DATE OF DISTRIBUTION: February 13, 2008               FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT

THE ADVENT OF RYAN AIRFIELD

TAA Celebrates 60: a year long retrospective on the history of aviation in Tucson

Commercial air service usually comes to mind when the conversation turns to flying, but general aviation is how it all began. Celebrating 60 years, the Tucson Airport Authority (TAA) oversees general aviation airport Ryan Airfield where pilots have been Fly’n Ryan for over 50 years.

World War II set the stage for the birth of Ryan, which was created on June 13, 1942, when the U.S. turned to private companies to train pilots. One of the schools chosen as the new “West Points” of the air was San Diego-based Ryan School of Aeronautics. Because the U.S. feared a coastal attack, inland training sites were required. Arizona’s climate was perfect and work began on June 15, 1942, in a field 13 miles west of Tucson.

The school transformed a bare patch of desert into an Army air base with paved runways, hangars, barracks, mess hall, and classrooms in three months. Over one weekend planes, equipment, and personnel were transferred to the facility from San Diego and by August 1942 the school was training its first pilots.

Equally amazing was that 6,000 pilots, from the “greatest generation,” graduated from the school by the time the base closed in September 1944.

Flight school usually took 16 weeks, but war efforts compressed it into two. The PT-22 training planes withstood Tucson’s heat, wind, and dust storms and went through 7,200 air hours with only one partial engine failure among them.

After the school closed, the State of Arizona and TAA executed a 10-year lease (later extended to 99 years) in 1951.

Today, Ryan Airfield occupies more than 1,800 acres with a manned air traffic control tower, aircraft refueling and service facilities, lighted and paved runways, and a restaurant. More than 30 tenants ranging from aircraft maintenance shops to charter facilities, as well as 260 based aircraft, call the field home.

With operations exceeding 245,000 annually, the popular airfield has the sixth busiest contract air traffic control tower in the country.

What began as an exciting sport for a few adventurers a short century ago has transformed every aspect of our world. Aviation continues to thrill and unite us.

###

NOTE: On Saturday, March 29, from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Ryan Airfield, 9698 W. Ajo Way, the Tucson 99’s International Organization of Women Pilots are hosting a fund raiser for aviation scholarships for women. Rides are 15 cents per pound. Ticket sales are limited and will end at appx.11 a.m.