Mesa Del Rey Airport

(former King City Airport)

(former King City Naval Aux. Air Station)
USGS 2006 orthophoto
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCity of King City
ServesKing City, California
Elevation AMSL374 ft / 114 m
Coordinates36°13′43″N 121°07′17″W / 36.22861°N 121.12139°W / 36.22861; -121.12139
Map
KIC is located in California
KIC
KIC
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 4,479 1,365 Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Aircraft operations7,862
Based aircraft19

Mesa Del Rey Airport (IATA: KIC, ICAO: KKIC, FAA LID: KIC) is a public airport a mile northeast of King City, in Monterey County, California, United States.[1] The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation facility.[2]

History

It opened in April 1940 as Palo Alto Airport or King City Airport. It originally had a 4,570' NW/SE hard surfaced runway. It was used for most of World War II by the United States Army Air Forces as a primary (level 1) contract pilot training airfield. It also had four local auxiliary airfields for emergency and overflow landings. The pilot training contractor was Palo Alto Airport, Inc. Flying training was performed with Fairchild PT-19s as the primary trainer. It also had several PT-17 Stearmans.

Known sub-bases and auxiliaries were (no trace of these fields remain today):

The construction of the flying school began in December 1940. The buildings, the barracks, administration, PX, mess hall, schoolrooms, aircraft hangars, runways, and aprons were built from scratch and were completed by May 1941. The first set of cadets arrived on March 15, and the first class of 50 started on March 21, 1941. Pilot training had ended by October 16, 1944.[3]

Military control of the airport was transferred to the United States Navy in April 1945. It was known as King City Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS). The Navy declared the airport surplus on 30 September 1945. Eventually it was discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) and became a civil airport.[4][5][6]

Facilities

The airport covers 149 acres (60 ha) at an elevation of 374 feet (114 m). Its single runway, 11/29, is 4,479 by 100 feet (1,365 x 30 m).[1]

In the year ending February 25, 2009, the airport had 7,862 general aviation aircraft operations, average 21 per day. 19 aircraft were then based at this airport: 90% single-engine, 5% multi-engine, and 5% helicopter.[1]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Palo Alto Airport.
  1. 1 2 3 4 FAA Airport Form 5010 for KIC PDF. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective May 31, 2012.
  2. ↑ "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF, 2.03 MB) on September 27, 2012.
  3. ↑ King City, California The First Hundred Years 1886—1986. San Antonio Valley Historical Association, King City Centennial Committee. 1986. Print
  4. ↑ Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
  5. ↑ Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
  6. ↑ Manning, Thomas A. (2005), History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas. OCLC 71006954, 29991467
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