Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, September 1, 1942. Casper Air Base gets the thumbs up.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, September 1, 1942. Miscarriages of Justice.: According to the Wyoming State Historical Association, on this day in 1942 official approval was given to commence use of the Casper Air Base, which had been constructed in an incredibly small amount of time.  The existing county airport was Wardwell Field, the Casper area's second airport (the first was in what is now Evansville).  Today, what was Casper Air Base is the Natrona County International Airport, which actually uses at least one fewer runway than was constructed by the Army in 1942.  Wardwell Field's runways, in contrast, are city streets in the Town of Bar Nunn.

The Hanger. Wardell Field, Bar Nunn, Wyoming.

This is, and isn't, what it appears to be.

This is "The Hanger", a restaurant in Bar Nunn, Wyoming.  But originally it was what it looks like, an aircraft hanger.

Radial engine on display in The Hanger.  A decommissioned small airplane hangs from the roof.

Wardwell Field was Natrona  County's second airport (the first sits down in what is now Evansville).  The field served from 1927 up until the early 1950s when what had been the Army Air Force's training base west of Casper was turned over to the county. That latter facility, with its much larger runways and much flatter surface was obviously superior, so Wardwell was abandoned in favor of what is now the Natrona County International Airport.  During the boom of the 1970s the old runways were developed into streets and the town named in a playful fashion after the developer.

The fact that it was built on what had been runways was never forgotten and the town uses it as its symbol.  The old central hanger remains, but its now this restaurant.