Hill Field: From wind-swept flat to teeming city in 4 years; Plus, Francis Peak history

                                      A past HILL AFB air show.

"TEEMING City thrives on what was only wind-swept flat four years ago" was a headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Feb. 7, 1943.
"Ogden air depot at Hill Field stands as a monument to the ingenuity, industry and determination of the people of Utah," the story stated. Counter to the former wind-swept land, there now exists there, "a city comprised of huge repair hangars and shops, humming with activity; great warehouses with hundreds of thousands of air corps supply items; administrative office buildings covering many acres; miles of track over which are shunted hundreds of freight cars every day."

                           Hill AFB from the southeast Layton bench.

The Standard's description continued: "Like any other modern city, Hill Field has many schools, theatres, a chapel, living quarters consisting of both civilian and military barracks, a fire station, cafeterias, utilities, including gas, water and electrical installations, a well-developed police organization, and its own transportation system. ... The physical growth of Hill Field has been prodigious..."
-Nine months later, another newspaper reported on the same transition of former open land in northern Utah: "One time farm area now industrialized," was a headline in the Salt Lake Tribune of Nov. 7, 1943.
The article continued, "Farmers who used to till the soil on a vast expanse of valley land in northern Davis County never thought more about industrial plants or anything which was a very far cry from agriculture."
"Today they gaze at the $22,000,000 rambling air service command headquarters called Hill Field," The Tribune stated.
The article said thousands of workers now work at the base.
(In fact, the area was at one time part of what was called "The Sandridge," a sandy area that was more for dry farming on pioneer times.)
"Hill Field existed as an idea as far back as 1935 ... Sheltered by high mountains, far enough inland to minimize chances of enemy attack, easily accessible by rail and not too far from the Pacific coast," the Tribune story said.
The stated Hill Field was then the nerve center for 12 sub depots in eight states, all of which are controlled and supplied by Hill Field.
"Only 12 miles from Ogden and 30 miles from Salt Lake City, Hill Field grew up in the midst of what was to become one of the most acute labor shortage areas in the war industrialized west," the story stated.

-MORE HISTORY: Another government installation in Northern Utah is the lofty radar station atop Francis Peak in Davis County. "Francis Peak radar unit to begin test basis May 31. Highest radar site in nation" was a May 28, 1959 headline in the Weekly Reflex newspaper. At a cost of $1.5 million, the facility at more than 9,500 feet above sea level is operated by the FAA. It originally included a Utah Air National Guard facility too.
The facility initially had the radar power to see aircraft 100 miles distant and was manned 24 hours a day.
Although a dirt road to Francis Peak was roughed in by 1938, through the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Reflex newspaper of June 16, 1960 reported that the Utah National Guard was improving that 5-mile section of road that summer.

                                                Top, center, the Francis Peak radar station.

How about 'Dern' Air Force Base, instead of Hill AFB? Plus, Utah's version of Kitty Hawk flying

                        Hill Air Force Base, as seen from the Layton foothills.

WHAT IF?

It could have been that Hill Air Force Base (celebrating its 80^th anniversary in 2020) had a different name.

The original Utah proposal was to name the base "Dern Field," after Utah's sixth governor, George Henry Dern (who served from 1925-1933).

Dern was later the U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Roosevelt from 1933 until his death, in 1936.

According to the Davis County Clipper of Jan. 24, 1990, it was U.S. Representative J.W. (James William) Robinson, a Democrat from Utah, who made the suggestion to name the air base after Dern.

This honor wasn’t just to honor the late Governor/Secretary Dern for his high political offices. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Feb. 4, 1940, Dern had “made an inspection” in 1935 of the potential air base land in northern Utah and “became very sympathetic towards its potential possibilities.”

“Secretary Dern’s efforts were responsible in a large measure for renewed interest in this project,” The Standard-Examiner further reported.

This led to the War Department securing options on 4,135 acres of land in the area where the Ogden Chamber of Commerce was promoting as ideal for a future air base and ordnance depot site.

Although most Utahns likely agreed it was a good idea to honor Dern with the base name, it apparently did not square with current Army Air Force policy. 

According to the 1990 Clipper story, Army General H.H. Arnold responded to Robinson's naming proposal that the base "would probably be named after an army flier who performed distinguished flying service in Utah, or whose death occurred in that vicinity."

Notwithstanding, the Hill Top Times newspaper of Jan. 1, 1946 stated, “War Department General Order No. 9 names site OAD ‘Hill Field’ in honor of Major Ployer P. Hill.”

(“Hill Field” was the base’s original name and it was retitled, “Hill Air Force Base” on Feb. 5, 1948.)

Major Ployer "Pete" Hill was killed while piloting the experimental Boeing B-17 ("Model 299") bomber at Wright Field, Ohio on Oct. 30, 1935.

However, Ployer Hill had no ties to Utah and Wright Field was more than 1,600 miles from today's Hill Air Force Base.
(Strangely, the crash was caused because the crew forgot to remove the pins from the flaps on the plane before takeoff. This "why?" mystery has led to a lot of speculation, including if the crew had been drinking before takeoff? ... But almost 9 decades later, there's no way to ever solve this mystery.)

The fact that the sandy area where today's Hill Air Force Base is actually located on a "Hill,” elevated from much of the surrounding area, has made the title more appropriate over the decades.

Yes, there is no indication of displeasure with the base’s name, or any known move to rename it. In fact, during its early years, Hill Field paid tribute to the daring test pilot on the anniversary of his death. “Field recalls tragic death of Major Hill. Army Base pays tribute to officer who died seven years ago,” was an Oct. 29, 1942, headline in the Standard-Examiner.

In addition, the base’s naming finally had its late arriving Utah connection in the 1960s. The Standard-Examiner of Nov. 7, 1965 reported that Major Hill’s only son, also named Ployer P. Hill, served a tour at Hill AFB as a major, from 1964-1966, prior to a combat mission in Vietnam.

(The younger Major Hill died on Jan. 21, 2008 at the age of 83 in Florida.)

Yes, “Dern Air Force Base” doesn’t sound right after more than 80 years. It could have been, but the Hill name is both appropriate and deserving today.

-MORE HISTORY: The famous Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 had a big effect on one Utah resident -- even some eight years later.

"Ogden aviator comes to grief" was an Oct. 19, 1911 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.

"Fired by the accounts of the glider experiments of the Wright Brothers in North Carolina, Ray Irwin, 14 years old, constructed a biplane glider with a wingspan of 26 feet ..." the Telegram reported.

The young man, with the help of others, took off from the sandridge and glided some 300 feet and across the Weber River until it plunged to the earth and crashed in the sagebrush. Irwin escaped with minor injuries.

The Salt Lake Herald Republican newspaper of Oct. 19, 1911 hailed Irwin as "Ogden's first aviator." That newspaper said Irwin sprained his left leg on impact and that crash broke the framework of his glider. He apparently had some 300 spectators of his short flight.

(-Originally published on September 19, 2020 in the Deseret News.)