Chico Army Air Field

Chico Regional Airport , formerly known as Chico Municipal Airport, is north of Chico, in Butte County, California, United States. The airport covers , has two runways and one helipad. Its fixed-base operator, Northgate Aviation provides fuel, maintenance, flight training, and charter flights. Though an operational airport with that meets Federal Aviation Regulations Part 139 standards, the airport has not seen active commercial air service since SkyWest Airlines ended service to San Francisco at the end of 2014.

Past airline service and Pacific Express

Airlines at Chico were American Airlines regional affiliate American Eagle, Hughes Airwest, Pacific Express, Reno Air Express and WestAir operating as United Express.

Southwest Airways and its successors provided the only airline service into Chico from 1947 until June 1979. Two airlines flew jets from Chico: Hughes Airwest with Douglas DC-9s and, from 1982 to 1984, Pacific Express with BAC One-Elevens. Both airlines flew to San Francisco. Hughes Airwest also flew direct DC-9s to Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Portland, San Jose, and other cities. Prior to the DC-9 service, Air West flew Fairchild F-27s to San Francisco and Portland. From 1982 to 1984, Pacific Express operated one BAC One-Eleven departure a day to San Francisco with some flights making a stop in Sacramento. According to the February 1, 1984 timetable, the airline had a daily morning BAC One-Eleven nonstop to Sacramento continuing to San Francisco, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara. Other airlines included American Eagle, Reno Air Express and WestAir which flew smaller turboprops such as the BAe Jetstream 31 mainly to San Francisco or San Jose.

Service flown by SkyWest Airlines operating as United Express with Embraer EMB-120 Brasilias nonstop to San Francisco ended on December 2, 2014. The airport now has no scheduled passenger air service.

Pacific Express was based in Chico, but ceased all flight operations in early 1984. Pacific Express flew to 22 cities in California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington with BAC One-Elevens and Boeing 737-200s. The airline had ordered new BAe 146-200s but never took delivery. Several of these BAe 146s were acquired by Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). Pacific Express briefly had a code sharing agreement with Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) when the airline operated as Pan Am Pacific Express.

History

The City of Chico built a small airport on of land north of the city in the late 1930s and leased the facility to a fixed-base operator. The airport was expanded in 1941 to help serve the needs of the United States military, on 11 September 1941, when the City Council of Chico signed a lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (representing the War Department) for the use of of land at $1 per year with an option to buy. The city also provided all utilities and service roads to the field. Between four and five million dollars were allocated for construction of all needed facilities in a very short time, as at other bases. Eventually 140 buildings as well as runways, aprons and service roads were built.

Chico Army Airfield was under the command of the 10th Army Air Force Base Unit, AAF West Coast Training Center, Army Air Forces Training Command. Chico AAF also had five auxiliary landing fields:
* Orland Auxiliary Field No. 1 now the Haigh Field Airport
* Kirkwood Auxiliary Field No. 2 (no remains, abandoned)
* Vina Auxiliary Field No. 3 (now private Deer Creek Ranch Airport, 3000 ft square mat field)
* Campbell Auxiliary Field No. 4 (abandoned all-way field, slight traces of runways)
* Oroville Auxiliary Field No. 5 (abandoned all-way field, slight traces of runways)
* Siskiyou County Army Airfield (now Siskiyou County Airport)

On 15 April 1942 the first cadre of permanent troops who managed the field moved in. The field was opened as the Chico Army Flying School on April 15, 1942. The first cadets arrived on April 25, 1942 from Moffett Field where they had completed part of their basic flying in addition to their primary training. Basic training at Chico began on July 28, 1942.

An all black company was assigned to the Field in August 1942. The first WACs arrived in October 1943. A cadre of black WACs was housed on an eleven-acre site across Cohasset Road from the Field. WASPS (Women's Army Service Pilots) frequently delivered planes to the field. At its peak Chico Army Air Field had about 4,000 personnel. In the first two years, it trained 5,500 cadets and thousands of ground personnel.

In April 1944 the mission of the field was changed from basic flying training of cadets to training of fighter pilots. An April 24, 1944 the field was transferred from the Western Flying Training Command to the IV Fighter Command.

