Upcoming Events
- Remembering Our Fallen - Memorial Exhibit
February 11, 2012 - February 19, 2012
- DMS Events - Barrel Racing/Gymkhana
February 11, 2012
- Arizona Statehood Centennial Celebration
February 11, 2012
- Arizon's Centennial Celebrations
February 14, 2012
- Special Valentine's Day Dinner
February 14, 2012
| Kingman Army Airfield Museum |
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Information
Thirty six thousand gunners trained at the Kingman Army Airfield during World War II. In 1943, the facility was officially named the Kingman Army Air Field. On January 2,1944, a B17 disintegrated in bad weather. Of the thirteen men killed in the resulting crash, eleven were from Kingman. Four days later, a bus loaded with gunnery students bound for the base, crossed the railroad tracks just north of the entrance. The driver did not see the oncoming train. Train and bus collided, and twenty-eight students died. In 1946 the training base became Storage Depot 41. The intent was to render thousands of airplanes down to aluminum ingots. Kingman was one of five sites chosen for the task. The job was finished by 1948. Seventy million pounds of aluminum from seven thousand airplanes were shipped out of Kingman. A relatively few of the airplanes escaped destruction, and some are still flying today. Others rest in the museum to be viewed by people who do not remember, or who do not understand the meaning of what they are seeing. In July 1948, the Military released the base for civilian use, and it became a property of Mohave County.
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