Nine Abandoned Airports And The Stories Behind Them

Tonopah Abandoned Airfield, Nevada

Wikimedia CommonsThis abandoned airport was briefly home an airforce bakery.

The military airfield at Tonopah, Nevada has had many lives. Shortly after it was built in 1940, over 2,000 enlisted men of the 4th Air Force were housed there. The airfield’s on-site barracks, hospital, and mess halls were soon full and bustling with nervous energies.

By 1945, the number of people housed at Tonopah rose to 5,000, including civilians, but problems increased as well. The 6,000-foot elevation seemed to be causing issues, as did design flaws in some of the fighter planes. Pilots began crashing at an unacceptable rate.

Wikimedia Commons

Instead of closing, Tonopah changed focus. It became a high-altitude bomber training facility and underwent a revamp in the process. The government installed new water storage tanks, runway extensions — even a post exchange complete with a bakery that became the largest in the 4th Air Force.

At one point, it sold an average of 400 dozen donuts per day. But baked goods aside, near the end of World War II, the war department was looking to cut manpower at the airfield.

And so on Aug. 23, 1945, the 4th Air Force put Tonopah on inactive status. All that remains today of the once-flourishing airbase are four hangars in varying states of disrepair. If you take a good whiff, maybe you could still smell the donuts.

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