Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
California: Bakersfield Area
© 2002, © 2009 by Paul Freeman. Revised 7/8/09.
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Gardner Army Airfield / Gardner Airport, Taft, CA
35.11 North / 119.3 West (Northwest of Los Angeles, CA)
A January 20, 1942 Army Air Forces aerial view (from the National Archives, via Brian Rehwinkel) of Gardner AAF.
This former WW2-era Army Airfield was authorized in 1940 & was active by 1941.
According to the "Bee Tee", a publication by the Aviation Cadets of Class 42-D,
Gardner Field, Volume 1, #1, February, 1942 (courtesy of Pat Thomas),
the first commander of the field was Major K. C. McGregor.
According to a historical plaque at the site,
Gardner Field consisted of a total of 985 acres,
and was named in honor of Major John Gardner.
Gardner Field was officially dedicated on October 26, 1941 with a gala affair attended by more than 10,000 people.
Fifty eager cadets comprised the first class (41-H) to arrive at Gardner.
What a surprise awaited them - no quarters, no field, no planes.
After an anxious week of anticipation, planes began roaring in.
Tents provided the initial accommodations.
Eventually, with 2,000 Air Corps personnel in residence,
the base had its own hospital, 40-acre sewage plant, 9 administration buildings,
4 mess halls, supply rooms, officers' quarters, a guardhouse, a chapel, 37 barracks and a landing field.
There was even a swimming pool paid for by Hollywood celebrities such as Joel McCrea,
who enjoyed driving up to Taft & hanging out with the hotshot pilots.
Swimming star Johnny Weissmuller enlivened the pool's dedication with his Tarzan jungle call.
It was an event that not only remolded Taft's economy for the duration of the war -
it also permanently altered the town's social fabric.
The earliest photo which has been located of Gardner Field
was a January 20, 1942 Army Air Forces aerial view (from the National Archives, via Brian Rehwinkel).
It depicted the field as having 3 paved runways,
paved taxiways, a large concrete ramp, 2 hangars,
and a large number of temporary buildings on the southwest side of the installation.
Interestingly, the photo depicted 17 large earthen aircraft parking revetments on the east & north sides of the airfield,
along with a much larger number of smaller revetments on the north & southwest sides of the field.
Brian Rehwinkel observed of the revetments, “I am guessing these were hastily constructed after Pear Harbor.
Especially given the fact the photo was taken less than 2 months after the attack.
I don’t know for sure, but I am guessing that because this was a west coast field (even a training field)
the revetments were built as a reaction to the fear of attack.
I noticed that only a couple off planes were actually using the revetments,
so I wonder if this was an example of following orders -
even though the base commander really didn’t expect to be attacked.”
A closeup of the January 20, 1942 Army Air Forces aerial view (from the National Archives, via Brian Rehwinkel),
showing 2 aircraft parked within the revetments on the north side of Gardner AAF.
A closeup of the January 20, 1942 Army Air Forces aerial view (from the National Archives, via Brian Rehwinkel)
showing over 60 single-engine aircraft on the Gardner ramp.
A closeup of the January 20, 1942 Army Air Forces aerial view (from the National Archives, via Brian Rehwinkel),
showing 3 aircraft making a formation takeoff along with a 4th aircraft somewhat behind them.
Rows of Vultee BT-13 trainers at Gardner, from the back cover of the February 1942 Gardner "BeeTee"
(courtesy of Pat Thomas, whose father, Howard R. McCullough, was a flight instructor during WW2).
Mark Milliken reported, “One friend was born & raised in Taft, and his father worked as an aircraft mechanic at Gardner Field.
One night, the father came home & reported that 12 B-25s had landed at Gardner.
They were to remove & replace all wiring throughout each aircraft, for what reason he had no idea. Everything was hush-hush.
After the Doolittle raid [April 18, 1942], his father was sure those planes were the same B-25s that had the electrical overhauls at Gardner field.
He said the overhauls were done to ensure against sabotage.”
A 1942 photo of Chuck Yeager in front of a BT-13A during his primary training at Gardner Field.
Former aircraft mechanic Yeager arrived at Gardner in July 1942 after being enrolled in pilot training in Hemet,
where he reported experiencing "queasiness" the first couple of times he went up.
As an airfield, Taft Auxiliary #2 was initially used.
The Post Headquarters building was the first to be completed at Gardner Field.
There were 2 flights within Class 41-H, "K" & "T".
In the "K" Flight, there were no washouts & no serious damage was done to any ships used by that flight.
They flew off an auxiliary field, itself hardly completed.
An ambulance always stood by for emergencies.
Gardner operated BT-13 & PT-17 aircraft for primary training.
