of 1928-1939 and are similar to that of other installations choosing to adapt existing runways and hangars for military use. In 1928, two Santa Fe Railroad employees working with the town of Albuquerque, graded two runways on East Mesa with one approximately 5,300 feet long and the other just under 4,000 feet. Albuquerque Airport was wholly a private venture, irrespective of the town's involvement. Immediately following construction of the airport, other individuals and promoters became interested in Albuquerque as a crossroads location for southwestern air traffic. James G. Oxnard, a New York entrepreneur, bought Franklin's interest in Albuquerque Airport, expanding the facility toward the end of 1928. The airfield soon drew business from private flyers, as well as Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) and Western Air Express (WAE), commercial airlines that set up operations at the new airport. The city's viability as a crossroads of air traffic in the Southwest was confirmed by this early success. As the 1920s closed, the two airlines initiated competitive passenger, mail and cargo service between the Midwest and California, positioning Albuquerque as an important transcontinental airfield. WAE soon moved to the West Mesa Airport and was joined by TAT as the two airlines merged to become Trans World Airlines (TWA). This new facility, also private, became known as Albuquerque Airport, and the first, which was renamed Oxnard Field, also continued to service general aviation needs. In the mid-1930s, Mayor Tingley, other city officials, and TWA management began to conceive of a municipal airport, the next necessary step in confirming Albuquerque's status as a "Crossroads of the Southwest." With the help of President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds, construction on a new airport was begun four miles west of Oxnard Field and completed in 1939, on the cusp of World War II. In January 1939, Major General Henry "Hap" Arnold, who became chief of the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC), proposed to Congress that money be spent on a strong air defense. It soon became a national priority to secure airfields and bombing and gunnery ranges. An effort was also being made in cooperation with the WPA and Civil Aeronautics Authority to build up civilian airports of value to national defense efforts (Tagg 1998). Albuquerque city leaders began to examine the possibility of an air base locating on the mesa, and through extensive negotiations with the AAC, succeeded in their efforts when the Army established