Rodeo Intermediate Field Civil Aeronautics Authority # 57A

Intermediate fields were the emergency strips of the federal lighted airways, set along routes marked by rotating beacons so that mail and passenger planes could fly at night. The Commerce Department listed Rodeo as an intermediate landing field in 1931, and the Army used it as an auxiliary field in the Second World War. Radio navigation was already making the beacons and their great concrete arrows obsolete in the early 1930s. The panel says the red arrow can still be seen; one airway historian who searched the site reported no trace of a concrete arrow.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Rodeo Intermediate Field Civil Aeronautics Authority # 57A The intermediate field system, developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, greatly increased safety in early commercial aviation. Rodeo Intermediate Field 57A was established in 1930 to enhance navigation for Standard Airlines-later TWA- from California to El Paso, and served as an army auxiliary field during WWII. Its building foundations, earthen air strips and red directional arrow pointing the way to El Paso still are visible today.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chiricahua National Monument — 19 mi
  The Land of Standing-Up Rocks — Cochise and Geronimo's stronghold

More markers nearby

• Rodeo Station — 5.9 mi
• Smuggler's Trail — 14 mi
• The Clanton Hideout — 14 mi
• The Chiricahua Apache — 20 mi