Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Washington: Tacoma area
© 2002, © 2007 by Paul Freeman. Revised 8/11/07.
Evergreen Airport (revised 8/11/07) - Mueller-Harkins Field / Clover Park Technical College (revised 1/15/04)
South Tacoma Airpark (revised 4/11/05) - Tacoma Airport (revised 5/1/05)
____________________________________________________
Evergreen Airport, Federal Way, WA
47.31 North / 122.32 West (Southwest of Seattle, WA)
Evergreen Airport, as depicted on the 1948 USAF Target Complex Chart.
This former general aviation airport was apparently established at some point between 1945-47,
as it was not depicted on the 1945 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss).
The earliest record of Evergreen Airport in its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field) was on 7/14/47.
The earliest depiction of Evergreen Airport which has been located
was on the 1948 USAF Target Complex Chart.
It depicted Evergreen Airport as having a single northeast/southwest runway.
The October 1948 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted Evergreen Airport as having a 2,200' runway.
The 1961 Flying A road map (courtesy of Bill Eaton) depicted the outline of the Evergreen Airport property.
Evergreen Airport had a total of 19 based aircraft in 1961,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
The 1963 WA Airport Directory (courtesy of Ron Dupas)
described Evergreen Airport as a private field,
with a single 2,200' gravel northeast/southwest runway.
A single hangar with a wind sock was depicted on the east side of the field.
Evergreen Airport may have gone through some period of abandonment,
as no airfield was depicted at its location on the 1967 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss)
or the December 1968 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
In 1968 the owner requested reactivation as a public use airport,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
In 1969 the FAA issued “No objection provided it was operated as private use only”,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
In 1970, the FAA objected to public use due to Evergreen being directly under the approaches for Sea-Tac airport,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
The FAA decided that if it were private use,
there would be less of a safety concern because the users could be advised of the Sea-Tac flight track issue.
Evergreen Airport was listed once again as a public-use airport in the 1971 WA Airport directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
This aerial view looking north at Evergreen Airport showed at least a dozen planes parked next to the runway.
The directory described the field as having a single 2,000' gravel-dirt Runway 2/20,
and listed the manager as Jack Haworth.
In 1973, after the Sea-Tac airspace was modified, FAA issued a “No objection” to public use
“provided power line towers be lighted & the pattern altitude be established at 800 feet”,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
In 1975, the Weyerhauser real estate division owned the property on which the southerly 600' or 700' of runway was located,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
The owners of the airport had not obtained a lease authorizing use of the property for airport purposes.
Weyerhauser filed for an injunction against the airport owners to prevent use of the Weyerhauser property.
This eventually led to the airport owners obtaining a lease.
The January 1975 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted Evergreen as having a 2,000' unpaved runway.
A 1978 FAA diagram of Evergreen Airport (courtesy of David Field)
depicted it as having a single 2,000' dirt & gravel Runway 2/20,
with an unusually shaped bulged tie-down area in the middle.
Two T-hangars were located in the tie-down area,
and the office was located on the southeast side of the field.
In 1978, the owner of the airport, Environmental Research & Development Corporation,
shortened the northeast end by 450' to provide a 20 to 1 approach over the power lines & a building,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
In 1979, Environmental Research & Development Corporation terminated operation of the airport,
according to its FAA Inspection File (according to David Field).
According to David Field, “After closure of the airport, the Weyerhauser property was developed as an office complex
and the E.R.& D. property appears to have become a park.”
By the time of the 1980 USGS topo map, the single northeast/southwest runway was still depicted,
but it was labeled simply as "Landing Strip".
The 1990 USGS aerial photo depicted the remains of the runway,
which were still visible, although the site had become heavily overgrown by trees.
Traces of the southwestern-most portion of the former runway were also still visible,
extending into the office park which had been constructed on the edge of the former airport property.
By the time of the 1994 USGS topo map, the northeastern end of the former airport site
was depicted as the City Center Park.
By the time of the 2002 USGS aerial photo,
even the remains of the runway were gone,
with the majority of the site of the former airport having been redeveloped with parking lots & grass fields.
The site of Evergreen Airport is located
northwest of the intersection of Pacific Highway South & South 336th Street.
____________________________________________________
Mueller-Harkins Field / Clover Park Technical College Airfield,
Clover Park, WA
47.18 North / 122.5 West (Southwest of Seattle, WA)
An aerial view of Mueller-Harkins Field taken during the 1931 Air Tour by Wildey "Bud" Kimball (courtesy of Scott Kimball).
According to a City of Lakewood web site (via Chris Kennedy),
the property of the Tacoma Speedway was sold in October of 1922 (after going bankrupt)
and the Mueller-Harkins Airport was established.
The first Air Mail Service flight came into Mueller-Harkins Airport in 1926.
According to Scott Kimball, "My Dad flew in the Tacoma area starting in gliders in 1928
and I believe it [Mueller-Harkins] was open then.
