Vail Airport, Montebello was an

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 ...

Montebello, California Montebello (Italian for "Beautiful Mountain") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located just east of East Los Angeles and southwest of San Gabriel Valley. It is an independent city. east of downtown Los Angeles. It is ...

from 1926 to 1953. The airport was owned and operated by

Western Air Express Western Airlines was a major airline based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexico City, London and N ...

. Western Air Express purchased 700 acres of Vail farm to build the private airport from the Vail brothers. The vast airport was boarded by Telegraph Road on the south, Ferguson Drive on the north, Tusbway Avenue on the west, and Yates Avenue to the east. A group of Los Angeles entrepreneurs founded Western Air Express and the airport to cash in on the Air Mail Act of 1925 that opened up bidding on

air mail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

contracts. Western Air Express purchased six Douglas mailplanes model M-2 to start the company. Western Air Express built two 2 unpaved

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 running north-south in the middle of the lot, along the current Yates Avenue. A nearby movie studio building was turned into the main hangar and three more were built. Western Air Express won an airmail contract run from

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

in 1926. In 1927 the local airport became famous as

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

landed

The Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlanti ...

at the airport on a nationwide. Leland A. Bryant designed and built his racing aircraft at Vail Airport starting in 1927. Ryan Mechanics built the Lone Eagle CM-1 at Vail Airport in 1928. In 1928 Western Air Express took over Pacific Marine Airways airport service at Hamilton Cove Seaplane Base on

Catalina Island, California Santa Catalina Island ( xgf, Pimuu'nga or ; es, Isla Santa Catalina) is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island name is often shortened to Catalina Island or just Catalina. The island is ...

. In 1931 Western Air Express service which to using 10 passengers

Douglas Dolphin The Douglas Dolphin is an American amphibious flying boat. While only 58 were built, they served a wide variety of roles including private air yacht, airliner, military transport, and search and rescue. Design and development The Dolphin origin ...

, a twin-engined seaplane for the Hamilton Cove service. In 1931 the Western Air Express Hamilton Cove seabase service was taken over by Wilmington-Catalina Airlines which was owned by the

Wrigley family William Mills Wrigley Jr. (September 30, 1861 – January 26, 1932) was an American chewing gum industrialist. He was founder of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. Biography William Mills Wrigley Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Penns ...

. The

Union Oil Company Union Oil Company of California, and its holding company Unocal Corporation, together known as Unocal was a major petroleum explorer and marketer in the late 19th century, through the 20th century, and into the early 21st century. It was headqu ...

supported a Glider Club at the airport in the 1930s. With its long 5,500-foot dirt runway it was found that gliders could be launch with fast cars on the runway. Western Air Express mail service moved to the new Alhambra Airport in 1930. To support the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

training, in 1950, 11th

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

Auxiliary District operated out of Vail Field operating search & rescue mission in all of southern California. Vail Field was closed in 1953, the hangars were moved to Alameda Street and used by the Belyea Trucking company. The site of Vail Airport is all commercial property today. Western Air Express later became part of Western Airlines. Bryant Monoplane, registration NX705, experimental aircraft, was flown by Captain Arthur V. Rogers (1892-1927) a British

World War 1 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

flying ace. Bryant cantilever monoplane was entered in the

Dole Air Race The Dole Air Race, also known as the Dole Derby, was a deadly air race across the Pacific Ocean from Oakland, California to Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii held in August 1927. There were eighteen official and unofficial entrants; fifteen of ...

from Oakland, California to Hawaii. For the race the NX705 was named ''Angel of Los Angeles''. The NX705 designed by Leslie Bryan was unique, it had two engines in tandem, both a tractor the other a pusher plane. On August 11, 1927 Arthur Rogers took off from Vail Field for ''Angel of Los Angeles'' first flight. The plane took off and flow fine for seven minutes, returning for landing, at a low altitude of 150 feet, the plane dived. Rogers tried to bail out but was too low, the parachute failed to open in time and was killed instantly. Rogers was 35 at the time of his death, he had flown with the

Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille (french: Escadrille de La Fayette) was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the ''Aéronautique Militaire'' was composed largely of Ameri ...

and had shot down 32 German planes. The Ryan Mechanics Monoplane Company MMCwas founded by Oliver R. McNeel, B.A. Seitz, Fred C. Ayars, and Henry W. Hunold, all mechanics. Ryan Mechanics worked with the Los Angeles based Warren School of Aeronautics. They built a plane that looked a lot like the Spirit of St. Louis and called it the Lone Eagle CM-1 at Vail Airport. Lone Eagle was the nickname given to Charles Lindbergh, there was no sign that Lindbergh had any problems the used use of the nickname or anyone making a close copy of the Spirit of St. Louis. Ryan Mechanics renamed the company to Federal Aircraft Corporation in 1928 and later built one Federal Aircraft CM-3. Aeronautics Schools Of The Golden AgeCoast to Coast and In-Between with Giacinta Bradley Koontz, SEPTEMBER 2016
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Gallery

File:Vail_CA_41sect.jpg, Map Vail Airport, Montebello in 1941 File:Douglas M2.jpg, Douglas M-2 operated by Western Air Express File:James, Jimmy (4728489137).jpg, Jimmy James, first to fly Western Air Express airmail from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City in 1926 File:Dole Air Race - Rogers & Bryant, Angel of Los Angeles.jpg, Leland A. Bryan (on right), Captain Arthur V. Rogers left, and his NX 705, built at Vail Airport File:Dole Air Race NX705 "Angel of Los Angeles" Bryant Monoplane.jpg, Leland A. Bryan's NX 705, built at Vail Airport File:PacificMarineAirways1922.gif, Pacific Marine Airways, Curtiss HS-2L in 1922, Western Air Express purchased and flew to Vail in 1928 File:Ryan Mechanics Lone Eagle CM-1 Le Document aéronautique July,1928.jpg, A Ryan Mechanics Lone Eagle CM-1, built at Vail Airport

References

{{Greater Los Angeles Area

Vail Airport, Montebello Vail Airport, Montebello was an airport in Montebello, California from 1926 to 1953. The airport was owned and operated by Western Air Express. Western Air Express purchased 700 acres of Vail farm to build the private airport from the Vail broth ...

Defunct airports in California

Gallery

See also

References