World War Two Aviation in Arizona
New exhibit and programs at the Mesa Historical Museum

The Mesa Historical Museum announces the opening of their new exhibit Best Place in the Country on December 17, 2010. This exhibit, the first of its kind anywhere, focuses on the role that Arizona played in training pilots, gunners and bombardiers during World War Two. With good, year-round flying weather and miles of flat, unpopulated land, Arizona was an ideal location for some of the largest training facilities in the country (and the world).

Through maps, photographs, artifacts and first-person accounts, the exhibit tells the story of the 59 airfields that were built for training fighter and bomber pilots from three nations. Arizona also had some of the largest bombing and gunnery training ranges in the United States. Much of the spent rounds and bomb fragments still lie scattered across the deserts of Arizona. The exhibit will also show how many of these former military airfields are being used today.

Come learn about the history of the Cactus League in Arizona.

The Mesa Historical Museum is the home of "Play Ball: the Cactus League Experience." Now showing at our partner locations at the Arizona Historical Society and Museum in Tempe, the Arizona Museum for Youth in Mesa, and at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Museum in Terminal 4. Check out the website for more on the exhibit, the history of the Cactus League, and more upcoming events. All three exhibits that make up Play Ball 2011 are on the Cactus League Legacy Trail. Learn more and check out the other sites on the trail.