Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Southeastern Idaho
© 2002, © 2004 by Paul Freeman. Revised 11/3/04.
Hayfield Airport (added 11/3/04) - Pocatello Municipal Airport / McDougall Field (revised 7/11/04)
University Field / Ham's Field (revised 7/25/04)
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42.93 North / 112.45 West (North of Pocatello, UT)
Hayfield Airport, as depicted on the November 1948 Pocatello Sectional chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Photo of the airport while open has not been located.
According to Robert Pearson, "Hayfield Airport was built in the late 1930's."
However, the airport's opening may have been somewhat later (or it may have been just overlooked for a while),
as it was not listed in several airport references from the late 1930s-1940s,
including the Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airport Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo),
the April 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer),
and the February 1945 Pocatello Sectional chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The earliest depiction of Hayfield which has been located
was on the November 1948 Pocatello Sectional chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted Hayfield as a commercial or municipal airport.
According to Robert Pearson, "The turf runway was about 2000' long & ran north/south.
The people who I met at the site told me that the field's owner had trained many returning GIs how to fly using the GI bill.
A private VFR license cost $150 in the late 1940s."
According to Robert Pearson, "Hayfield Airport shut down in 1952 when the Pocatello Airbase became the city airport.
As seen in the 1992 USGS aerial photo, the remaining hangar from Hayfield is just to the left of the center of the photo,
with a circular crop field having been built over the area of the former runway.
Not a trace remains of the former runway.
Robert Pearson visited the site of Hayfield in 2004.
He reported, "The runway was just to the east of the hangar in the wheat field.
No trace of the runway is visible.
A parking pad is on the hangar's south side."
An October 2004 photo by Robert Pearson of the rear of the former Hayfield hangar.
An October 2004 photo by Robert Pearson of the front of the former Hayfield hangar.
The site of Hayfield is located at the northeastern terminus of Buffalo Road,
on the eastern side of the Fort Hall Main Canal.
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University Field / Ham's Field, Pocatello, ID
42.87 North / 112.43 West (North of Salt Lake City, UT)
University Field, as depicted on the February 1945 Pocatello Sectional chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Ham's Field was located on the ground of Idaho State University in Pocatello.
According to Robert Pearson, the school has operated a large vocational school since the 1920's
and has had an aviation division that teaches airframe mechanics since the 1930's.
The aviation school used a turf landing strip that was just northeast of the campus.
Although Ham's Field was not a general aviation airport
it did serve as an air ambulance airport for the adjacent Bannock Memorial Hospital.
The date of construction of Ham's Field has not been determined.
It was not yet listed in The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo).
The earliest reference to the field which has been located
was in the Airport Directory Company's 1941 Airport Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It described University Field as having 3 sod runways, with the longest being the 3,000' north/south strip.
The field was said to have a hangar & emergency fuel.
The April 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer)
described "University (Ham's Field)" as having a 3,500' unpaved runway.
A 1947 photo of Ham's Field (from an ID State College yearbook, via Robert Pearson),
showing the hangar to the right & the turf runway extending away to the top-left.
University was still depicted as an auxiliary airfield on the November 1948 Pocatello Sectional chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
University Field was evidently closed at some point between 1948-54,
as it was no longer depicted at all on the October 1954 Pocatello Sectional chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
According to Robert Pearson, the University's aviation school relocated to the Pocatello Regional Airport,
using Hangar #4 from the its old Army Airfield days.
Ham's Field was still depicted on a location map in the 1964 ID Aviation Facilities Directory (courtesy of Robert Pearson),
even though the airfield had apparently already been closed for a decade at that point.
The 1992 USGS aerial photo, overlaid by Robert Pearson with the outline of the former University Field runway.
A large field house has been built over the site of the former runway.
However, a former hangar remains standing at the site.
A July 2003 photo by Robert Pearson of the former University Field hangar which remains standing.
The site of Ham's Field is located east of the intersection of Memorial Drive & East Bonneville Street.
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Pocatello Municipal Airport / McDougall Field, Pocatello, ID
42.91 North / 112.54 West (North of Salt Lake City, UT)
The Pocatello Airport, as depicted on a 1930 road map (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The original commercial airport for the town of Pocatello was located less than two miles east-southeast
of what would later become the current Pocatello Regional Airport.
