Photo by Bill and Jack Bell and submitted by Steve Owen

Mesa Gigante, New Mexico, Site 66, Airway Beacon Generator Hut

Above is the generator hut for the soon to be Mesa Gigante, New Mexico airway beacon. This was the former Suwanee generator hut know as site 74 in 1930 and 1931. It was in the process of being moved from the above location to about 5 miles away, where it was to be placed on the realigned LA-A airway route. From 1931 on, it was repainted as Hut 66 and called Mesa Gigante.

Suwanee site 74 was a Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) beacon, aligned from Gallup to Clovis by this pioneering airline, as the first beacon line in this region (early 1929). The airway beacon and concrete arrows were located uphill atop the mesa rim. After a major aircraft accident at Mt. Taylor, TAT went broke after financial struggles that lasted about 1 year after the accident. TAT merged with Transcontinental and Western Airlines in 1930. The CAA took the airway segment over in 1930 and had the beacons in this segment shifted to the 1930’s-40’s LA-A alignment.

Photo by Bill and Jack Bell and submitted by Steve Owen

1931
The new home for the former Suwanee generator hut, site 74, now relocated, renamed, and repainted to Mesa Gigante, site 66 on the LA-A. The actual airway beacon was located up on the top of the mesa rim with a lengthy run of power cable.

Submitted by Steve Owen

Compare the above 2012 photo with the 1931 black and white photo above. It was taken from the same angle and height.

Submitted by Steve Owen

2012
The above and below photos are all that remains of Site 66, Airway Beacon Generator Hut, Mesa Gigante, New Mexico, The number 59 on the left side of the roof is not a beacon number but a partial coordinate. This generator hut is one of several LA-A beacon huts located on private land and moved from it’s original site which was known as Suwanee, site 74.

Submitted by Steve Owen

Submitted by Steve Owen

Submitted by Steve Owen