SAFFORD — Safford Airport Manager Cameron Atkins came up with a compromise for naming the airport — have the City Council select an honoree, and other candidates up for consideration be enshrined on a Wall of Honor at the airport.
That’s what the council did during Monday’s meeting, officially changing the name to the Safford Regional Airport Duane Spalsbury Field.
The other two candidates up for consideration were Leven Ferrin and Lyle Grant. All three flew during World War II.
“Mr. Ferrin, he has more Pima contact. Mr. Grant has a park in his name in Thatcher; Lyle Grant Park. Mr. Spalsbury, to me is a more Safford person,” said Vice Mayor Arnold Lopez.
Lopez also suggested Safford Mayor Pro Tempore Richard Ortega for inclusion on the Wall of Honor for Ortega’s service in Vietnam.
Spalsbury served in the Army Air Corps in 1944-45. He moved to Safford in 1955, joined Safford Rotary and the Bulldog Booster Club, and he was the first chairman of Mt. Graham Community Hospital. He remained an active civilian aviator, using Safford Airport, until 1980.
It’s the second name for the aviation hub of the city. When runways were first cut into the desert in 1928, it was named Wickersham Field for Ernest Wickersham, a local businessman and avid flyer.
What is now Safford Municipal Airport was constructed in 1941 as part of the war effort and hosted the training of both fighter and bomber pilots. When the war ended, ownership of the airport was transferred to the city.
