Can anyone give me any info on the Red Butte Az. strip. I am planning on going to Sedona in a week or so and would like to check it out.

Thanks Gary

Hi Gary,

I am not sure where "Red Butte" is by name? but if you could point a clue or two I have probably been there. Or maybe you meant Red Creek?
I am currently pretty busy spraying in Yuma, but am usually free on sundays, either way give me a holler when you get down this way, maybe we will be caught up?

Take care, Rob

Hi Rob
You can google it, red butte arizona airstrip That will bring up some other strips in the area also. Some around Ash Fork. It is up towards the Grand Canyon. The coordinates are 35.85 and 112.1. Uncharted. A fellow had some pictures on here a week or so ago, but I don't know how long ago they were taken. Looked like a pretty cool spot. I would like to check it out


I am planning on coming down to SEZ for a few days, maybe you can show me around a little. I'll have my 180.

Have a good evening Gary

Red Butte Airport / Grand Canyon Airport, Tusayan, AZ

35.85 North / 112.1 West (South of Grand Canyon, AZ)



In 1927, former WW1 Army flyer, entrepreneur & promoter Parker Van Zandt

created a runway across a northern Arizona meadow at a place called Red Butte,

built a hangar, and launched the first commercial air tours over the nearby Grand Canyon.

His Scenic Airways was bankrolled by some of the biggest names in American business (such as Henry Ford).

Its first flights carried National Park Service & Fred Harvey Company officials

over the Canyon in a Stinson Detroiter.



Scenic Airways flew its first paying sightseers over the Grand Canyon in April 1928,

a month later bringing online the first of more than a dozen AT-4 & AT-5 Tri-Motors

purchased from the Ford Motor Company.

In addition to a large hangar at Red Butte, 4 cottages & a Great House were built.

The Great House was of the same quality as the El Tovar Lodge.



The Standard Oil Company's 1929 "Airplane Landing Fields of the Pacific West" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

described the Grand Canyon Airport as being operated by Scenic Airways.

The airfield was said to measure 9,250' x 3,700', with a sandy loam surface,

with the entire field available for landings.

A T-shaped hangar, marked "Scenic Airways" in front,

was said to be at the northwest corner of the field.



The onset of the Great Depression spelled the end for overextended Scenic Airways.

By 1930, Scenic’s assets, including the Red Butte Airport & its maintenance hangar,

along with 17 aircraft had been sold off.

A group headed by one Jack Thornburg bought the Canyon tour operation

& reopened the Red Butte airport for the 1931 summer season,

flying as Grand Canyon Air Lines using a three-engine Bach & a Curtiss Robin.



From 1931 onward - except for WW2 when pleasure flying was suspended -

the aerial tour service has operated from the South Rim under several names.

In the mid-1930s the airline enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with Transcontinental & Western Air,

with side trips to the Canyon from TWA stops at Winslow, AZ, to the Red Butte field via Ford Tri-Motor.



The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)

described "Grand Canyon Airport" as having 2 sod landing strips,

with the longest being an 8,000' northeast/southwest runway.

The aerial photo in the directory depicted a single hangar along the west side of the field,

as well as a total of 12 aircraft parked on the field.



Things hummed along until WW2.

Some sources indicate that only military flights flew out of the Red Butte Airfield from 1942-45.

However, the field may have been closed at some point during the war

(as was the case with many other small civilian airports),

as no airfield was depicted at Red Butte on the 1945 Prescott Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

Go Here http://members.tripod.com/airfields_fre ... s_AZ_N.htm and scroll down to find more info on Red Butte and many other long lost airfields.


http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/index.htm

Hafast

Thanks for the info I have read that. I am hoping to hear from someone who has maybe been in there in the last couple of years the could let me know what to expect if I went in there. Or someone that lives in the area that could give me a little more current insight. I am always looking for those little out of the way treasures

Thanks and have a good day Gary

You can try e-mailing Arv Schultz who is with The Arizona Pilots Association, he has been to that strip, and he is very active in the preservation and restoration of old backcountry airstrips.
Arv Shultz <[email protected]>

Thanks

I was at Red Butte a few weeks ago, a wonderful place to visit with lots of history. That said be very careful of the Prarie dog burrows. The two track down the middle of the runway seems to be OK but following the trail to the old hangar is full of rather large holes. Just about bit the dirt when my tailwheel bounced through one. I have a photo or two of Red Butte posted in my gallery. Enjoy your trip.
Dale

Hey Lizard.........do you have any better coordinates for Red Butte than the ones on the website that I posted?

There's a good article in the Nov 07 Vintage Airplaner magazine written by Budd Davidson, entitled Grand Canyon Pioneer. Tells about J. Parker Van Zandt building the Red Butte airstrip. The first flight of his Scenic Airways was a Stinson SM-1 from Red Butte on Oct 3,1927. The following year he built Sky Harbor airport near Phoenix. Pretty busy guy.

Eric

Hafast wrote:Hey Lizard.........do you have any better coordinates for Red Butte than the ones on the website that I posted?

Sorry I do not have better numbers but if you fly over Valle airport and look Northeast Red Butte is impossible to to miss.
Dale

Thank you Sir.

That same article in Vintage Airplane said that there is a museum at Valle airport, where they display some of the aircraft owned by the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino California.

Eric

They actually have a pretty good selection of rare stuff at Valle, and it is owned by The Planes Of Fame Museum.

http://www.valleairport.com/