1930's airfield assistance

[FifteensAway]

Tried a bit of googling and didn't get very far.  I want to build a bit of a 1930's era airfield set in Central America and am wondering what to include.  A wind sock and a hangar or two maybe - or maybe not - some sort of control tower.  A fuel bowser truck or just a truck with fuel cans?  A fuel tank, not too large or maybe just a couple of couple hundred gallon tanks on wooden supports?  And would a grass field be more likely than a hard tarmac? 

Appreciate any guidance - aviation is not really my strong suit - greatly appreciated.  This will be for a pulp setting game.

[snitcythedog]

Knowing what 1930s airfields in the western US looked like it sounds like you are on the right track.  I do not think that Tarmac would be present as many runways in the US were still grass fields into the 40s and 50s.  Marston matting would be cinematic but was invented just before the war so it would probably not been in use.    Maybe an automotive portable lift gantry and 55 gallon drums with a hand siphon would not be out of place.  If you are looking for photos you might find a similar time frame in either Africa or Asia.

[carlos marighela]

Grass fields were quite common in more developed parts of the world in the 1930s, concrete or tarmac being less so, so almost certainly you want a grass field. IIRC the USAAC/USAAF fields in Panama were mostly still grass in this era.

If it's an established airfield in a bigger town then probably hangars, even ones of the open type. Definitely a windsock and control towers in all but major airports likely to be pretty rudimentary if present at all.

For fuel you might be best off with a truck with barrels or flimsies but of course a bowser is possible.

[FierceKitty]

The last scene of Casablanca might help a bit, though there's a lot of mist.

[Cat]

Really depends on how fancy you want to get.
 
Calabouço Airport in Rio (now Santos Dumont Airport) originally operated as a seaplane terminal only, as very few aircraft in Brazil even had landing gear.
 
In 1934, they did landfill to build the first 400m runway there, and extended it to 700m in 1936.  Haven't seen construction details, but I suspect this was paved.
 
More rural Brazilian locations would just be seaplane terminals on the waterside with no runways!

[carlos marighela]

Really depends on how fancy you want to get.
 
Calabouço Airport in Rio (now Santos Dumont Airport) originally operated as a seaplane terminal only, as very few aircraft in Brazil even had landing gear.
 
In 1934, they did landfill to build the first 400m runway there, and extended it to 700m in 1936.  Haven't seen construction details, but I suspect this was paved.
 
More rural Brazilian locations would just be seaplane terminals on the waterside with no runways!

Actually, there were a number of pre-existent airfields in Rio at the time.  Leaving aside the army and naval aviation airfields and seaplane bases in Campo dos Afonsos and Ilha de Governador respectively, there were two other significant civil airports at the time Santos Dumont came into operation. Most cross Atlantic air travel pre-war was by flying boat so that was the origial primary function of SDU.

The main land based airport before Santos Dumont was extended was the old Manguinhos airport next to Fiocruz. Despite the name most of it was actually located in present day Vila do João, part of what's now the Complexo da Maré and somewhere, ironically enough, that few cariocas (save for the residents) let alone tourists would visit these days. Photos of it in the 1930s suggest it was originally a grass/ earth field. It closed in the late '60s/ early '70s after air safety concerns following an accident.

Then of course there was the famous Zeppelin base in Santa Cruz, now part of the air force base, that operated for about five or six years in the early/mid 1930s. The enormous concrete Zeppelin hangar is still there. For those of you with a musical bent, the Zeppelin flights to Brazil feature in Chico Buarque's fabulous reworking of Pirate Jenny, Geni e o Zepelim.

[Digits]

A couple of useful pictures here

https://www.sfomuseum.org/exhibitions/pan-american-airways-central-america/gallery#12

[FifteensAway]

Thanks for all the replies and especially to Digits for the photos.