I believe he flew A Standard with an OX-5 powerplant out of this field."
Mueller-Harkins was described in the 1929 Standard Oil Airport Directory (according to Chris Kennedy)
as "Field inside of wooden speedway oval."
The above 1931 aerial photo of Mueller-Harkins (courtesy of Scott Kimball)
was "taken by my Dad the summer he soloed in power", according to Scott.
It also depicted a "Richfield tower" along the top-right of the image.
These Richfield towers were built along the major flyways for both advertising
and as a guide to pilots especially at night.
They had their name in lighted letters down the tower.
"The one shown in the image was taken down in about 1970."
Mueller-Harkins Field, as depicted on the 1933 Seattle Airways Chart.
The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)
described Mueller-Harkins as having two 3,600' sod runways, oriented north/south & east/west.
An aerial view of Mueller-Harkins Field from The Airport Directory Company's 1938 Airports Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
According to a history of the city of Lakewood,
"The City of Tacoma used the airstrip as its commercial field for a time,
and national air shows were held at the site until World War II."
On July 21, 1944, Mueller-Harkins Airport was condemned
and taken to support the war effort.
The property then became a Naval Advance Base (Naval supply depot).
The 1948 USAF Target Complex Chart did not depict any airfield at the site,
but instead a group of buildings, labeled "Naval storehouse".
In 1949, some of the old Navy base was declared surplus & signed over to the Clover Park School District
and by 1954 Clover Park Vocational Technical Institute had received the northern section of the Navy base.
The 1967 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss)
still didn't depict any airfield in operation at this location.
By 1971 it was operating as an airfield again, operated by the Clover Park Technical College.
By this time, the small airport was situated in what have become a very awkward location:
a mere one mile north McChord AFB,
almost directly along the extended centerline of McChord's primary runway.
In Scott Kimball's words, "I learned to fly at this school 1971-1973.
As it was a state run aviation school,
Clover Park had a special arrangement with the Air Force at McChord.
When I was there we took off on an old road used as a runway
and landed on a grass strip parallel and to the south of the paved portion
(this was done for building clearance & minimum take-off roll).
Some time after I left the grass strip was paved & used exclusively.
We flew an approximately 500' AGL (800' MSL) pattern only to the North side of the field
using specific entry points to the west & northwest.
Clover Park operated it's own 'tower' manned purely by the student pilots
which functioned as an advisory to the few outside pilots coming in.
The school preferred to have pilots get prior permission before coming in,
but I never heard them complain to anyone."
No airfield at this location was depicted on the January 1975 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy),
not listed in the 1982 AOPA Airport Directory (courtesy of Ed Drury).
The earliest depiction of the Clover Park airfield which has been located was on the 1994 USGS topo map,
which depicted a single 2,800' east/west runway, labeled simply as "Landing Strip".
By the time of the 1999 Seattle Terminal Area Chart (courtesy of Scott Kimball),
it was labeled as "Clover Park Technical College", a private airfield,
and depicted as having a single 2,500' paved east/west runway.
According to Scott Kimball, the flight school at this field
"moved to Pierce County (Thun Field) in Puyallup in either 2000 or 2001."
A 2002 USGS aerial photo of the Clover Park Technical College Airfield, after the field was closed.
The runway still remained intact,
but with school buses & other vehicles being stored along either end.
The runway numbers were still visible, along with closed-runway "X" symbols.
A closeup of the runway numbers from the 2002 USGS aerial photo of the Clover Park Technical College Airfield,
with school buses stored around the former runway.
The site of the Clover Park Technical College Airfield is located
southwest of the intersection of Lakeview Avenue Southwest & Perimeter Drive.
____________________________________________________
47.24 North / 122.53 West (North-northwest of McChord AFB, WA)
The Tacoma Airport, as depicted on the 1948 USAF Target Complex Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
This former small general aviation airport was evidently established at some point between 1945-48,
as it was not yet depicted at all on the March 1945 Seattle Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
The earliest depiction of the Tacoma Airport which has been located
was on the 1948 USAF Target Complex Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted Tacoma Airport as having a two runways, each with a parallel taxiway.
The October 1948 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted Tacoma Airport as having a 2,200' unpaved runway.
According to Scott Kimball, "Tacoma Airport was better known throughout the northwest as 'Oswalds',
after 'Bud' Oswald, the owner/operator."
Bill Hamilton recalled, “I started flying in 1954 at Bud Oswald's Tacoma Airport.
One of my instructors was Bud Kimball.
He also handled aircraft sales for Oswalds
and I rode along quite a bit on demo flights around Western Washington with Bud.”
A 1961 aerial photo of Tacoma Airport (from the University of WA Library, courtesy of Greg Peterson).
The field could be seen to have a single northeast/southwest runway,
along with the former north/south runway (on which closed-runway “X” markings were visible).
