In 1941, Walter Douglas purchased 175 acres of land near the Casa Grande highway and Romero Rd. Douglas, the former head of the Southern Pacific of Mexico, was the father of Walter Douglas Jr.
The new airport was to house the headquarters of the G. and G. Airlines Company. The younger Douglas was the president of that company which had been founded by Charles W. Gilpin and Isabella Greenway.
The new airfield was called Gilpin Air Field. It was quickly put to use training pilots for the war effort. In 1956, the airport was sold for $300,000. It closed as an airport in 1957, although, limited operations continued there.
In 1958, Arthur N. Pack purchased 100 acres of the old Gilpin Airport land to build a new flying facility. The new airport would be called Freeway Airport. He planned on building new facilities and moving the landing strip slightly.
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File photo
The Freeway Airport in 1966
This aerial shot was taken in 1966. It shows the airport with the freeway in the background and Prince and Romero Roads in the foreground.
When the photo was taken, a news article described the facilities. The airport had a 4500 by 100-foot paved runway (12-30) with an 80-foot-wide parallel blacktop taxiway running the length of the runway.
The runway was lit from dusk to dawn with new-type yellow fluorescent lights. They made it easier to distinguish from the well-lighted intersection of Prince Road and the Freeway.
Hangar space was limited, although 20 new hangars were planned. There were 42 front-row tie downs with a total of 115 spaces adjacent to the runway.
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