Falcon Field And The Aircraft Industry

Virtually every city has some sort of industrial infrastructure, and it is generally confined to a specific neighborhood. Some cities are the premier suppliers of drop through valves while others focus more on steel smelting or oil refinement. Mesa, Arizona's specialty subset of the manufacturing industry is aerospace and the neighborhood it is confined to is known as Falcon Field. To help you learn more about the aerospace industry and how it affects the community of Mesa, we've created this article on Falcon Field and the aircraft industry that is based there.

The Origins of Falcon Field

Long before the advent of multi-level marketing and therefore before such notions as MLM leads became a priority, Falcon Field was used by Southwest Airways, an airline founded before the Second World War. During the war, the airfield became one of six British Flying Training Schools in the United States where British pilots could learn to fly without the looming threat of Nazi incursions. From September 1941 until the end of the war, thousands of cadets cut their chops on Stearman biplanes and Harvard trainers. At the end of the war, the city bought the now-defunct airfield for a single dollar.

Falcon Field and the Beginning of the Aircraft Industry

From 1945 to 1965 the city of Mesa leased out portions of Falcon Field to industrial companies who were looking for airfield space in which to conduct aerospace manufacturing and development. This period saw sheaf after sheaf of design documents and prototypes from such companies as Talley Defense Systems, Astro Rocket Incorporated, Rocket Power Inc. and the Gabriel Company, who all maintained the airfield's military ties through contracts with the department of defense. Projects worked on at this time included rocketry, missile defense, and new aircraft.

Current Aerospace Operations at Falcon Field

After this period, with Mesa quickly developing into a destination for the nouveaux riche, there arose a need for a working civilian airfield. Falcon Field fit the bill, so today it handles a variety of civilian aircrafts from commuter jets to the overflow from Phoenix Sky Harbor International. A good deal of aerospace manufacturing and research still goes on at the nearby industrial park complex as well, which includes almost everything apart from a woodworking machinery supplier. Companies with operations at Falcon Field today include: Boeing, Falcon Executive Aviation, Lockheed-Martin, and Marsh Aviation.

Facilities at Falcon Field

If you're considering opening a flight school or an aerospace company with a headquarters at Falcon Field, you might be interested to know what facilities are available there. The elevation of the field is 1,394 ft and the terrain is flat and open, rarely subject to any sort of severe weather or cloud cover that would result in reduced visibility. There are two parallel runways, both angled at 22 degrees, one 3,800 ft in length and the other 5,100 ft, both paved in asphalt. There are also 2 helipads 60 ft in diameter paved in asphalt. There are currently 988 aircraft based there, and the field was never a storage facility for nuclear weapons, so there will be no need for radiation shielding.