A total of 5 hangars were visible on the east side of the field,
along with 5 single-engine aircraft.
The 1962 AOPA Airport Directory described Tacoma Airport as having a single 2,400' oiled Runway 1/19,
and listed the operator as Oswald Flying Service.
The 1963 WA Airport Directory (courtesy of Ron Dupas)
depicted Tacoma Airport as having a single 2,430' asphalt northeast/southwest runway.
The former north/south runway was still depicted in the airfield diagram, but was labeled "closed".
An office & several hangars were depicted on the east side of the field.
In a 1965 aerial photo of Tacoma Airport (from the University of WA Library, courtesy of Greg Peterson),
the field's configuration was basically unchanged compared to the 1961 aerial photo,
with a single northeast/southwest runway, the closed north/south runway, and 5 hangars.
A total of 9 single-engine aircraft were visible on the east side of the field,
inclduing one taxiing to the runway for takeoff.
The 1967 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss)
described Tacoma Airport as having a single 2,430' asphalt northeast/southwest runway.
The Aerodromes table on the chart included the remark, "N/S runway permanently closed."
According to Scott Kimball, Tacoma Airport "closed about 1973."
A 1974 USDA aerial photo of the site of Tacoma Airport (from the University of WA Library, courtesy of Greg Peterson)
showed that the property was in the process of being redeveloped,
with all of the airport buildings except one having been removed,
and the outline of the runways still somewhat recognizable.
Tacoma Airport was not depicted at all on the 1974 USGS topo map
or on the January 1975 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
In a 1983 aerial photo of the site (from the University of WA Library, courtesy of Greg Peterson),
not a trace of the former airfield was still perceptible,
as the property had been densely redeveloped.
As seen in the 2002 USGS aerial photo,
not a trace remains of the former Tacoma Airport.
The site of the former Tacoma Airport is bounded by 19th Street on the north, 27th Street on the south,
Mildred Street on the east, and Cascade Place West on the west.
Another small general aviation field, the former South Tacoma Airpark
was located less than two miles to the southeast of Tacoma Airport.
____________________________________________________
South Tacoma Airpark, Tacoma, WA
47.21 North / 122.49 West (North-northwest of McChord AFB, WA)
The Tacoma Airpark, as depicted on the 1948 USAF Target Complex Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Photo of the airfield while open has not been located.
According to a 1995 WA State Department of Health report,
"The South Tacoma Airport operated from 1936-73."
According to Scott KimballI, "In its early days (prior to WW2?),
South Tacoma had a 'slew' parallel to the hard runway that was used as a float base."
Bill Hamilton recalled, “The 'slew' that was used for floatplane landings...
It was rather narrow & not very long but it worked.”
South Tacoma Airport was not depicted at all on the March 1945 Seattle Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
It may have been temporarily closed during WW2,
like many other small civilian airports along the coasts,
due to wartime security concerns.
The airfield was evidently reopened at some point between 1945-48,
as the 1948 USAF Target Complex Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted “Tacoma Airpark” as having a single north/south runway.
The October 1948 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)
depicted “Tacoma Airpark” as having a 3,500' unpaved runway,
along with a 2,000' seaplane water landing area.
The 1962 AOPA Airport Directory described the field as having a 3,400' gravel & turf Runway 18/36,
and listed the operator as Gross Aviation.
According to Scott Kimball, "Gross Aviation was owned by Chuck Gross."
The 1963 WA Airport Directory (courtesy of Ron Dupas)
described South Tacoma Airport as having a single 3,400' gravel north/south runway.
Three hangars & an office building were depicted on the northwest side of the field.
The Aerodromes table on the 1964 Seattle Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy)
listed the runway configuration as a single 3,500' gravel strip.
Apparently the runway was paved within the next three years,
as the 1967 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of John Voss)
described South Tacoma as having a single 3,000' asphalt runway.
An aerial view looking northwest at South Tacoma Airpark,
from the 1971 WA Airport directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The 1995 WA State Department of Health report said that South Tacoma Airport closed in 1973,
although this appears to be contradicted by a later aeronautical chart depiction.
South Tacoma Airport was evidently still open in 1975,
as it was still depicted as an active airfield on the January 1975 Seattle Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It was described as having a single 3,000' paved runway.
South Tacoma Airport was evidently closed at some point between 1975-77,
as it was no longer depicted on the January 1977 Seattle Terminal Area Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).
In a 1990 aerial photo of the site,
remains of the former runway pavement were still barely visible.
Some kind of industrial building had been built at some point along the south side of the former airport property.
A circa-2001 aerial photo of the site, after the field's redevelopment.
The site of the former South Tacoma Airpark is located
north of the intersection of South 56th Street & South Proctor Street.
Another small general aviation field, the former Tacoma Airport
was located less than two miles to the northwest of South Tacoma Airpark.
____________________________________________________