Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: California

California: Western Los Angeles Area

Baker Airport / Culver City Airport (revised 9/20/08) - Burdett Airport / Dycer Airport (revised 9/20/08)

Dycer Airport / Universal Airport / Gotch's Airport / Western Avenue Airport / Gardena Valley Airport (revised 3/24/09)

Gardena Airport (revised 2/25/04) - Goodyear Airship Factory (revised 9/21/08) - Hughes Airport (revised 12/13/08) - Rogers Airport

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Goodyear Airship Factory, Huntington Park, CA

33.98 North / 118.26 West (East of Los Angeles International Airport, CA)

The Goodyear Airship Factory complex, as depicted on the 1937 USGS topo map.

This facility within Los Angeles was a large manufacturing complex where the Goodyear company manufactured airships (blimps).

The date of establishment of the Goodyear facility has not been determined.

The earliest depiction of the Goodyear facility which has been located was on the 1937 USGS topo map.

It depicted several large factory buildings in the center of the property,

with open areas (airship fields) on the north & south sides, on the west side of which were several hangars.

A 1940 Shell street map (courtesy of Gary Alexander) labeled airport #14 on the map as “Goodyear Airship Base”.

According to Charles Irvin, “The main building faced Central Avenue,

and from what I can recall from my childhood, the only hangars I knew of

were the ones at the northwest / southwest corners of the plant (the angled buildings).

The southwest one had 'Goodyear' painted across the rooftop along with the winged shoe logo,

and was visible (the rooftop & logo) from the Harbor Freeway that runs west of the plant.

I can remember the one hangar, I can remember the administration building.

The main manufacturing building was massive, and pretty much all the buildings were concrete

except for the hangars, which I think were sheet metal - but again, huge.”

A December 4, 1952 aerial photo flown by Fairchild Aerial Surveys (courtesy of Robert Pope),

showed the Goodyear Airship factory complex & what appeared to be at least 4 blimp hangars, on the north & south sides of the complex.

The date of at which airship operations came to an end at the L.A. facility has not been determined.

It was subsequently reused by Goodyear for tire manufacturing.

Amazingly a 1980 aerial view showed that the former Goodyear Airship plant was not much changed compared to as seen in 1952,

with the hangars still standing on the northwest & southwest corners of the property.

According to Charles Irvin, “There was a LOT of 'bad blood' over this plant:

it had become a tire re-capping plant in later years,

and operations were moved out of state in an attempt to help clean up the air in L.A.

When it was time to demolish buildings, several groups tried to get at least one hangar listed as a historical building / national landmark,

and all attempts failed - Goodyear wanted nothing to do with the place anymore,

and refused to help (seems they were forced out of L.A. against their will, and were/are still very bitter over it).”

Ironically, the former Goodyear airship factory had some aviation reuse long after it was abandoned.

According to Charles Irvin, “If you look at the film 'Blue Thunder' [1983],

a good portion of the end of the film was shot at the old plant:

it's the chase scene with Schieder & McDowell & their respective helicopters,

and they shoot up the plant pretty good (you can tell in the film that it had been abandoned for quite some time).

But - they stayed away from the hangar (only the southwest hangar remained until the plant was demolished).”

By the time of the 1994 USGS aerial photo, the site of the former Goodyear airship factory had been covered by a large new building

(the Central Los Angeles Post Office),

and it did not appear as if any remnants of the Goodyear complex had survived.

As seen in the 2004 USGS aerial photo, the former Goodyear airship factory & hangars were replaced by the Post Office building, leaving no trace of them.

However, the row of smaller buildings along the west side of the property (visible in the 1952 photo) still remain intact.

Charles Irvin reported in 2007 that he went to Goodyear's Airship Operations in Carson

to look for photographs of the Goodyear Los Angeles airship factory,

“Only to find they had none at all, except for a close-up of a prototype blimp:

the photo was taken from the doorway of the south hangar,

looking towards the main administration / production building (it was a huge concrete building).

