Charles Lindbergh had a prominent roll in aviation. He was proclaimed a hero after he was the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. He had been a ail courier and continued in this. This was the early t days of airmail. Clement Melville Keys started a new air service, Transcontinental Air Transport. He asked Lindbergh to help design a transcontinental network for him. This brought Lindbergh to Kingman Arizona. They had the goal of being able to fly across the United States. They wanted to fly from Los Angeles to New York in 24 hours. Lindbergh first came to Kingman June 1, 1928. This was just more than a year since he made the first transAtlantic flight. He was looking for refueling stations along the L.A. to New York route. To do so there would need to be regular ports. Kingman was chosen as a site in October of 1928. Winslow was also chosen as a site in Arizona, Clovis in New Mexico. Lindbergh and Major Thomas Lamphier visited in January of 1929 to make final arrangements. Construction began on March 10. The soils was compacted and oil was applied. Plane service through the port began on May 17 with two flights a day. Then on July 8 of 1929 the plane "City of Los Angeles" brought Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart for the official dedication. 1000 people greeted Lindbergh that day. The Kingman airport became the first dedicated airport in Arizona. Over the next 20 years, during the operation of TAT (later TWA) Lindbergh was a regular visitor to Kingman and the Beale Hotel. The only thing remaining of the airport is the terminal building which is on Bank and currently occupied by a construction company. The airway ran from about Beverly or the I-40 to Airway along Bank and to the west.
After WWII the city purchased the old Gunnery Airfield and that is where the airport is today.
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