Proposals: Purchase of Historic Aircraft Hangars. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. Woodward, James W., Patricia A. Osmon, and N. Christine Richards Williams Air Force Base Historic Building Survey. Woodward Architectural Group, Tempe, Arizona. Historic Resources of Williams Air Force Base, Arizona.

National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form Form March Yenne, Bill The History of the US Air Force. Brompton Books Corporation, Greenwich, Connecticut. Maps and Drawings Williams AFB Painting Metal Roofs on Hangar [map of entire base]. File no. Office of the Installation Officer, Pilot Training Wing, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. Maint. Hangar, Revised Drawing no. XWM Office of the Base Engineer, Williams Air Force Base, Chandler, Arizona. Reroof Hangars, 24 & 27 (sheet 2 of 5). Drawing no. project no. WI-77-0018. Civil Engineer Office, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-C (page 8)

Project Information

Williams Gateway Airport is being developed as a reliever airport and aerospace center to serve the southeastern portion of the greater Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The lands on which the Airport is situated are part of the former Williams AFB, and remain under Air Force ownership. Thus, the Air Force is the federal agency involved in this project and is responsible for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of as amended (NHPA). Currently, the WGAA occupies the Airport under a long-term lease from the Air Force. The Air Force is constrained from transferring ownership of the property to the WGAA until it has satisfactorily dealt with hazardous substances identified within the Airport boundary.

After clean-up has been accomplished, the Airport property will be transferred to the WGAA through a quitclaim deed. A cooperative venture of the City of Mesa, the towns of Gilbert and Queen Creek, and the Gila River Indian Community, the WGAA is a political subdivision of the State of Arizona with a charter to acquire, develop, and operate the airport. Development of the Airport has the potential to adversely affect historic properties on the former Williams AFB, including six World War II-era hangars on the flight line. Two of the six hangars and are to be relocated or demolished in for the construction of an upgraded, widened and realigned Sossaman Road through the Airport.

Four of the threatened hangars and T- 38) will not be demolished until future tenants are prepared to build new facilities. Two additional hangars not included in this report on the south apron and on the north apron) are not threatened by demolition; current plans call for their adaptive re-use. On behalf of the WGAA, the Air Force consulted with the Arizona SHPO on appropriate means to mitigate the anticipated adverse effects of demolition of the six threatened hangars HABS documentation was agreed upon as an acceptable mitigative strategy, and WGAA contracted with Dames & Moore to prepare this report. Ms. Melissa Keane acted as principal investigator and historian, and authored the title page, historical data, and project information sections of this report. Mr.

Michael Corbett, architectural historian, authored the descriptive data section and contributed to the index to photographs. Mr. Brian Grogan produced the photographs and contributed to the index of photographs. Ms. Melissa Keane, historian, is well versed in the complexities of federal cultural resource regulations, and is also familiar with the history of military installations in Arizona and experienced in evaluating them from the standpoint of cultural resources. As a public historian, Ms. Keane specializes in the interpretation of complex historical information for public audiences. Her field of interest is the American West of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Combining her training in public history with her experience in archaeology, historical archaeology, and editing, Ms.

Keane has served as project manager for cultural resource planning and mitigation studies in the Dames & Moore Southwest Cultural Resources Services group for over five years. She holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in anthropology, and is completing a master's degree in public history. Mr. Michael Corbett, architectural historian, has over 20 years of experience in architectural history, preservation planning, and cultural resource analysis. He has extens.ive experience in the preparation of Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-C (page 9) National Register of Historic Places determinations of eligibility and HABS/HAER documentation. In a recent HABS/HAER documentation project, Mr.

Corbett prepared written historical and descriptive reports for 37 buildings scheduled for demolition at the Presidio of San Francisco, in conjunction with the conversion of the military facility by the National Park Service. Mr. Corbett is currently a PhD candidate in the history of architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, and meets the Secretary of the Interior's Standards as an architectural historian. Brian Grogan's firm, Photography and Preservation Associates, is dedicated to historic documentation and the exploration of land use and preservation issues through contemporary photography. In addition to having worked with Dames & Moore as a subconsultant on several projects, Mr.

Grogan's clients include the National Park Service, Hampden-Sydney College of Virginia, the Presidio of California, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He is well versed in HABS/HAER documentation requirements, and has contributed to a number of photographic exhibitions and publications. Photographs were taken in June and the written report completed in August