Abandoned Places, Blythe, California

Morton Air Academy (Byron Airport)
Abandoned since the late 50s. The property is now privately owned since the 80s and looks that way. The property is pretty beat up with broken windows but has barbed wire fences that surround the property.

History:
Opened on 29 June 1942. Known as Blythe Field and Gary Field. Began training United States Army Air Corps flying cadets under contract to Morton Air Academy. Assigned to United States Army Air Forces West Coast Training Center (later Western Flying Training Command) as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. Had three 2,100' active hard-surfaced runways and three local axillary airfields for emergency and overflow landings. Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer. Also had several PT-17 Stearmans assigned.

Inactivated on 4 August 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. Declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 30 September 1945. Eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA), and the facilities of the former airport were reused by Palo Verde Community College. The college opened at the site on September 15, 1947 and it was at this point that any aviation use of the airfield presumably ended. [read more]

Date: 01.29.2012
Temp: 63°
Elevation: 272 ft
DD (decimal degrees)*
Latitude: 33.67976
Longitude: -114.63911

Historic Content:
wikipedia, airfields-freeman