Minden-Tahoe Airport early days in exhibit at museum

Military artist and museum volunteer Wayne Scarpaci contributed to an exhibit of memorabilia from Minden-Tahoe Airport’s early days at Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center.

The display in the museum’s changing gallery on the left side of the lobby includes memorabilia on loan from founding Sports Aviation Foundation president Linda Mae Hivert, in addition to photos from the Douglas County Historical Society’s collection.

Ground was broken for Minden Army Airfield in July 1941 and after completion of the first dirt runway, it was leased as a flight training school with 15 Meyers OTW biplane trainers. The following year a flying school from Sacramento Junior College brought 15 Piper J3 Cub monoplanes, according to research done by Curator Brenda Cullen and published in the Museum Matters newsletter.

Flight training was open to both civilian and military fliers, with U.S. Army Air Force cadets quartered on the top floor of the Minden Inn and ground school conducted in the basement.

The Army Air Force’s Air Transport Command took over operations of the airport and designated it the Minden Army Airfield in July 1942.

After the Reno Army Base was designated for high-altitude flight training, Minden was designated for touch and go and landing training and staging flights of the Sierra to Fairfield, according to Cullen. The Minden Airfield began 24-hour operations so pilots could practice night landings in September 1944.

Once the war was over, the airfield was decommissioned and turned back over to the county.

Viewing can be done 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center.