By Ralph Tupper
Things don’t always turn out the way they were intended. Often, a project begins with a specific goal, then changes direction. Some turn out for the better. And some evolve into something of historical significance. Our Chico Army Air Field was one of these rare cases.
It began in the early 1930’s when United Airlines showed an interest in expanding their rapidly growing air service. Cyrus B. Johnson, a former Chico resident and San Francisco stockbroker, realized the possibilities and began searching for a location near the city limits that would fill the need. He selected a 40 acre plot at the present airport site and recommended purchase. Funds were not available to acquire the land even at the $15 per acre asking price. However, in 1934, the Chico City Council agreed that the site was adequate and leased the acreage for five years at $250 per year with an option to buy at the original price. In April 1935 the money was found to purchase the 160 acres for $2,400. The airport was dedicated on April 12, 1935 and the first dirt runway was graded later that month.
Private pilots began using the dirt strip and began pressuring the City Council for more facilities. In June 1937 the City Manager authorized $1,480 to build a hangar. Chico’s fledgling airport was located at the northwestern end of the present airport. The private pilots were happy bouncing along on the dirt strip, but faster and larger aircraft needed smoother, longer runways. In 1941, an adjacent 228 acres were purchased.
The Ryan School of Aeronautics with a contract with the U.S. Army Air Corps to train advanced cadets, saw war breaking out in Europe and wanted to expand beyond their two schools in San Diego and Hemet. Representatives came to Chico to explore the possibility of a branch here and pointed out the hundreds of construction jobs and expanded housing it would bring. Certification was granted in April 1941 and the City promptly used this to apply for a WPA grant of $45,505 to improve the field and entice the Ryan School. This was approved on June 4, 1941 and work began on a drainage system and the laying out of four runways, taxi strips and aprons.
While this work was going on, a small group of Chico leaders led by the Chico Chamber of Commerce, having heard that the West Coast Training Command was seeking to move from Moffett Field, felt it would be a much bigger prize if they could be persuaded to move to Chico. As they did not want to jeopardize the deal they had going with Ryan, they quietly made trips to Washington to lobby for a Chico move. There they found that other communities were also in the running, with Santa Rosa as the leading contender.
Chico joined the fight, and along with Santa Rosa began applying pressure. The War Department then decided to split the West Coast Training Command, with the headquarters going to Santa Rosa and the flying school elsewhere. The Chico representatives did a marvelous selling job and on August 26, 1941 the War Department announced that the Army Air Corps Base would be in Chico, and included a plan to spend at least two million dollars on development, indicating that at least 1,900 personnel would be stationed here.
The City fathers were overjoyed. They immediately leased 480 acres of adjacent land from Maude G. Hamm and another 177 from others to bring the total to 1,045 acres. On September 11, 1941 the City Council formally signed a lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, leasing the land at $1 per year.
The
airport was officially declared the Chico Army Flying School on April 15, 1942. The first group of cadets arrived on April 25th. Over
the course of WWII there were quite a number of combat pilots who took their training in Chico. The Air Base was home to many aircraft,
including groups of BT-13’s, Bell Aircobras, P-38 Lightnings, P-51’s and B-29’s. In the end, the field had cost almost $9,000,000
and had 4,000 personnel at its peak.