South Valley Regional Airport is a public

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located in

West Jordan West Jordan is a city in Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is a suburb of Salt Lake City and has a mixed economy. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 116,961, placing it as the third most populous in the state. ...

, southwest of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, United States. Established as a Utah World War II army airfield, it is the primary

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airport in the area and is a

Utah Army National Guard The Utah National Guard comprises both Army and Air National Guard components. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. The National Guard is the only United States milita ...

training base with

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño a ...

and Blackhawk helicopters. Leading Edge Aviation is the single

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instructio ...

(FBO) onsite; the FBO and Alta Aircraft Maintenance operate maintenance facilities, and the FBO and Utah Helicopter Flight Academy operate flight schools. South Valley Regional Airport aerial

History

On 10 February 1942, the United States district engineer (Colonel E. G. Thomas) recommended a "5,450-acre dry farming area in Kearns" for an inland Army training site. For one of "the eight new technical training installations rushed into operation" during 1942–3, a Kearns, Utah "plot of 1,405 acres was purchased". The Kearns Center military unit was activated (designated) 1 May 1942, and "a contract for a theater of operations cantonment was let" on 16 June 1942. "Basic Training Center No. 5" began operations on 17 July and opened on 20 July under Training Command. A "

Denver and Rio Grande Western The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from ...

" spur was built to the installation's railroad station, and by 21 August all barracks were complete. "Upon completion of their basic training most of the pre-aviation cadets eresent to one of the many college operated light schoolsunder the supervision of the Army Air , known as the

Civilian Pilot Training Program The Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) was a flight training program (1938–1944) sponsored by the United States government with the stated purpose of increasing the number of civilian pilots, though having a clear impact on military prepare ...

. The

510th Training Group 51 may refer to: * 51 (number) * The year ** 51 BC ** AD 51 ** 1951 ** 2051 * ''51'' (film), a 2011 American horror film directed by Jason Connery * "Fifty-One "Fifty-One" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the American television cri ...

and three technical school squadrons (1032d, 1033d, and 1034th) were assigned to Kearns on 10 September 1942, and Kearns' commander, Colonel Leo F. Post, arrived by September 12. Construction was completed in October 1942 and Kearns' "basic military training and technical training" continued until 30 September 1943.

Kearns Army Air Field

Kearns Army Air Field was the flight facility constructed on the larger base and was used by 9

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models ...

bombardment groups – 459th, 460th, 455th, 456th, 465th, 466th, 467th, 458th and from Gowen Field, 461st, formed 31 August17 October 1943. The base transferred to

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defende ...

on 1 October 1943, and the bomb groups all were reassigned by the end of 1943 (e.g., the 461st to

Wendover Field Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

).Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . In January 1944, Kearns AAF began performing personnel replacement training, rather than group training. In April, ground echelon training for B-24 support personnel was ended.

Camp Kearns

In April 1944, "Camp Kearns" was returned to the Western Technical Training Command when the WTTC's

Fort Logan Fort Logan was a military installation located eight miles southwest of Denver, Colorado. It was established in October 1887, when the first soldiers camped on the land, and lasted until 1946, when it was closed following the end of World War ...

in Colorado transferred to the

Air Service Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

. On 1 July 1944 Camp Kearns transferred to AAF Personnel Distribution Command. A theater for "colored personnel" became part of Kearns Junior High School. A base chapel is now part of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church. The base train station is a day-care center. A cannon that had stood next to the headquarters' flagpole stood for many years at the corner of 40th West and 54th South. The World War I-era cannon and flagpole from the old Camp Kearns military base have been relocated to the Kearns township recreation center. They are now part of the new Kearns Veterans Memorial Plaza, dedicated 10 November 2012.

Army Air Base, Kearns

Redesignated Army Air Base, Kearns on 1 October 1944 when transferred to the

, command of the base transferred from Converse R. Lewis to Colonel Walter F. Siegmund. Both the "Overseas Replacement Depot, Kearns, Utah" and " Salt Lake City Army Air Field under command jurisdiction of Kearns ORD" transferred to

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

on 21 March 1946. Kearns ORD and SLC AAFld (along with North Carolina's Greensboro ORD and the Greensboro-High Point Army Airfield)transferred to AAFTC on 30 April and Kearns finally transferred to

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inac ...

(31 July). The base (including Kearns AAF) was inactivated on 15 August 1946 and transferred to the

War Assets Administration The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive O ...

for disposal. The War Assets Administration declared Kearns surplus on 24 January 1947, and the high bid by Standard Surplus was opened in July 1948 for the installation with only 100 remaining buildings. A "Camp Kearns Memorial" was emplaced at the Arlo D. James Kearns Veterans Memorial Park (later moved to ).

Since World War II

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, control of the airport was turned over to Salt Lake City and it was renamed Salt Lake City Municipal Airport II. On 10 February 2009, the Salt Lake City Council voted to change the airport's name to South Valley Regional Airport. The council made the change in order to more clearly describe the location and function of the airport and because the traditional name of "Airport II" had "no historical significance."

References

External links

South Valley Regional Airport
(on Salt Lake City International Airport's website) {{USAAF Training Bases World War II 1943 establishments in Utah Airports established in 1943 Airports in Utah Transportation in Salt Lake County, Utah Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Utah Buildings and structures in West Jordan, Utah