The City of Palm Springs purchased the land in 1961 and converted it to Palm Springs Municipal Airport. The auxiliary field or backup field was declared surplus on May 12, 1945, and the main airfield was declared excess and transferred to the War Assets Administration for disposal in 1946 and it was sold to private buyers. On June 1, 1944, training moved to Brownsville Army Airfield, Texas, and the airfield was used for Army and Navy transport flights until the end of April 1945. Training was in P-51 Mustangs, P-40 Warhawks and P-38 Lightnings. Later, training was also provided to pursuit pilot training by IV Fighter Command 459th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron. Training conducted at the airfield was by the 72d and 73d Ferrying Squadrons in long-distance over-water flying and navigation. Many of the field's Air Transport Command 560th Army Air Forces Base Unit personnel stayed at the comfortable Lapaz Guest Ranch nearby. The new airfield, Palm Springs Army Airfield, was completed in early 1942, and the old air field was then used only as a backup. Land was acquired to build a major airfield a half mile from the old airfield site. The airport was approved to serve as a staging field by the Air Corps Ferrying Command 21st Ferrying Group in November 1941. In March 1941, the War Department certified improvements to the existing airport in Palm Springs as essential to National Defense. PSP was built as a United States Army Air Corps emergency landing field in 1939 on land owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians due to its clear weather and its proximity to March Field and the Los Angeles area. The airport was named as number 3 in a 2011 list of "America's Most Stress-Free Airports" by Smarter Travel. ![]() The facility operates year-round, with most flights occurring in the fall, winter, and spring. The airport covers 940 acres (380 ha) and has two runways. Palm Springs International Airport ( IATA: PSP, ICAO: KPSP, FAA LID: PSP), formerly Palm Springs Municipal Airport, is an airport two miles (3 km) east of downtown Palm Springs, California, United States.
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