Dating to 1961, this silent promotional film shows the Bisbee - Douglas International Airport in Southern Arizona. The film includes shots of Douglas, Arizona at 8:20 including the Southern Pacific railroad station at 8:30. The Gadsden Hotel is visible at 9:30, as well as the Phelps Dodge Mercantile Company and Valley National Bank and Arizona Public Service Company (11:20). At 12:55 the copper smelter is visible. At 15:16 the border crossing / Port of Entry with Agua Prieta, Mexico is shown. At 19:20, the American Airlines operation at the airport is shown, with a large passenger aircraft probably a DC-6 visible on the tarmac.
Bisbee Douglas International Airport was originally constructed during World War II as a U.S. Army Air Forces installation known as Douglas Army Airfield. Douglas AAF conducted advanced training in the AT-9 Jeep, AT-17 BobcT, and C-45 Expeditor training aircraft and the B-25 Mitchell bomber. With the end of World War II, Douglas AAF was considered surplus to military needs and was transferred to local government authorities of the City of Douglas for conversion to a civilian airport. American Airlines served the airport before being replaced by Apache Airlines, a commuter air carrier, in 1965. Bisbee/Douglas was part of a transcontinental multi-stop route operated by American in 1959 with Douglas DC-6 propliners with daily flights in each direction between the east coast and the west coast. By 1963, American was still serving the airport with two daily flights operated with the DC-6. Scheduled passenger flights ended in 1975.
We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference."
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com