Barstow-Daggett Airport is a county-owned public airport in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

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 is five miles (7 km) east of Daggett and 14 miles east of Barstow. Built in 1933, it is the oldest of the six airports operated by San Bernardino County.

Facilities and aircraft

Barstow-Daggett Airport covers at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 1,930 feet (588 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

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: 8/26 is 6,402 by 150 feet (1,951 x 46 m) and 4/22 is 5,123 by 100 feet (1,561 x 30 m). In the year ending February 16, 2006, the airport had 36,500 aircraft operations, an average of 100 per day: 51%

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 ...

and 49%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. 59 aircraft were then based at this airport: 32% single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, 3% multi-engine, 1.7% jet, 2%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

, 2%

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

and 59%

History

Just prior to

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 Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) selected the site as an important civil air field and negotiated a standard agreement (AP 4) with the county of San Bernardino to maintain the air field. Shortly thereafter, the site was chosen by the War Department as a Modification Center. As a result, the county acquired fee interest to the additional land necessary for War Department use. On 4 May 1942, the government entered into an agreement with the county to lease the 1,099-acre site (renewable annually but not beyond 30 June 1967). About 29 May 1942 the government and Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., entered into a cost plus fixed fee ($1.00) contract (No. W-509-ENG-2557), whereby Douglas agreed to do all things necessary and incident to the procurement, furnishing, delivery and installation of equipment, machinery, machine tools, materials, supplies and facilities for proper operation of a Modification Center. Douglas established the Modification Center and operated it until the middle of 1944, when Army Air Forces deactivated the project. According to a narrative report contained in project files, there was no evidence of the lease ever having been executed, so it was believed that Douglas occupied and used the premises without any written agreement. On 12 November 1942, the Secretary of War and Standard Oil Co. (San Francisco) entered into an agreement (unnumbered lease to run with lease W-868-ENG-4504), whereby Standard Oil agreed to install, operate, and maintain lubricating oil storage and distribution facilities at the site. In addition, on 20 December 1943, the CAA was granted a permit (to run with Lease No. W-868-ENG-4505) to use and occupy two parcels of land totaling 11.2 acres at the Modification Center for a radio range and communication building site, together with a right of way between the two parcels for establishing and maintaining subsurface cable lines. The original permit period ended 30 June 1944, however, the lease contained a provision for annual renewal, at the option of the government, through 30 June 1967. Upon the expiration of the permit, all CAA property was to have been removed to a condition satisfactory to the Commanding Office or other competent military authority. About 65 buildings and 20 other structures were built at the facility (headquarters and flight operations buildings, hangars, barracks, sewage treatment plants, warehouses, water wells, water and fuel storage tanks, gasoline station, etc.). The total cost of government improvements was $3,924,273, with the CAA expending an additional $107,235 for various improvements. Douglas built a swimming pool, paint and dope storage shed, and an air hose station for which reimbursement was not made. According to airport personnel, improvements constructed by the county (non-DOD) consisted of one building, and the addition of a small surface water pond in the vicinity. On 25 September 1945, Major General Willis H. Hale,

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 Res ...

, notified Daggett Army Air Field that it was temporarily inactivated. The site (all 1,099 acres) was classified as surplus on 15 November 1945. According to the completed Declaration of Surplus Real Property Form (SPB 5, dated 28 March 1946), the improvements at the site were in good condition. Custody and accountability for the site was assumed by the War Assets Administration on 27 June 1946, with the installation immediately transferred to the Navy Department. The ''San Bernardino Daily Sun'' reported on 21 August 1951 that the lease between the county and the Marine Corps on the Daggett Airport had been renewed by the board of supervisors on 20 August.Staff, “Airport Lease Renewed”, ‘’The San Bernardino Daily Sun’’, San Bernardino, California, Tuesday 21 August 1951, Volume LVII, Number 54, page 16. According to airport personnel interviewed during the site visit, the county obtained control of facility from the military in 1958. However, a fire during the 1960s destroyed County records of the transaction. During 1946 through 1958 it is not clear which agency and jurisdiction over the facility. From 1958 through the present, the airport was controlled by the current owner, the county. According to Exhibit A of the original 1942 lease with the county, the government, at its option, may leave in place the alterations and improvements made to the landing areas in lieu of restoration. Today the US Army has based several UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and LUH-72 Lakota helicopters operating out of the airport under the

Fort Irwin Fort Irwin National Training Center (Fort Irwin NTC) is a major training area for the United States military in the Mojave Desert in northern San Bernardino County, California. Fort Irwin is at an average elevation of . It is located northeast o ...

National Training Center Fort Irwin National Training Center (Fort Irwin NTC) is a major training area for the United States military in the Mojave Desert in northern San Bernardino County, California. Fort Irwin is at an average elevation of . It is located northeast o ...

aviation company which is based on Fort Irwin.

References

External links

San Bernardino County Department of Airports: Barstow-Daggett Airport
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110814060506/http://daggettaviation.com/id2.html Airport history from Daggett Aviation* * *
{{authority control 1943 establishments in California Airports in San Bernardino County, California Military facilities in the Mojave Desert Airports established in 1943 World War II airfields in the United States Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in California Historic American Engineering Record in California

Facilities and aircraft

History

See also

References

External links