Watsonville Municipal Airport is three miles (5 km) northwest of

Watsonville Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self- ...

, in Santa Cruz County,

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. The airport covers and has two

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. The largest aircraft to ever land at Watsonville were 05-5141 and 05-5143,

C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...

s from

March ARB March Air Reserve Base (March ARB), previously known as March Air Force Base (March AFB) is located in Riverside County, California between the cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, and Perris. It is the home to the Air Force Reserve Command's Fo ...

, California.

Facilities

The airport's longest runway is 02-20, 4501' x 149'. The crosswind runway, 09-27, 3998' x 98', is used when winds favor it and when fog is moving across the field from

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...

. The airport is uncontrolled, and the

CTAF Common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) is the name given to the VHF radio frequency used for air-to-air communication at United States, Canadian and Australian non-towered airports. Many towered airports close their towers overnight, keeping ...

is 122.8

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

, and the

ASOS ASOS or Asos may refer to: * Asos, a village in Greece * ASOS (retailer), a UK online fashion store * Association Sportive Oussou Saka, a Beninese football team * Automated Surface Observing System, a type of weather station * Air Support Operatio ...

can be received on 132.275 MHz or by calling 831-724-8794.

History

The Navy took over in July, 1943, purchased an additional 35 acres, built support buildings and the concrete ramp. On October 23, 1943, the airport was commissioned as Naval Air Auxiliary Station Watsonville (NAAS Watsonville) and served as a satellite to Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda. NAAS Watsonville provided training and maintenance for the 12th Naval District, Alameda, California under the Bureau of Yards and Docks, under the command of Lieutenant John C. Chapman.

Antisubmarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

Blimp A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hydr ...

s in the defense of California from Moffett Field were stationed at NAAS Watsonville. Other aircraft stationed at the base were

Grumman F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...

with the VF-8 and VBF-8. Up to 75 combat aircraft were stationed at the base. Also based at the airfield were

Grumman TBF Avenger The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American World War II-era torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval av ...

Vought F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

and

Douglas SBD Dauntless The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/div ...

. These were used for the 90- to 120-day training classes, in

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

and fighter operations. As the World War II ended, so did operations at NAAS Watsonville, on November 1, 1945, it was closed and placed on caretaker status. The NAAS Watsonville was returned to the city in 1947.

Instrument approaches

The airport has three documented instrument approach procedures, making it a popular instrument training area. * Localizer Runway 02 (requires overwater flight) * RNAV (GPS) Runway 02 (requires overwater flight, LPV/WAAS minimums) * VOR/DME-A (from Salinas VOR) Instrument pilots have been advised that Watsonville is occasionally surrounded by non-IFR traffic that climbs or descends to low stratus layers in violation of regulations. Air traffic control (ATC) usually calls them out, but they cannot always see them. There are frequent radio calls to the

common traffic advisory frequency Common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) is the name given to the VHF radio frequency used for air-to-air communication at United States, Canadian and Australian non-towered airports. Many towered airports close their towers overnight, keeping ...

(CTAF), even when instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevail.

Accidents and incidents

On August 18, 2022, at 2:56 PM, two planes, a twin engine

Cessna 340 The Cessna 340 is a twin piston engine pressurized business aircraft that was manufactured by Cessna.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 106. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. The Cessna 33 ...

and a single engine

Cessna 152 The Cessna 152 is an American two-seat, fixed- tricycle-gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal use. It was based on the earlier Cessna 150 incorporating a number of minor design changes and a slightly ...

collided with each other while attempting to land. Three fatalities have been reported.

References

External links