VISITOR CENTER HONORS NAMESAKE OF KIRTLAND AFB
Base dedicates the Col. Roy C. Kirtland Heritage Visitor Center, which includes a gallery with photographs depicting Kirtland and the base’s history.
Kirtland Air Force Base put a human face on its most public building Friday, dedicating what had been called the “visitor control center” at Truman Gate in honor of the base’s namesake, Col. Roy Kirtland.
The newly dedicated Col. Roy C. Kirtland Heritage Visitor Center also has some inviting new touches, including carved wooden benches and a gallery of historical photos featuring the base’s past and present.
Several images feature Kirtland himself, including a 1911 photo of the aviation pioneer seated in a Wright Model B Flyer.
“I want the public to see how proud we are of our heritage here,” said Col. Eric Froehlich, commander of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland after a brief ceremony dedicating the center. “It just gets us back to our early aviation roots.”
The visitors center, though owned by the base, is located outside Kirtland’s Truman Gate, which means the public is welcome to visit the center without a base pass. Parking is available outside the center on Truman SE, just south of Gibson.
The dedication ceremony marked the conclusion of a yearlong celebration marking Kirtland’s 75th anniversary. The base lists its birthday as Jan. 7, 1941, when construction began on Albuquerque Army Air Base, which started training bomber crews for World War II.
The base was renamed Kirtland Army Air Field on Feb. 25, 1942, less than a year after Kirtland’s death, at the urging of his close friend, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, chief of the Army Air Corps.
Kirtland was among a handful of early fliers who were instrumental in founding the U.S. Air Force. One photo at the visitors center includes a group portrait of Kirtland, Arnold and six other fliers at College Park, Md., who helped form the Army Air Corps.
Roy Carrington Kirtland was born in May 1874 at Fort Benton, Mont., the son of an Army major. He enlisted in the Army infantry during the Spanish-American War.
In 1911, the Army recruited Kirtland to become part of its first flying unit. That year, he completed the Signal Corps Aviation School at North Island, near San Diego, Calif.
Kirtland commanded training units during World War I, and served as an inspector of aviation facilities in England.
Kirtland retired in 1938, but was reactivated in early 1941 as the nation mobilized for World War II. He died of a heart attack at Moffett Field, Calif., on May 2, 1941, at age 66.