According to Robert Pearson, McDougall Field was built in 1928
on a location that was already informally used as an airport.
It was named after Harry Owens McDougall, a WW1 ace who died in an airshow in Pocatello.
A 1930 road map (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
described the Pocatello Airport as consisting of a 5,000' x 2,640' rectangular landing area.
An aerial view looking southeast at the "Pocatello Municipal Airport",
from The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo).
It was described as having a sod landing area, measuring 3,500' x 2,700'.
The Pocatello office of the National Weather Service
was located at "Pocatello Municipal Airport, McDougall Field" from 1938-49.
An aerial view looking south at the "Pocatello Municipal Airport",
from The Airport Directory Company's 1941 Airports Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The field had gained a paved runway at some point between 1937-41,
as it was described as having a 4,300' asphalt east/west runway & a 3,400' "gravelled" north/south runway.
The runways at Pocatello were further lengthened by 1944,
as the 1944 US Army/Navy Directory of Airfields (courtesy of Ken Mercer)
described Pocatello Airport as having a 5,400' hard-surface runway.
It also indicated that Army & Navy operations were conducted from the field.
An undated photo of the McDougall terminal building while under construction, courtesy of Robert Pearson.
An undated photo of a Boeing 247 in front of the McDougall terminal building, courtesy of Robert Pearson.
A 1947 aerial view of McDougall Field, courtesy of Robert Pearson.
Robert Pearson recalled, "I became interested in old airports as a child growing up in Pocatello, ID.
I can remember the McDougall terminal building from that period.
It had a restaurant & small lobby on the first floor & a control tower was the second floor.
There were three hangars to the east of the terminal.
The restaurant was called The Pilot House;
they are still in business but not at the airport anymore.
There is a concrete pad behind the terminal where the airliners parked."
Robert Pearson found book which described McDougall Field,
"From Jennies to Jets: The History of Aviation in the Pocatello Area" by Kathy Albano.
"The book from the library refers to lengthening the main runway for the bigger planes, probably DC-3s."
Pocatello Municipal Airport, as depicted on the November 1948 Pocatello Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
At its height, the airport consisted of three paved runways (each with parallel taxiways):
5,400' Runway 6/24, 4,200' Runway 11/29, and 3,960' Runway 18/36.
According to Robert Pearson, McDougall Field was closed in 1952 when the much larger Pocatello Army Airfield
was closed by the military & obtained by the City of Pocatello to be used as a commercial airport.
At some point after its closure, Interstate 86 was built right through the center of the former airfield.
The northern portion of the north/south & northwest/southeast runways were broken up & the land returned to farming.
The western half of the east/west runway was the only runway portion to remain.
Robert Pearson recalled in 2003, "The airport was used as a drag strip for several years
but about 10 years age that operation was shut down when FMC (big factory just to the south) bought the property."
Drag racing historian Bret Kepner recalled in 2003,
"It was operated as Intermountain Dragway and hosted several large events in its life span.
At the time it was purchased, it was in such poor condition it wouldn't have been around much longer, anyway...
extremely rough deteriorating surface."
The 1992 USGS aerial photo, in which the outlines of the former runways are still barely apparent.
The 1992 USGS aerial photo, overlaid by Robert Pearson with the outline of the former McDougall Airport.
In the photo, slightly more than half of the former east/west runway still existed,
whereas Interstate 86 covers the eastern portion of the runway.
The "ghosted" outline of the other two runways were still barely recognizable in the fields north of the Interstate.
The foundations of several hangars were still perceptible as well.
A 2002 photo by Robert Pearson of the remains of the east/west runway of McDougall Airport.
A 2002 photo by Robert Pearson of the remains of the terminal building at McDougall Airport.
Robert Pearson visited the site of the former McDougall Field in 2002.
"I walked the entire field up to the interstate highway & the far eastern end in the intersection of the highway.
I found the far edge so I'm sure that is the runway end."
Brandon Williams reported in 2006, “The field has changed somewhat, deteriorating over the last 4 years.
I walked almost the full length of the remaining portion of the runway.”
He noted the remains of “taxiways, the runway,
debris which might have once been part of the terminal (including some stall doors & a toilet)
and the overgrown pavement & remnants of the former drag strip as well.”
The site of McDougall Field is located south of Interstate 86, west of its intersection with Route 30.
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