Wasco Airport , also known as Wasco-Kern County 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 surfa ...

located northwest of

Wasco Wasco is the name of four places in the United States: Places United States * Wasco, California, a city in California ** Wasco State Prison, located in Wasco, California * Wasco, Illinois, a former hamlet (unincorporated town) in Illinois, now pa ...

, serving

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county sp ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. This

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airport covers and has one

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, concre ...

History

US Army Air Force, Wasco Field - Wasco CA, 1945

Wasco Auxiliary Field or Wasco Field No. 1 was a satellite airfield of

Minter Field Minter may refer to: Places in the United States *Minter, Alabama, an unincorporated community *Minter Village, California, an unincorporated community *Minter City, Mississippi Minter City is an unincorporated community in Leflore County and ...

, built for

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 opposing ...

pilot training. The

Vultee BT-13 Valiant The Vultee BT-13 Valiant is an American World War II-era basic (a category between primary and advanced) trainer aircraft built by Vultee Aircraft for the United States Army Air Corps, and later US Army Air Forces. A subsequent variant of the ...

and

Boeing-Stearman Model 75 The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known ...

were the most common plane used for training at Wasco Auxiliary Field and the Minter Army Airfields. The US Army leased the small 1932 40 acres Wasco Airport and 120 acres north of the airport from Kern County on June 16, 1941. Minter Field was 12 miles to the southeast of Wasco Field. The Army built a 5 runway landing mat on the site, with no other improvements. In 1944 Pond Field was closed and the lease ended on June 30, 1951. The Wasco Auxiliary Field became the Wasco-Kern County Airport.kerncounty.com, planning
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References

External links

Airports in Kern County, California {{California-airport-stub

History

See also

References

External links