Williams Field, Hangar Complex, Hangar S-32, 6001 South Power Road, Mesa

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-208-E. 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. The "Type hangar was the characteristic hangar type built in as part of the Group Plan" expansion of the Army Air Corps. 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-E. 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-E (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 located on the south apron, and is similar in design to (adjacent to on the south apron) and (on the north apron). Historic drawings and maps use the terminology or "Building (in Army Air Corps parlance, the "S" designated a "semi-permanent" building). 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 fifty years. The "Type hangar was the characteristic hangar type built in as part of the "84-Group Plan" expansion of the Army Air Corps.

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. The three hangars were built from a plan prepared by the Office of the Chief of Engineering of the Corps of Engineers in Washington, with minor modifications by the Los Angeles District, Corps of Engineers, in June for a Ft. Demountable Hangar, Type This plan, labeled "Plan and Elevations ... in 1 sheet," was a standard design. It is not known what additional documents, if any, may have been prepared to adapt this standard design to specific sites at Williams Field or elsewhere.

The drawing included, at inch to 1 foot scale, a plan with electrical features (lighting, outlets, switches, etc.) and roof framing; front, rear, and side elevations; and a section. At 1/4 inch to 1 foot scale, there is a toilet room and office utility layout and a transformer vault shown in plan and section. Structural options listed on the plan are "trusses of other types, complying with specification, will be permitted," and "hangars to be substantially of dimensions shown; slight variations to suit manufacturing standards will be allowable." This plan is the primary basis for the following description of Building (U.S. Engineer Office ). Other sources include the building itself as it exists today, and dimensions shown on later drawings .

Building Original Construction Building was classified on original architectural drawings as a Ft. Demountable Hangar, Type (U.S. Engineer Office The name referred to two important characteristics of the type: it was 184 feet wide, and it was "demountable," that is, designed so that it could be moved. In general character, it was a straightforward industrial structure with exposed steel columns and trusses, corrugated metal exterior walls, and a complete absence of ornamental detail. At the same time, it was distinctive in appearance due to the straightforward expression of its structure and a system of sliding doors by means of which the entire front wall could be opened or closed.

The structural design produced a distinctive roofline consisting of two wide, low arch forms on either side of a central, small triangular form. While there is no evidence that this was intentional, this form is similar to designs of Army Air Corps pins and insignia, and suggest a bird in flight. The design of the door system included two narrow door pockets projecting from either end of the front facade, into each of which six large rolling doors could be moved. Currently vacant, appears to be in good condition. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 3) Building originally measured x at its extremes.

It was in three parts: the main hangar which measured x door pockets extending from the ends of the front facade, measuring x and a shed across the rear measuring x The main hangar was about from the top of the floor to the top of the roof and included a gallery across the north wall. The door pocket was about high, and the shed was about high. The main hangar was in two bays divided by a single, central column at the front. This is a steel frame structure on a foundation of concrete footings. In order to create a hangar with two column-free bays, the six roof trusses of each bay open from steel columns in the outer walls of the building to a longitudinal truss at the center. The longitudinal truss is supported by a steel column at either end.

The six trusses of each bay are bowstring trusses. Within the bays formed by the steel columns of the outer walls, there are wood frames of 2" x 4" boards on which are attached the exterior and interior walls. The exterior walls of the building are sheets of corrugated iron. The shed across the rear of the building is also of steel construction with steep perimeter columns, including a row of columns visible at the rear of the main hangar space, and a siinple roof structure of rafters. The interior was lit by steel sash windows in the rear and side walls. In the two side walls of the main hangar, each bay was lit by a band of two or three windows. In the rear wall there were bands of windows in the ground floor shed and high in the wall of the hangar.

The steel sash windows high in the walls were opened by means of pull chains and side hinges. Steel sash windows in the door panels also provided light to the interiors. The entire front of the main hangar could be opened by rolling the six panels of the door assembly (each slightly larger than 11 wide by about high) into one of the door pockets. Six parallel steel rails ran across the building from door pocket to door pocket so that one door on each side could be pushed easily into a pocket. Each door panel consisted of a wood frame clad in sheet metal, and rested on two wheels. At the top of each door, a metal guide held the door upright.

In the two outer panels, there were "pilot doors," measuring x The shape of the main roof was two parallel bowstring arches with a steep gable in-between. The rear shed and the front door assembly were each covered with a shed roof, and all roofs projected slightly beyond the walls. The original materials of the roof are not known. Drainage from the roof was an important consideration. First of all, the longitudinal truss was covered with a gable to control drainage. At either end of each valley formed by the intersection of the central gable and the side bowstring arches, a downspout carried water first toward the center and then down. At the rear, the water was carried down the outside of the building and into the earth.

At the front, water was brought inside the building, down to a drain at the base of the central column. Flood lights were placed on the roof at either end and the center. Above the central flood lights was an obstruction light. In plan, the main hangar was a column-free space, open to the southeast, measuring x It had a concrete floor and measured 21 to the bottom chord of the roof trusses. The floor had central floor drains and scattered "ground stakes," metal ground wires exposed as hooks set in holes in the concrete floor. It is not know what interior walls may have been original but it appears that pressed paper Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 4) board and sheet metal panels fastened with metal battens to a height of about may have been original.

According to the plan for Type hangars, the rear shed contained an office at one end (approximately by and next to it, separate toilet areas for officers and enlisted men. At the far end was a transformer vault. In between, the space was not partitioned. No finishes were specified on the original drawings. Passage between the shed and the main hangar was via three standard paneled doors and two wide sliding doors with overhead rollers. The building was originally provided with running water, a 20-gallon water heater, and a gas line. Electricity was used to power 400-watt mercury vapor fixtures and 500-watt ordinary fixtures for lighting in the main hangar, as well as standard service. "Warm air circulators" BTU per hour) were designated to provide heat in shed spaces.

