Chino Airport is a county-owned

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

about three miles southeast of Chino, in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, 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 th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2007–2011 classified it as a ''

reliever airport A relief airport or reliever airport is an airport that is built or designated to provide relief or additional capacity to an area when the primary commercial airport(s) requires additional capacity, on a long-term or temporary basis. Reliever ...

'', due to its proximity to the

Ontario International Airport Ontario International Airport is an international airport east of downtown Ontario, California, Ontario, in San Bernardino County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino. It is ow ...

and the

John Wayne Airport John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

(in Orange County).

History

Cal-Aero Academy was an independent flying school at Chino Airport when

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

started. The

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

contracted with the school to provide basic and primary flight training for Army Air Cadets. The

Abbott and Costello Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work in radio, film, and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and 1950s, and the highest-paid entertainers in t ...

film ''

Keep 'Em Flying ''Keep 'Em Flying'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Arthur Lubin starring the team of Abbott and Costello alongside Martha Raye and Carol Bruce. The film was their third service comedy based on the peacetime draft of 1940. The come ...

'' was filmed at the base. During the war, Cal-Aero operated the training base with

Stearman Stearman is a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Josiah Stearman (born 2003), American chess master * Lloyd Stearman (1898–1975), American aviation pioneer * Richard Stearman (born 1987), English footballer * William Stearman ( ...

s and BT-13s. The name "Cal-Aero" is preserved at the airport and it can be seen on several buildings. Starting in early 1945, training aircraft surplused by the cessation of pilot training programs, and post-war, hundreds of combat aircraft were flown into Chino for disposal. This agricultural area was employed as a vast parking lot for warplanes. Soon, the entire area was filled with everything from T-6s to

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models desi ...

s. Most planes met an undignified end in portable smelters which were brought there to melt down the warplanes into

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

ingots. During the mid-1960s, the field was used as the location setting for the TV series '' 12 O'Clock High'', as the fictitious Archbury Army Air Field, which was home base to the (equally fictitious) 918th Bomb Group. The airfield itself and a number of World War II-era buildings were used for exterior shots. Chino Airport is the home of two aircraft museums, the Planes of Fame and the

Yanks Air Museum The Yanks Air Museum is an aviation museum dedicated to exhibiting, preserving and restoring American aircraft and artifacts in order to show the evolution of American aviation, located at Chino Airport in Chino, California. History A pair of F ...

, and the airport is one of the centers of aircraft restoration and preservation with several different companies that do this work at the airport.

Accidents and incidents

*On November 6, 2007, a

Beechcraft King Air The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...

impacted trees 3/4 of a mile past the departure end of runway 26R after takeoff in poor visibility. Both occupants were killed. *On June 13, 2013, a

private jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people, typically business executives and high-ranking associates. Business jets are generally designed for faster air travel and more personal ...

crashed into an empty office building near a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

. Maintenance workers were testing the

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

s when the plane jumped over the

chock Chock or Chocks may refer to: Devices for preventing movement * Wheel chock, tool to prevent accidental movement * Chock (climbing), anchor * Chock, component of a sailing block Other uses * Chock (surname) * ''Chock'' (TV series), a Sw ...

s and the workers lost control. Since the building was empty, no one was seriously hurt, but the jet was destroyed.

Facilities

Chino Airport covers and has three

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: * 3/21: 4,919 x 150 ft (1,499 x 46 m) * 8L/26R: 4,858 x 150 ft (1,481 x 46 m) * 8R/26L: 7,000 x 150 ft (2,134 x 46 m)

General aviation

In the year ending September 30, 2016, the airport had 164,588 aircraft operations, average 451 per day: 99%

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

and <1% air taxi. 590 aircraft were then based at the airport: 424 percent single-engine, 86 percent multi-engine, 64 percent jet, and 16

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

. FBOs: * Encore Jet Center * Threshold Aviation Group Airport businesses * M.I. AIR Aviation Education – flight school * Dubois Flight School * Mach One Air Charters – jet charter provider with multiple FAA violations for unsafe operationsFAA Docket 2015-0643 FAA vs Mach One Air Charters, Dan Hill
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References

Notes

Bibliography

* Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas * Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC.

External links

San Bernardino County Department of Airports

The History of Cal Aero Field
* {{authority control USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in California Airports in San Bernardino County, California Post–World War II aircraft storage facilities