In 1927, former WW1 Army flyer, entrepreneur & promoter Parker Van Zandt created a runway across a northern Arizona meadow at a place called Red Butte, he built a hangar, and launched the first commercial air tours over the nearby Grand Canyon.

His Scenic Airways was bankrolled by some of the biggest names in American business (such as Henry Ford). Its first flights carried National Park Service & Fred Harvey Company officials over the Canyon in a Stinson Detroiter.

Scenic Airways flew its first paying sightseers over the Grand Canyon in April 1928, a month later bringing online the first of more than a dozen AT-4 & AT-5 Tri-Motors purchased from the Ford Motor Company.

In addition to a large hangar at Red Butte, 4 cottages & a Great House were built. The Great House was of the same quality as the El Tovar Lodge.

The Standard Oil Company's 1929 "Airplane Landing Fields of the Pacific West" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy) described the Grand Canyon Airport as being operated by Scenic Airways.

The airfield was said to measure 9,250' x 3,700', with a sandy loam surface, with the entire field available for landings.

A T-shaped hangar, marked "Scenic Airways" in front, was said to be at the northwest corner of the field.

The onset of the Great Depression spelled the end for overextended Scenic Airways.

By 1930, Scenic’s assets, including the Red Butte Airport & its maintenance hangar, along with 17 aircraft had been sold off.

A group headed by one Jack Thornburg bought the Canyon tour operation & reopened the Red Butte airport for the 1931 summer season,

flying as Grand Canyon Air Lines using a three-engine Bach & a Curtiss Robin.

From 1931 onward - except for WW2 when pleasure flying was suspended - the aerial tour service has operated from the South Rim under several names.

In the mid-1930s the airline enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with Transcontinental & Western Air, with side trips to the Canyon from TWA stops at Winslow, AZ, to the Red Butte field via Ford Tri-Motor.

The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo) described "Grand Canyon Airport" as having 2 sod landing strips,

with the longest being an 8,000' northeast/southwest runway.

The aerial photo in the directory depicted a single hangar along the west side of the field, as well as a total of 12 aircraft parked on the field.

Things hummed along until WW2.

Some sources indicate that only military flights flew out of the Red Butte Airfield from 1942-45.

However, the field may have been closed at some point during the war (as was the case with many other small civilian airports),

In 1951 civil aviation began again at Red Butte with the Hudgins brothers.

Since 1957, the airline service at the field has been called Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc.

By the time of the January 1966 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy), the original Red Butte / Grand Canyon Airport had been closed, after it was replaced by the new Grand Canyon National Park Airport, built 13 miles to the northwest in Tusayan.

All of the structures at the Red Butte Airport (the hangar, 4 cottages & the Great House) either burned down or were taken down by the 1970s.

Chris Kennedy visited the site of the old Grand Canyon Airport in September 2004. His report: "The site is actually in a wooded area (except for what was the runway area, which is cleared) down a short dirt road which starts about 2 miles down a good gravel National Forest road. I think it's private property, although the road into it was not posted as private, or I wouldn't have gone down it. There were a bunch of trucks parked near the hangar building, so somebody is using the property for something. I couldn't tell in my brief visit if the building itself was still in use."

As of 2005, it was reported that the entire airport property (850 acres) was owned by the U.S. Forest Service, which leased the property to ranchers.

Until 2005, this historic site was used for cattle, horses and other ranching commerce, resulting in considerable neglect and vandalism to the site.

Toxic waste accumulated & buildings either burned down or were torn down.

Souvenir hunters removed artifacts left unguarded.

Giacinta Koontz is the Director of an organization named the Red Butte Aerodrome Preservation Project.

She has been preparing a nomination to place Red Butte on the National Register of Historic Places.

Giacinta reported in 2005, “The buildings are privately owned.

The buildings sit upon land owned by the Forest Service (Kaibab National Forest).

After the rancher's land use permit to graze cattle expired he sold the buildings to the new owners (my employers) last February 2005.

The Forest Service had plans to knock everything down (the bulldozer was sitting outside the bungalow) when the new owners stepped in & halted that demolition.”

The airfield is located 2 miles east of Route 180, 11 miles south of Tusayan, AZ.

See also: http://www.kaibab.org/gcps/bulletin.htm

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This information is courtesy of Paul Freeman

'Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:

Northern Arizona

© 2002, © 2006 by Paul Freeman. Revised 2/4/06.