Williams Field, Hangar Complex, HangarT-38, 6001 South Power Road, Mesa

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-208-F. 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. Built during the final period of expansion of Army Air Forces facilities in it is a late example of three-hinged arched truss construction, a type of construction generally discontinued after 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 in the Air Training Command of the U.S. Air Force.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS AZ-208-F. 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-F (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 two hangars using a hinged arch truss construction built at Williams Field in the second, is located 154 feet to the northeast ofT-38. Historic maps and drawings use the terminology or "Building (in Army Air Corps parlance, the "T" designated a "temporary" building, most often a wood frame building). Although the term "land plane" hangar is used to describe in the historic building survey and in the National Register nomination form for the Williams hangars (Woodward and others it is a Navy term rather than an Army or Air Force term.

Two land plane hangars can be seen in a aerial photograph of Luke AFB, west of Phoenix. 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. Built during the final period of expansion of AAF facilities in it is a late example of three-hinged arched truss construction, a type of construction generally discontinued after 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 in the Air Training Command of the U.S. Air Force.

Although we were not able to locate the original plans for Building we did locate drawings for the "Conversion of Hangars to dated April which show existing, and presumably original, conditions. These are not detailed drawings but simple elevations which show an outline of the foundations, truss design, and spacing of trusses. These drawings are the primary basis for the following description of Building (Headman, Ferguson & Carollo Other sources include the building itself as it exists today, and dimensions shown on later drawings. Hinged Arch Construction In the second half of the nineteenth century, builders attempted various methods to span large spaces with iron and steel, an obvious solution being a continuous truss in the shape of an arch.

However, because uneven settlement could put destructive stresses on an entire structure, builders proposed the use of a three-hinged arch truss. With a hinge at each footing and at the crown of the arch, a certain amount of uneven movement could be accommodated without putting stress on the truss. First attempted in by Heinrich Gerber in a bridge over the Main River in Germany, the system was first put to use in the United States in in a railroad shed in Jersey City. Builders also used the hinged arch in exhibition buildings and armories.

In the twentieth century, the system was adopted for aircraft hangars to house airplanes and dirigibles, the largest being a dirigible hangar at a naval air field in New Jersey in Three-hinged arched truss construction was commonly used for hangars until after the close of World War II, when it was superseded by various new types of construction (Condit Myers Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-F (page 3) Building Original Construction As built in late Building was an open-ended aircraft hangar. The hangar was distinctive because it had no end walls; one could see through the building and could see all of its structural features. A second distinctive feature was its structural design which consisted of nine identical, three-hinged arched trusses supporting a low parabolic roof.

The structure, the walls, and the roof were all part of a single integrated system and they were the whole of the building. Building was a rectangular structure measuring about x Its nine, three-hinged arched trusses creating eight 20-foot bays, were supported by flat concrete footings, angled to receive the thrusts of the arches. The arches were made of riveted steel, hinged at each footing and at the crown. The arches supported an outer sheathing of sheet metal in the curving form of a parabola so that the walls and roof were part of a continuous surface. A metal plate under every arch was stamped "Butler Manufacturing Co., KC [Kansas City] [Minneapolis] GALESBURG [Illinois]." In plan, Building was an open, column-free rectangle, measuring about to the crown at its center.

The floor was paved in concrete, marked by expansion joints and ground stakes. There were no interior walls or finishes, no windows, and no doors. There were electric lights hanging from the trusses, but it is not known if there was plumbing for gas and water. Building was located on flat desert land near the south end of the flight line at Williams Field. It was oriented northeast-southwest and was lined up just off the northwest edge of the concrete p~king apron of the flight line. Building As It Changed Over Time According to drawings dated April Buildings and were converted "to that is, to function with other buildings as part of the new "Production Line Maintenance" process.

This involved raising each hangar on eight-foot, buttressed concrete walls and adding enclosed spaces outside, measuring This provided enclosed spaces for support activities, but did not change the basic character of the hangars as open-ended shelters distinguished by exposed three-hinged arched trusses (Headman, Ferguson & Carollo As altered, the arched trusses and roofing remained as built. The new side walls consisted of reinforced concrete columns at each arch bay, each of which was buttressed by a reinforced concrete column angled to receive the thrust of the arch. The vertical columns and buttresses each rested on concrete footings which were tied together in a single, irregular structure. The two end bays in each side wall were eight- inch concrete shear walls.

The six interior bays of the new wall were enclosed by stud walls clad in gypsum board panels with battens. These opened through standard doors to the hangar interior and were lit by four double hung windows. On the side of the hangars away from the flight line, a shed-roofed toilet room was added in the two central bays (Headman, Ferguson & Carollo Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-F (page 4) Drawings dated April show the shed addition on Building as long, spanning five interior bays. Drawings dated January show the shed addition spanning four end bays (Williams AFB Building Current Features and Appearance Building 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.

The stud-frame and gypsum board infill walls have been replaced on both sides by concrete block walls. The shed addition on the northwest side of the building appears completely rebuilt since Presently unused, its last uses were for offices, storage, and restrooms. Inside, paint markings on the inside surfaces of the sheet metal roofing, and holes for vents and fans, indicate the past presence of machinery on the northwest side. On the inside of the southeast roof surface are the large letters The concrete floor is painted with lines to guide planes and with an emblem for the Flying Training Wing. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-F (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 Anny 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 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. Condit, Carl W. American Building: Materials and Techniques from the First Colonial Settlements to the Present. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 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, Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-F (page 6) 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.

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 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. Myers, William A. editor. Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks. Prepared by the History and Heritage Committee, San Francisco Section, American Society of Civil Engineers. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco. RKG Associates, Inc.

l 995 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. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-F (page 7) SWCA Inc., and Ryden Architects l 995 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. 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 Headman, Ferguson, & Carollo, Architects and Engineers Job No. Williams Field ESA Military Construction, Williams Field, Chandler, Arizona. Conversion of Hangars to PLM and Appurtenances (sheets 1 and 4 of file no. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-F (page 8) Prepared under the direction of Rufus W. Putnam, District Engineer, U.S. Engineer Office, Los Angeles.

Williams AFB Site Plan and Basic Construction Details of Hangars and ], (sheets 2 and 3 of 3) . File no. Office of the Air Installation Officer, Pilot Training Wing, Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. Maint. Field, Hangar Revised Office of the Base Engineer, Williams Air Force Base, Chandler, Arizona. Williams Field, Hangar HABS No. AZ-208-F (page 9)

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-F (page 10) 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