Wagons in vintage Street scenes

Belfast, Maine 1953 the wood on that Ford didn’t hold up very well

 

White River Junction, Vermont

 

Sanford Airport — Sanford, Maine

These photographs show the old Sanford Airport control tower and administration building, back when this was a very different kind of airport.

Sanford Airport got its start in the 1930s as an airfield built with connections to the Sanford Mills interests. The Works Progress Administration later helped improve the field, and by the early 1940s it had become an increasingly important local airport.

World War II changed everything.

The U.S. Navy leased the airport in 1942, expanded the field and added paved runways, barracks and other facilities. On April 15, 1943, it was commissioned as Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Sanford, an auxiliary of Naval Air Station Brunswick.

The Navy used Sanford for training and operational support during the war. The field was used for aircraft training, including carrier-landing practice, and Corsair aircraft were among those used in the training. Sanford also supported a fighter squadron and a torpedo squadron, and the Navy operated radio-controlled drone training from the field. (NPGallery)

There is also a great story associated with the field that I’ve heard over the years: the Navy painted the outline of an aircraft carrier on the pavement so baby pilots could practice making carrier approaches and landings on a simulated flight deck. Whether every detail of the painted-carrier story can still be documented, the purpose fits what we know about the Navy’s use of Sanford for carrier-landing training.

The Navy’s wartime presence didn’t last forever. After World War II, the field went into caretaker status, although the Navy continued to maintain a presence there for years. Sanford was one of several auxiliary naval air facilities supporting Brunswick during the war. (NPGallery)

The building in these photographs eventually became one of the last surviving structures from the Navy era. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but years of deterioration took their toll. The old control tower and administration building was ultimately demolished in 2006–2007, with the tower considered a hazard to aviation. (Wikipedia)

The airport itself, however, survived and remains Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport today.

And Sanford’s aviation history didn’t end with the Navy. Decades later, the airport became well known for another reason: the Bush family used Sanford when traveling to Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport. Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush flew into Sanford, and Air Force One used the airport during presidential visits to Maine. (The Portland Press Herald)

So these old photographs show much more than an old airport building. This was once a World War II Navy auxiliary field where young naval aviators practiced the skills they would need to land on aircraft carriers, and later it became the airport used by presidents visiting the Bush family compound.

The tower is gone now, but the airport is still there.

Photos: Compliments of the Sanford-Springvale Historical Society.

References: National Register of Historic Places; National Park Service; U.S. Navy historical records; Portland Press Herald; Sanford Seacoast Regional Airport history.

 

Pittsfield New Hampshire