Napa County Airport (Napa Valley Airport) is a public

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

five miles (8 km) south of Napa, in

Napa County Napa County () is a county north of San Pablo Bay located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,019. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original c ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. It has three

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s. During 2008 the airport's 1960-era control tower received extensive radio, plumbing and electrical upgrades and renovations funded by the federal government. Airport officials said the airport had about 122,000 flights take off or land at the facility annually.

History

The airport was built by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

about 1942, and was known as Napa Flight Strip. It was an emergency landing airfield for military aircraft on training flights. It was expanded later in the war and renamed Napa Army Airfield, becoming an auxiliary airfield of the

Fourth Air Force The Fourth Air Force (4 AF) is a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California. 4 AF directs the activities and supervises the training of more than 30,000 Air Force Reser ...

Hamilton Army Airfield Hamilton Field (Hamilton AFB) was a United States Air Force base, which was inactivated in 1973, decommissioned in 1974, and put into a caretaker status with the Air Force Reserves until 1976. It was transferred to the United States Army in 1983 ...

. 4th Air Force used the base to train replacement fighter pilots, primarily flying

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive tw ...

s before being deployed overseas. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the property was deeded to

by the

War Assets Administration The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Ord ...

for civil use. The airport soon became a business hub for what was once a rural, sparsely populated area in the south end of the county. Jonesy's Restaurant opened for business in 1946 at the airport and was a longtime favorite. The restaurant remained in business for 63 years before closing in 2010. By 1947 half a dozen small businesses had opened at the facility, but only Bridgeford Flying Service remained open past the first year and remains in business today. In 2012 the name was changed from Bridgeford Flying Service to Napa Jet Center. In 1971 International Air Services Company (IASCO) and

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

opened a flight training school at the airport. In June 2010 Japan Airlines announced that it would be closing its training facility as part of a bankruptcy reorganization plan. In February 2012 IASCO announced that it would be moving its training facility to

Redding, California Redding is the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California and the county seat of Shasta County. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, and south of California's northern border wi ...

in early March. In June 2014, International Airline Training Academy signed an agreement to lease space at the airport to train pilots for a five-year period. IATA no longer operates from the Napa County Airport as of 2017.Jensen, Pete
County airport fills vacant Japan Airlines facility
'' The Napa Valley Register''. 2014-06-25. The control tower sustained minor damage in the 2014 South Napa earthquake. On May 22, 2015, Surf Air started flying regular service to the airport. The parallel runways 18R/L and 36R/L have been repaved and renumbered 19R/L and 1R/L as of October, 2019.

References

* Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History's Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.

External links

Napa Valley Airport
(official site) * {{USAAF 4th Air Force World War II Airports in Napa County, California Flight Strips of the United States Army Air Forces Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in California Military in the San Francisco Bay Area Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in California

History

See also

References

External links