Fullerton Municipal Airport , owned and operated by the City of Fullerton, is a regional relief airport in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

. The airport is in the southwestern corner of Fullerton on Commonwealth Avenue, northeast of the junction of the Santa Ana (I-5) and Riverside (SR 91) Freeways. The airport and its industrial park are surrounded by residential areas. It is popular among private pilots traveling within the state of California, but there are occasional flights to and from Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

History

Fullerton Municipal Airport can trace its origins to 1913 when barnstormers and

crop duster A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponi ...

s used the former pig farm as a makeshift landing strip. The site later became home to a sewer farm. The airport's "official" birthday is 1927. William and Robert Dowling, with the aid of H. A. Krause and the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce, had petitioned the council for permission to turn the by then-abandoned sewer farm into a landing field. The Fullerton

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

approved Ordinance 514 in January 1927, formally establishing the airport. The council leased the land to the chamber for five years, at a fee of $1 per year, and the chamber, in turn, subleased operations to William Dowling and friend Willard Morris of

Yorba Linda Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, United States, approximately Ordinal directions, southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and had a population of 68,336 at th ...

. The city would assume direct control of the facility in January 1941. A portion of the

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

feature '' Hell's Angels'' was filmed at Fullerton in 1929. Hughes would feature later in Fullerton's history by buying a tract of land for

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other pro ...

. The campus eventually became home to Hughes Aircraft Ground Systems Group, closing in 2000. In 1949 Dick Riedel and

Midway City Midway City is a census-designated place in the United States that forms part of the county land controlled by Orange County, California. The only area in Orange County that incorporates its chamber of commerce and homeowners association to act ...

's Bill Barris of Fullerton Air Service, sponsored by the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce, set a world flight endurance record from the airport, keeping their modified

Aeronca Sedan The Aeronca 15AC Sedan is a four-seat, fixed conventional gear light airplane which was produced by Aeronca Aircraft between 1948 and 1951. Designed for personal use, the Sedan also found applications in utility roles including bush flying. The ...

, the ''Sunkist Lady'' aloft for 1,008 hours and 2 minutes. The control tower, built with

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

funds in 1959, was the first in Orange County. The

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enforcem ...

, Anaheim Police Department, Orange County Fire Authority, and Mercy Air maintain helicopters on the airfield. The airport also had scheduled passenger air service provided by

Golden West Airlines Golden West Airlines was a commuter airline that operated flights on a high volume schedule in California. It ceased operations in 1983. History The original Golden West Airlines, headquartered at Van Nuys, California, was founded in 1968 a ...

during the 1970s to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) which was flown with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprop aircraft. After two crashes in eight days in 1992, Fullerton Airport faced calls for it to be closed, by the then-mayor of

Buena Park Buena Park (''Buena'', Spanish for "Good") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census its population was 84,034. It is the location of several tourist attractions, namely Knott's Berry Farm. It is about 12 m ...

, Rhonda McCune. Due to the airport's location near the border of Fullerton and Buena Park, Mayor McCune alleged that "Fullerton gets all of the economic benefits from the airport while we get the accidents."

Facilities

Fullerton Municipal Airport covers and has one runway and one heliport: * 6/24: 3,121 × 75 ft (951 × 23 m), asphalt * Heliport H1: 37 × 37 ft (11 × 11 m), concrete Its

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

handles an average of 262 operations per day. Aviation Facilities Inc. (AFI Flight Training) is west of the control tower on the south side of the field. The facility is close by to the

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

and Highway 91 interchange, along with

Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In 2015, it was the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America and averages approximately 4 million visitors per year. It features 40 ...

in Buena Park and

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

in Anaheim.

References

External links

Fullerton Airport
(official site) * {{Greater Los Angeles Airports Airports in Orange County, California Buildings and structures in Fullerton, California Transportation in Fullerton, California Airports established in 1927 1927 establishments in California