AIRPARK'S NEW NAME HONORS EX-COUNCILMAN.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Palmdale's municipal airpark honoring Air Force Plant 42's workers and aircraft will be renamed for former Councilman Joe Davies, whose four decades of civic involvement included commanding the production and flight-test installation.

The airpark, which now has eight retired military aircraft on display with more being prepared, was renamed the ``Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42'' in a City Council vote last week.

``It recognizes his involvement with the community,'' Mayor Jim Ledford said the naming. ``He is a stellar individual. He's the kind of person you would want your children to emulate.''

``He has a history out there (Plant 42) and in the city,'' Mayor Pro Tem Mike Dispenza said. ``He's done a lot of good work in both areas.''

Davies served three terms as a councilman and 32 years in the Air Force, including commanding Plant 42 from 1963 to 1967, city officials said.

During Davies' time as commander, the production and flight-test installation saw the emergence of the SR-71 Blackbird from secrecy, work on the U-2 spy plane, and the first flight of the behemoth XB-70, a plane conceived as a high-altitude bomber capable of traveling 2,000mph.

``These were big achievements in the aerospace business,'' Davies said of the installation's work at the time.

Davies said he was flabbergasted when he was told of the naming.

``It's a tremendous honor,'' Davies said. ``Plant 42 and the city are both close to my heart.''

After retiring from the Air Force in 1973, Davies worked for Rockwell as a customer and public relations manager, mainly for the B-1 bomber and space shuttle programs. Davies retired from that post in the early 1990s.

Davies left the City Council in 1999. He is now a member of the city's Aviation and Aerospace Commission, an advisory body that helps shape city policy on the region's leading industry.

The airpark, at Rancho Vista Boulevard and 25th Street East, is intended to recognize Air Force Plant 42's contributions to national defense and to aerospace history. Initially an Army Air Corps base in the 1940s, and briefly a Los Angeles County airport, Plant 42 has been an aircraft production and flight-test installation since 1950.

Aircraft now at the airpark include an F-104, an F-4 Phantom, an F-86, a T-38 trainer, an A-7, an A-4, an F-100D and an F-105 Thunderchief. The park also includes a one-eighth scale model of a B-2 bomber provided by Northrop Grumman, the bomber's prime contractor.

james.skeen@dailynews

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