Eddie Andreini Sr. Airfield, officially Half Moon Bay Airport is a public airport in San Mateo County, northwest of

Half Moon Bay, California Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately at the north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the u ...

, United States. The airport is on the

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

, south of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

History

The Half Moon Bay Airport is about 20 miles south of San Francisco. It was built by the California State Highway Department for the U.S. Army in 1942 as an auxiliary airfield for

Salinas Army Air Base Salinas Municipal Airport is an airport in Monterey County, California, United States, three miles (4.8 km) southeast of Downtown Salinas. It is included in the 2017–21 National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems as a regional general ...

. Known as Half Moon Bay Flight Strip, the airport supported Salinas AAF's ground support mission to train light observation and reconnaissance squadrons. These were light aircraft and fighters modified with camera equipment. Salinas Army Airbase also had the mission of conducting coastal patrols. As such, the airfield would have been garrisoned by a detachment of the 301st Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron. With the reorganization of the Army Air Forces that took place in the first quarter of 1944, the site was transferred to Air Technical Service Command and garrisoned by its own unit, the 4159th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Air Base). The mission of this unit was to operate the airfield for emergency landings, transient aircraft, and training missions. Other than refueling aircraft, no aircraft services would have been available. On June 1, 1945, the War Department issued a five-year permit to the U.S. Navy to operate the Site as "Outlying Field, Half Moon Bay". Half Moon Bay field became an outlying field for Naval Air Station Moffett Field, to furnish facilities for utility aircraft providing target towing service for the Anti-Aircraft Training Center, Point Montara, California. San Mateo County acquired the airport from the Navy in 1947. It is an important business, transportation and emergency service asset to the community.

Facilities

Half Moon Bay 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 § ...

of . Its asphalt/concrete

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 ...

, 12/30, is . Half Moon Bay Airport provides a variety of emergency service and response functions including: Air ambulance and Medevac flights; law enforcement and homeland security patrols;

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

sea-rescue operations; and use as a disaster relief staging site for the airlifting of emergency supplies in the event that roads are closed during a disaster or emergency. Half Moon Bay Airport is home to about 80 aircraft and several related businesses. The airport is self-funded through airport user and business fees and receives no money from the county's general fund. In the year ending January 15, 2020, the airport had 50,150 aircraft operations, average 137 per day: >99%

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 <1%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

. As of December 2020, 13 aircraft were based at the airport: 12 single-engine and 1 multi-engine.

Pacific Coast Dream Machines

The airport hosts an annual benefit event in April, Pacific Coast Dream Machines, which features aircraft and automobiles.

December 2015 airport renaming

On December 8, 2015, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors renamed the airport the

Eddie Andreini Edward Andreini (March 28, 1937 – May 4, 2014) was an American aerobatic pilot based in Half Moon Bay, California. On May 4, 2014, Andreini died while performing aerial acrobatics at an airshow in Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, Cal ...

Sr. Airfield to commemorate the many accomplishments and contributions that Andreini Sr. made to San Mateo County. However, the airport is still registered as Half Moon Bay Airport with the US government and FAA. Andreini had been a leader of the San Mateo County aviation community for many years, learning to fly at the Half Moon Bay Airport in 1953, performing in countless air shows around the world for almost 50 years before he died in 2014 at the age of 77 in an air show crash. The airshow pilot was an avid volunteer in the Half Moon Bay community, is credited for much of the success of the Pacific Coast Dream Machines - Half Moon Bay event and is remembered for his popular and technically challenging aerobatics skills. The International Council of Air Shows awarded Andreini the Sword of Excellence Award, the highest honor an air show pilot can receive in 2004 and inducted him into the Air Show Hall of Fame in 2013 for his performances and generosity in mentoring younger air show pilots.

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