No original furnishings are known. Building was built as one of three Type hangars at Williams Field. Building was built by itself near the north end of the flight line. Buildings and were built side-by-side near the south end of the flight line, each facing southeast. Building was located slightly northeast of Building Apart from the fact that these were built at the edge of the concrete parking apron, the surroundings of including sidewalks and planting, at the time it was built are not known. Building As It Changed Over Time Drawings were prepared in February for "Painting Metal Roofs on Hangar." In the absence of any specified roofing material on the drawings, this indicates that the original roofing was sheet metal.

The color was specified as medium neutral gray to match Air Force standard color no. 105 . For Building S- 32, the plans indicate that the flat roof over the wood mill was also to be painted, indicating an addition to the building which no longer exists. No surviving drawings show a flat-roofed part of Building or any part used as a wood mill (Williams AFB Drawings of Building dated show a two-part addition at the southwest side of the building. This is a rectangular wood-frame structure running from the back of the door pocket to the back of the main shed, with a square projection on the side. The main addition measures 31 feet 10 inches by 121 feet 9 inches; the square projection, located 23 feet 5 inches from the rear of the building, measures 12 feet 1 inch square.

This is a stud-frame structure built on concrete footings. The main addition is covered with a shed roof on a wood truss, leaving 10 feet clear between the floor and the bottom chord of the truss. The roof was clad in corrugated sheet metal. This addition was shown with five doors and no windows. At the front of the building, it had a wide sliding door. Another door opened into the main hangar, one to the outside on the side and rear walls, and one into the square room on the side. The square room had a gable roof and a window in each exterior wall. The ridge of the roof was slightly over 10 feet in height (U.S. Air Force, Air Training Command The drawing for the addition also showed partitions in and functions of the spaces in the original shed at the rear of the hangar.

The spaces in the shed were grouped on either side of a wide, open Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 5) corridor labeled "entree," providing passage across the shed from the hangar to the rear of the building. Northeast of the entree was a "break room" with an enclosed storage space and a bench stock room southwest of the transformer vault. Southwest of the entree was a large office suite. Subsequent minor modifications included the removal of a mezzanine at the rear of the hangar in December and the removal of a flammable wall adjacent to the transformer vault in (U.S. Air Force, Air Training Command Drawings dated show re-roofing of the main hangar space and the door assembly.

The major area of the bowstring arches is given a "built-up roof with cap sheet surface." The central gable and door assembly roofs are shingled. Obstruction lights, ventilators, heater vents, and ladder supports are all indicated (Williams AFB 1983a). A second set of drawings show evaporative coolers in place in both the shed and hangar. The roof of the shed was replaced with a new built-up roof system. Exterior siding was replaced on the rear shed over new acoustical walls. The biggest change was the replacement of the two-part addition of along the southwest side with a new, steel-frame, "pre-engineered" shed- roofed structure (Williams AFB Building Current Features and Appearance The hangar today appears largely as it was built, with the changes noted above from drawings.

In addition, there are several other deviations from available drawings, noted below. At the rear of the shed addition, there are painted emblems in partitioned spaces titled Fast" and "Arizona." In an office space in the original shed, there is a large map of the southwest U.S.A. Windows throughout the building have been coated with a reflective material. There are several changes in utilities and HVAC systems, including a sprinkler system, electric ceiling heaters in the hangar, electric fans in the hangar operated by pull chains, and compressed air available from hoses coiled on wheels mounted on the bottom chords of the trusses. Interior finishes have been substantially altered.

The rear wall of the shed has been stuccoed and the windows have been replaced with black aluminum sash windows. The floor of the hangar is painted with markings to guide planes into parking places. Today, there is a green lawn between Buildings and and along the rear of each. In this lawn between the buildings are three pepper trees, Aleppo pine trees, two palm trees, oleanders, and prickly pear. In the lawn behind Building there are concrete pads and a sand pit. Northwest of the northwest comer, there are two painted stone gateposts. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 6)

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 Anny Air Forces, A Directory, Almanac and Chronicle ofAchievement. Bonanza Books, New York. Reprint of The Official Guide to the Anny 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 M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bruder, J.

Simon, and Melissa Keane Historic Properties Mitigation Plan for 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-E (page 7) Fine, Lenore, and Jesse A. Remington The United States Army 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 lntermountain 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. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 8) U.S. Department of the Air Force Record of Decision on the Final Environmental Impact Statement. On file at WGAA, Mesa, Arizona. U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Architectural and Engineering Documentation: BABS/HAER 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, Arizana.

National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form Form March Yenne, Bill The History of the US Air Force. Brampton Books Corporation, Greenwich, Connecticut. Maps and Drawings U.S. Engineer Office Construction at Military Airports. 184 Ft. Demountable Hangar, Type Plan and Elevations, 1 sheet. U.S. Air Force, Air Training Command Maint. Field Hangar, Type Drawing no. WXM-AF-12-32, revised Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. 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. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 9) Williams AFB 1983a Reroof Hangars, 31, 32, & 46 (sheet 3 of 5 ). As-built drawings. Drawing no. project no. WI-77-0018.

Civil Engineer Office, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. Alter/Repair 31 & 32. Elevations/Interior Renovations (sheet 4 of 12 ). Drawing no. project no. 83-1478A/B, revised Civil Engineer Office, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 10)

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 extensive experience in the preparation of Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-E (page 11) , National Register of Historic Places detenninations 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 finn, 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. Anny 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