Streets Are Renamed To Honor Aviation Pioneers

It only makes sense that one of the nation's iconic Air Force bases would find a way to honor some of the icons of aviation. So, to better portray the history of the Army Air Corps and the Air Force, and Edwards AFB's part in that history, several of the streets on the base are being renamed to recognize both military and civilian  personnel who have made significant contributions to the field. Civil Engineering will remove 50 old street name signs and replace them with new street name signs starting June 16.

The street that will be renamed are:

• Community Drive, which will be renamed Spaatz Avenue for Gen. Carl A. "Tooey" Spaatz, last commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces and the first Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. He helped lay the groundwork for an independent U.S. Air Force and established many of its early institutions.
• Desert Villa Circle becomes Balchen Loop for Col. Bernt Balchen, the first pilot to fly over the South Pole. Considered America's greatest Arctic expert in modern times, an aviation pioneer, member of the Norwegian and later the U.S. Army Air Forces.
• Eighth Street will be renamed Gatty Street for Harold Gatty, early expert in the field of navigation, who accompanied Wiley Post on the 15,500-mile flight around the Northern Hemisphere (New York-Sealand-Berlin-Irkutsk-Alaska-New York) in the Winnie Mae in July 1931. Gatty also directed the Navigation School at Langley Field, Virginia, in the 1930s.
• Juniper Avenue switches to Lindbergh Street for Col. Charles Lindbergh, the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, nonstop. The New York to Paris flight was made in the Spirit of St. Louis May 20-21, 1927. He also contributed to the development of commercial aviation through his continued efforts and flights.
• Kincheloe Street, North will be renamed Post Drive for Wiley Post, an aviation pioneer, who completed a 15,500-mile flight around the Northern Hemisphere in 1931, and in 1935 made the first transcontinental stratospheric flight.
• Park Drive changes to Chamberlin Avenue for Clarence D. Chamberlin, who became the second man to complete a nonstop, trans-Atlantic flight. On June 4, 1927, just 17 days after Charles Lindbergh completed his New York to Paris flight, Chamberlin flew over 3,900 miles from New York to Germany.
• Manzanita Way will be renamed Doolittle Parkway for Gen. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, aviation pioneer; among his most notable achievements were the many air races of the 1920s, as a 1st Lieutenant in the 90th Aero Squadron, he became the first pilot to travel coast-to-coast in under 24 hours on September 22, 1922, made the first blind flight and was the leader of the Doolittle Raiders.
• Oleander Street will become Rickenbacker Drive for Capt. Edward Vernon Rickenbacker, the leading American ace of World War I.
• Sage Avenue's new designation will be Mitchell Street for Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell, the outspoken leading American advocate of air power. Best known for the first successful demonstration of airpower against a naval vessel, the captured German battleship Ostfriesland in 1921.
• Yucca Street will be renamed Seversky Street for Alexander P. de Seversky, a famous Russian naval flier. Seversky was in the United States at the time the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917 in Russia and remained in America to continue a distinguished career as a test pilot, aircraft designer, and tireless advocate of airpower. In 1931, he founded the Seversky Aircraft Corporation and in 1937 the Seversky P 35 was accepted by the Army Air Corps.

FMI: http://www.edwards.af.mil/