Chico Municipal Airport is a
public airport located four miles (6 km)
north of the central business
district (CBD) of Chico
, a city in
Butte County,
California
, United States. The airport covers 1,475
acres (6 km²) and has two
runways and one
helipad. It is
mostly used for
general aviation,
but is served by one commercial airline. The airport's
fixed base operator, Northgate Aviation,
provides fuel, maintenance, flight training and charter flights for
business and personal travel.
Airline
History
During the late 1930s the City of Chico acquired approximately 160
acres (0.6 km²) of land five miles (8 km) north of what was then
the City limits and constructed an airport hangar and runway. Until
1941, this original facility was leased to a fixed-base operator.
During 1941 the City acquired an additional 1,000 acres (4 km²) for
the purpose of leasing the Airport to the United States
Government.
During World War II, the Airport was leased to the U.S. Government
on a "Dollar a Year Lease" for the purpose of constructing and
operating an
United States
Army Air Forces Basic Training Air Field.
Chico Army
Airfield was under the command of the 10th Army Air Force
Base Unit, AAF West Coast Training Center,
Fourth Air Force. Chico Army Airfield was a
major training site for thousands of pilots, both as a primary
training base flying
BT-13s, and for advanced
gunnery and multi-engine training in
P-38,
P-39,
P-63,
B-17,
B-29s.
Chico AAF also had five auxiliary landing fields:
- Orland Auxiliary Field No. 1
- Kirkwood Auxiliary Field No. 2
- Vina Auxiliary Field No. 3
- Campbell Auxiliary Field No. 4
- Oroville Auxiliary Field No. 5
After the war, the City negotiated an agreement by which the
airport property was returned to the City, together with the bulk
of improvements which had been constructed by the Army.
A Titan-I ICBM was located on the
north side of the airport from 1962-1965, part of the Beale
AFB's
851st Strategic Missile Squadron system of several
ICBMs centered around Marysville. Its formal designation was
Beale 851-C. It is now dismantled.
See also
References
External links
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