An undated (WW2 era) photo of rows of cadets in front of buildings at Gardner Field.
Gardner AAF & its satellite airfields, as depicted on the 1944 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss).
During WW2 Gardner AAF was served by a total of five satellite airfields:
Parker Aux #1 (6 miles southeast of Gardner AAF),
Taft-Kern County Aux #2 (a mere 2 miles northwest of Gardner AAF),
Allen Aux #3 (16 miles southeast of Gardner AAF),
Maricopa-Kern (7 miles southwest of Gardner AAF),
and Kern (11 miles southeast of Gardner AAF).
[The area around Gardner is very agricultural in use,
and as a result no trace remains of any of these former satellite airfields at the present-day].
A 2003 Army Corps of Engineers map of the WW2 property boundary of Gardner AAF (in green),
along with its small arms range (in brown).
The original configuration of the airfield at Gardner is unknown,
but it was depicted on the 1945 Mojave Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Dan MacPherson)
with the symbol indicating that its longest runway was between 5,500-6,500'.
The 37th & last class at Gardner graduated in January 1945,
by which point the base had trained a total of 3,050 soldiers & 8,916 cadets .
Twenty-six cadets died in training flights, as did 11 of the training officers sharing cockpits with them.
Still, the number of crashes in relation to the hours flown out of Gardner Field was low.
Gardner Army Airfield was still depicted as an active military airfield (along with all of its auxiliary airfields)
on the August 1945 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Gradually, the planes left, the buildings were removed,
and Gardner AAF was evidently closed at some point in 1945.
Ken Reightler recalled, “In 1947-48 I used what was left of Gardner Field for' touch & go's'
while in Taft's GI Bill Training & in my privately owned L-3 Aeronca.
I landed near a farm house & used their wind vane for wind direction.
I do not remember any buildings or other use of what was left of the concrete at Gardner.”
Gardner was evidently reused as a civilian airport at some point between 1945-49,
as that is how "Gardner" was depicted on the 1949 Mount Whitney Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It was depicted as having a 6,000' hard-surface runway.
According to K.O. Eckland, as of 1950 the airfield at Gardner consisted of a 6,000' northwest/southeast paved runway.
The Gardner Airport evidently closed at some point between 1949-52,
as it was no longer depicted as an airfield of any kind on the 1952 L.A. Sectional Chart (according to Allan Greene).
A November 1970 aerial view by K.O. Eckland taken while turning on final for Gardner's massive ramp.
A November 1970 photo by K.O. Eckland of his Aeronca L-16B at Gardner.
Eckland recalled, “I was the last plane to land there, as it was being bulldozed at the time,
the [ramp] weedy & cracked but still usable if one tip-toed in with a ready hand on the throttle.”
A November 1970 photo by K.O. Eckland of Ed Cruger standing on the star which remained at the site of the administration building.
Eckland observed, “Sadly no one there was interested in preserving it as a gravemarker - cotton was more important.”
By the time of the 1994 USGS aerial photo,
the location of the airfield had been taken over for farming.
The largest remaining recognizable element of the airfield
was an 1,800' concrete & asphalt ramp area.
The former runways had apparently been removed,
with their outlines only barely recognizable in the surrounding agricultural fields.
As seen in a circa 2000 aerial photo,
the location of the airfield had been taken over for farming.
The largest remaining recognizable element of the airfield
was the 1,800' concrete & asphalt ramp area,
which runs diagonally NW/SE in the center of the photo.
The shape of 2 of the former runways may be barely discerned just east of the ramp area
as slightly darker than the surrounding field,
one running NW/SE, parallel to the ramp area,
and a longer one (at least 3,600' long) running north/south.
A 2005 photo by Keith Wood of the possible ruins of former airfield buildings at the site of Gardner AAF.
Keith reported, “The only possible remnant is the ruin of a warehouse & loading docks which MAY be related.
It is just south of the road which I believe to have run along the perimeter.”
A 2005 photo by Keith Wood of a monument to Gardner AAF,
located at the site of the base's former entrance, at the intersection of Cadet & Basic School Roads.
A 2005 photo by Keith Wood of the plaque on the monument at the site of Gardner AAF.
Jim reported in 2005 of the site of Gardner AAF: “I walked around the ramp & remains.
I was able to identify 2 hangar foundations, complete with door tracks.
The foundations & concrete ramp have held together, but areas have sunken into the unstable soil.
I was able to locate tie-downs outside the hangars.
The remains of a warehouse with 2 sidings is located southeast of the hangars.
The Taft Oil Museum is supposed to have wartime photos of the base.”
Thanks to Mel Shettle for pointing out this airfield.
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