Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review 5-20-16

High Desert Hangar Stories with Bob Alvis
Special to Aerotech News
Towns and cities always have se-
crets and when it comes to aviation
and history, and Lancaster, Calif., is
no exception.
Back in 1918, the first planes to
visit Lancaster on a regular basis
landed at Carter/Lancaster Field,
which was on the northwest corner
of present day 10th Street West and
Avenue I.
The property for the field was a
gift from one of the Antelope Val-
ley’s pioneer families, the Carters.
At first it was called Carter Field, but their early bi-planes.
by the 1930s it was known as Lan-
caster Field. Originally built on the
outskirts of town, the builders would
never imagine that before long the
sprawl of a growing Lancaster would
overrun the field with shopping cen-
ters and housing tracts.
Long time Valley resident and Pan-
cho Barnes-trained WASP pilot Irma
“Babe” Story shared many stories of
her youth in the Antelope Valley.
One of those yarns was about
Lancaster Field in the 1930s. Sitting
down with her as she told stories,
she said that her love for aviation
had her spending many hours at the
field and there arose an employment
opportunity for the young teenage
Miss Story.
Before long, “Babe” found herself
spending her time at the west end of
the field with a rifle, thinning out the
The old Carter/Lancaster Field that
was on the northwest corner of what
is now 10th Street West and Avenue
I in Lancaster. The field was originally
built on the outskirts of town, but
before long the sprawl of a growing
Lancaster would overrun the field with
shopping centers and housing tracts.
6 Aerotech News and Review
flocks of crows that were a hazard to
the pilots as they took off and landed! Courtesy photographs
On weekends, she said folks would
come up from Los Angeles and pick Boyden Avenue many years ago, for
up the new kills and take them back a period of about three weeks late at
home and cook them up to eat! After night the sound of an old bi-plane
all, it was the Depression and crow was heard buzzing the neighborhood,
meat was at least edible! but no plane or pilot was ever found
or ‘fessed up! Ghost planes Lancaster
Years went by and a handful of style!
airplanes would call Lancaster Field
home and an occasional air show/fly- History comes and goes — isn’t it
in would be held, with the citizens amazing what we can find under our
coming out to see those magnificent shoes as we walk around our cities
men in their flying machines risk and towns, with just a little research
life and limb as they impressed the and a clue here and there?
crowds with their aerobatic skills in
So next time you find yourself at
Denny’s on Avenue I in Lancaster or
Like all good things, time and in a long line at the Lancaster DMV,
development finally caught up with look north across the street and imag-
Lancaster Field. ine the scene you see here in these
pictures looking back at you! Oh, and
Old-timers tell us that air operations don’t forget to impress the locals and
came to a close sometime between your waitress with your story about
1949 and 1952. But the story and the the Airport that is now a shopping
field did not really disappear, for when center and a housing tract!
the developers laid out the new hous-
ing tract, those nice smooth runways Till next time, Bob out!
were custom-made for streets! So
those interesting street layouts north
of Avenue I are really the original run-
ways from Lancaster Airport!
As a matter of fact my bosses Paul
and Lisa here at Aerotech lived on In-
dian Sage Road for a time, which was
the southeast to northwest runway!
How fitting that they published
Aerotech for a number of years from
their home office on Indian Sage!
Old-timers also shared that on
May 20, 2016
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