palm springs airport

Explore Palm Springs: Airport Takes Flight

Just a few months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt inks construction of the Palm Springs Airport.

Renee Brown History

palm springs airport
From 1942, Palm Springs Air Base was the home of the 21st Ferrying Command.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

On August 1, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Palm Springs Airport Bill allotting money for the construction of an airport in Palm Springs.

The Army Corps of Engineers subleased the land on the site where the Palm Springs International Airport sits today. They built runways, fuel stations, fences and running lights. The new field was named “Palm Springs Air Base,” and it was the home of the 21st Ferrying Command.

The reason for establishing the air base in Palm Springs was to provide a dispersal and deployment location for planes that were being ferried from manufacturing plants all over the U.S. to where they were needed for training or for use in combat. The airport was also used for training, aircraft maintenance, and receiving area for wounded soldiers being brought into Torney General Hospital.

There is a multitude of ways to Explore Palm Springs, which turned 75 in 2013. One of the more intriguing methods is by exploring Palm Springs history. The Palm Springs Historical Society will share a story whose time and place corresponds with today.

The Palm Springs Historical Society is located at 221 S. Palm Canyon Drive.
 Visit www.pshistoricalsociety.org for more information.