{"id":4103,"date":"2015-09-20T22:59:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-20T22:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.airportarchives.com\/home\/?p=4103"},"modified":"2025-03-21T19:22:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T19:22:48","slug":"kwvi-watsonville-municipal-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.airportarchives.com\/home\/private-airports\/kwvi-watsonville-municipal-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"KWVI – Watsonville Municipal Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It was early 1931 that Watsonville entered the aviation age. On May 9, 1931, Governor James “Sunny Jim” Rolph, riding in a Stinson monoplane piloted by WW. Bendell, made a low pass over the runway and cut a ribbon stretched across the field to officially open Watsonville’s first airport. This was just over a year after the formation of “Watsonville Airport Incorporated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five thousand shares of stock were issued and bought by 400 “largely civic minded citizens” to purchase land to build an airport. An 85-acre site southwest of the city, near the junction of Highway 1 and Salinas Road in Monterey County, was chosen for the airport because it was the only land available “at a reasonable price.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1939 The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), forerunner of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), decided that a civil airport was needed in Santa Cruz County. CAA representatives went first to the City of Santa Cruz offering to build an airport, if the city would buy the land. This offer was conditioned with an agreement that upon accepting CAA funding the land would always be used for an airport. Santa Cruz County voted down the offer and the CAA presented a similar offer to the City of Watsonville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offer was accepted and a special election was held on May 12, 1942 with Proposition 4 being a bond issue in the amount of $125,000 for a municipal airport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the middle of WWII, the U.S. Navy took control of the civilian airport in July 1943, purchased an additional 35 acres, and built support buildings and the concrete ramp. On October 23, 1943, the airport was commissioned as\u00a0Naval Auxiliary Air Station Watsonville<\/strong>\u00a0(NAAS Watsonville<\/strong>) and served as a satellite to Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda. NAAS Watsonville provided training and maintenance for the 12th Naval District, Alameda, California under the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Antisubmarine<\/a>\u00a0Blimps<\/a>\u00a0in the defense of California from Moffett Field were stationed at NAAS Watsonville. Other aircraft stationed at the base were\u00a0Grumman F6F Hellcat<\/a>\u00a0with the\u00a0VF-8<\/a>\u00a0and VBF-8. Up to 75 combat aircraft were stationed at the base. Also based at the airfield were\u00a0Grumman TBF Avenger<\/a>,\u00a0Vought F4U Corsair<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Douglas SBD Dauntless<\/a>. These were used for the 90- to 120-day training classes, in\u00a0torpedo<\/a>,\u00a0dive bomber<\/a>\u00a0and fighter operations. As World War II ended, so did operations at NAAS Watsonville. On November 1, 1945, NAAS Watsonville was closed and placed in caretaker status, and subsequently returned to the City of Watsonville in 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.watsonville.gov\/340\/Pre-War-History-Watsonville-Airport-Comp<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.watsonville.gov\/339\/History<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Watsonville_Airport#:~:text=Watsonville%20Airport%20was%20an%20airport,was%20the%20city’s%20first%20airport.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Watsonville_Municipal_Airport<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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