Cheyenne

Airfield

media-45630.jpeg UPL 45630 B-17's being processed at the Boeing/United Airlines B-17 Modification Center at Cheyenne AAF, Wyoming

https://hangarthirteen.org/2019/11/15/cheyenne-mod-center/

Object Number - UPL 45630 - B-17's being processed at the Boeing/United Airlines B-17 Modification Center at Cheyenne AAF, Wyoming

Of the various wartime modification centers, none were as large and influential as the United Airlines Modification Center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In fact, of the 12,677 B-17s built during the war, some 5,736 were altered in some way at the Cheyenne Modification Center. A maintenance hub for United Airlines, Army Air Forces Materiel Command began using it for military purposes in January 1942 before finally entering mass production that autumn.

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Detailed History

During World War II the airport was a completion and modification center for B-17s. Captain Ralph S. Johnson was a test pilot for the then United States Army Air Corps, forerunner to the United States Air Force. The tail turret on the B-17 is known as the "Cheyenne" turret because it was invented at Cheyenne. United Airlines maintained its Douglas DC-3s at Cheyenne; in 1946 it had 1400 employees based locally. Until 1961 the airport was the training center for United Airlines stewardesses from across the country.