Civil Use
In 1954 the Ford Motor Company acquired the airport facility and began using the runways for automobile testing. Ford eventually built an extensive automotive proving ground surrounding the airfield.
As of 2002, the airfield itself was still operated by Ford as a private airfield, known as the Arizona Proving Ground Airport. Ford also continued to use some of the original military facilities, including the control tower, runways, taxiways, parking aprons, however all of the original military buildings (except for the control tower) had been removed. The Yucca airfield was evidently closed by Ford at some point between 2002-2006.
In 2007 airfield was sold to Chrysler which now operates the Chrysler Proving Grounds on this location. Harley-Davidson Motor Company has entered into an agreement to use the vehicle test facility to test their motorcycles. Harley-Davidson currently occupies several buildings at the test facility, including at least one they custom built.
The USAAF technical site is now being used by buildings as part of the proving ground. No wartime structures are evident in aerial photos of the facility, nor is any of the wartime containment area. The wartime runways and taxiways are also nonexistent, the only remaining part being the concreted ramp area which is still used.
Read more about this topic: Yucca Army Airfield
Famous quotes containing the word civil:
“What I fear is being in the presence of evil and doing nothing. I fear that more than death.”
—Otilia De Koster, Panamanian civil rights monitor. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 15 (December 19, 1988)
“I’ve never been afraid to step out and to reach out and to move out in order to make things happen.”
—Victoria Gray, African American civil rights activist. As quoted in This Little Light of Mine, ch. 3, by Hay Mills (1993)