page_title: Kingman Airport (Arizona)
section_title: World War II aircraft disposal
hierarchical_section_title: Kingman Airport (Arizona) / History / World War II aircraft disposal
caption_attribution_description: English: Kingman Army Airfield - 1946 Aircraft Storage Depot.
context_page_description: Kingman Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport located 9 miles northeast of the central business district of Kingman, a city in Mohave County, Arizona, United States.
  As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 897 passenger boardings in calendar year 2010, 878 in 2011, and 924 in 2012. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2013–2017 categorized it as a general aviation facility.
context_section_description: After the war the Reconstruction Finance Corporation established five large storage, sales and scrapping centers for Army Air Forces aircraft. These were located at Albuquerque AAF, New Mexico, Altus AAF, Oklahoma, Kingman, Arizona, Ontario AAF, California and Walnut Ridge AAF, Arkansas. A sixth facility for storing, selling and scrapping Navy and Marine aircraft was located at Clinton, Oklahoma.
  Estimates of the number of excess surplus airplanes ran as high as 150,000. Consideration was given to storing a substantial number of these. By the summer of 1945, at least 30 sales-storage depots and 23 sales centers were in operation. In November 1945, it was estimated a total of 117,210 aircraft would be transferred as surplus.
  Between 1945 and June 1947, the RFC, War Assets Corporation and the War Assets Administration (disposal function of the RFC was transferred to WAC on January 15, 1946, and to the WAA in March 1946) processed approximately 61,600 World War II aircraft, of which 34,700 were sold for flyable purposes and 26,900, primarily combat types, were sold for scrapping.
  War Assets Administration came to Kingman AAF to set up Sales & Storage Depot No. 41. Depot 41 was to sell off the base buildings and equipment. Not only that, it would store aircraft from the Army Air Force. Some reports estimated that approximately 10,000 warbirds were flown to Kingman in 1945 and 1946 for storage and sale, but official records indicate that number ended up being closer to 5,500. 38 of the 118 B-32 Dominator Very Heavy (VH) bombers, built by Convair at Fort Worth, Texas, were flown there, including several straight from the assembly line. Five of Kingman's B-32s had participated in the 312th Bombardment Group's overseas activities in the closing days of World War II.
  Most of the transports and trainers could be used in the civil fleet, and trainers were sold for $875 to $2,400. The fighters and bombers were of little peacetime use, although several P-38 Lightnings were sold to individuals for use in air racing. Typical prices for surplus aircraft were:
  BT-13 - $450
  P-38 - $1,250
  AT-6 - $1,500
  A-26 - $2,000
  P-51 - $3,500
  B-25 - $8,250
  B-17 - $13,750
  B-24 - $13,750
  B-32 - not available for sale. Milton Reynolds, of the Reynolds Pen Company, wanted to purchase a Kingman Dominator for one of his record-setting publicity stunts, but he was not allowed to buy one as all 38 were destroyed.
  Many aircraft from the various War Assets locations were transferred to schools, and to communities for memorial use for a minimal fee. A Boy Scout troop bought a B-17 for $350. The only B-17 known to have made it out of Kingman was B-17D #40-3097 named The Swoose, which is currently (as of 2015) under restoration at the U.S. Air Force Museum's Dayton Ohio facility.
  General sales were conducted from these centers across the U.S.; however, the idea for long-term storage, considering the approximate cost of $20 per month per aircraft, was soon discarded, and in June 1946, the remaining aircraft, except those at Altus, were put up for scrap bid.
  After the Sales-Storage No. Depot 41 completed its job in late 1948, the airfield was turned over to Mohave County to be used as an airport for the county.
caption: Acres of World War II aircraft in storage, awaiting their fate at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, 1946
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