The new command brought in pilots who had completed their basic and advanced training and received commissions prior to coming to Chico. Here they were to be taught tactics of combat flying using Bell King Cobra (P-63) planes, later switching to the twin-engine Lockheed P-38 Lightings. These were all propeller planes. In May 1945 jet training was introduced on the P-59 jet trainers, and in July the P-51 `Mustangs. On August 25, 1945 IV Fighter Command was replaced by the 21st Bombardment Wing. Its function was to process both personnel and aircraft for overseas assignment. In October 1945 the wing was redesignated the First Staging Command. Now the planes being processed were B-29 Superfortress bombers and crews.

Chico Army Air Field was deactivated on December 31, 1945. The property was excessed and transferred by the U.S. Army to the General Services Administration (GSA) for disposal. The lease on 1,045.3 acres was terminated on June 8, 1948. The lease termination agreement included the transfer of all U.S. Government constructed improvements to the City of Chico. GSA transferred the 10.97 acres to the City of Chico by deed dated January 28, 1949. The total acreage disposed was 1,056.27.

Honorary Naming

On May 19, 1992, the City of Chico City Council unilaterally adopted Resolution No. 146 91-92, formally naming Chico Airport "The Jean Morony Airfield" in honor of local judge and aviation advocate Jean Morony. Judge Morony is often credited as being one of the forefathers of aviation in Butte County, having been directly involved with the establishment of US Army Air Corps training activies in Chico and later as one of the key-figures in Chico aviation affairs spanning the mid-to-late-20th century. As of 2023, this name is not in regular use, however remains recognized by a plaque at the Chico Regional Airport passenger terminal.

Strategic Air Command

On 30 January 1959 the Air Force announced plans to conduct surveys in the vicinity of Beale Air Force Base to determine the feasibility for missile bases. A Titan-I ICBM was located on the north side of the airport from 1962 to 1965, part of Beale AFB's 851st Strategic Missile Squadron system of several ICBMs centered around Marysville. Its formal designation was Beale 851-C. The last missile was lowered into the Chico complex 4C on April 20, 1962.

The Chico missile complex had two accidents in 1962. On 24 May during a contractor checkout, a terrific blast rocked launcher 1 at the complex, destroying a Titan I and causing heavy damage to the silo. On 6 June trouble again struck as a flash fire at another silo killed a worker. After the investigation, the Air Force concluded that the two separate explosions occurred because of a blocked vent and blocked valve. The silo was repaired and put back into operational service.

Today, the site has all three launch silos capped, but some development has taken place on the launch area, with a retention pond, some trees, and some single-story buildings being erected. It appears to be in use for some type of quarrying/grading material which is transported to construction sites in the Chico area.

In Popular Culture

'' Top Gun: Maverick'' was filmed in the foothills outside Chico in July 2019 for the final scenes between the F-14 and two SU-57's, which was performed using two L-39's and CGI. The film crew spent 10 days filming and secretly used the Chico Airport for a staging area.

2022 Renaming Effort

On November 15th, 2022, the Chico City Council passed a motion to rename Chico Municipal Airport to Chico Regional Airport. “The purpose of renaming the airport is to represent the entire area it serves and will serve when air service returns,” said Erik Gustafson, Director of Public Works Operations and Maintenance. “We are not innovators on this. Commonly airports are renamed to gain a larger market share.”https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/local/chico-municipal-airport-to-be-renamed-chico-regional-airport/article_5640557a-66f3-11ed-8381-2beb207b0f5d.html The City hired an airport marketing firm that agreed on the word “regional” adding value and keeping “Chico” to associate incoming travelers with known Chico amenities.

See also

* California World War II Army Airfields
* Aero Union
* 35th Flying Training Wing (World War II)
* Chico Air Museum

References

* Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas
* Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC

External links

Chico Regional Airport

Northgate Aviation
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{{USAAF Training Bases World War II

Airports in Butte County, California
1941 establishments in California
Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in California
Buildings and structures in Chico, California
Airports established in 1941
USAAF Western Flying Training Command
American Theater of World War II