Goodyear's corporate offices also do not have any photographs of the plant,

nor was the late Hal Fishman of KTLA News (a record-holding pilot who had covered L.A. most of his life)

able to find anything in their archives about it - seems everybody wanted to forget that it ever existed.”

The site of the Goodyear factory was bounded by Florence Avenue on the south,

Central Avenue on the east, Gage Avenue on the north, and McKinley Avenue on the west.

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Burdett Airport / Dycer Airport, Inglewood, CA

33.95 North / 118.31 West (Northeast of Hawthorne Airport, CA)

An undated view of biplanes in front of the hangars of the Burdett Airlines School of Aviation (courtesy of Dan MacPherson).

An undated illustration of a performance of the "Black Cats" at the Burdett Airport (courtesy of Dan MacPherson).

According to Dan MacPherson, the airfield at 94^th & Western Avenue

was first inhabited by Burdette Fuller & was called Burdette Field.

Burdette Field was home to the famous stunt team "The Black Cats".

The Black Cats were a company of flamboyant Los Angeles-based stunt pilots

who defied both superstition & the odds on survival at Burdette Airport in the 1920's.

Lots of footage was taken of the black cats doing various stunts,

and the footage appeared in many movies.

The black cats were involved with motion pictures & received a lot of publicity.

According to K.O. Eckland, the Burdette School of Aviation was established in 1925

by Burdette Fuller & Jack Frye as a base for Burdette Airlines.

Fuller sold the field to Jack Frye, who founded Aero Corp, which became TWA.

Burdette Fuller taught Frye how to fly.

After Frye left, Charles Dycer bought the field.

An aerial view of Dycer Airport, looking west in 1929, courtesy of Dan MacPherson.

Hollywood Park is visible in the background.

The hangars at Dycer Airport in 1929, courtesy of Dan MacPherson.

An undated aerial view of Dycer Airport, courtesy of Dan MacPherson.

According to Dan MacPherson,

in 1929 this airport was occupied by Aero Corporation & Standard Airlines.

It was the Los Angeles terminal of Standard Airlines, whose routes extended to El Paso, TX.

The Standard Oil Company's 1929 "Airplane Landing Fields of the Pacific West" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

described Dycer Field as being owned by C. H. Dycer.

It was said to have 2 natural adobe soil runways,

with the longest being an 1,800' east/west strip.

Three hangars (marked "Dycer") & other small buildings were at the southeast corner.

The label "Dycer Airport" was depicted on the 1930 USGS topo map (courtesy of Francis Blake),

but no runways or anything else was depicted.

A 1931 street map (courtesy of Gary Alexander) labeled the Dycer Airfield simply as “Airport”.

After Aero Corporation & Standard Airlines moved, the site was taken over by Charles Dycer,

who moved his operations from the field at Western Avenue & 136^th Street (later known as Gardena Valley Airport).

An aerial view of Dycer Airport from the Airport Directory Company's 1933 Airports Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

The directory described Dycer Airport as having two 2,600' runways, "one oil, one natural".

The aerial photo in the directory depicted several large arch-roofed hangars on the south side of the field,

as well as a long row of 24 individual hangars along the north side of the field.

The manager was listed as the Dycer Brothers.

The operators were the Dycer Flying School (instruction),

Dycer Airport (passenger flights, charter trips, aircraft sales, parts, and supplies),

and California Aircraft Repair Company (all types of general repair work).

Ken Barber recalled, “I lived on 94^th Place just just 4 short blocks from Dycer.

I recall when a Lincoln Page coming in for a landing had a smaller aircraft in its blind spot underneath

and sat right down on top of it in its decent & they crashed in the backyard of a house not to far from where I lived.”

The Airport Directory Company's 1937 Airports Directory (courtesy of Bob Rambo)

described Dycer Airport as having 2 sod runways, with the longest being a 2,600' northeast/southwest strip.

The aerial photo in the directory depicted a group of hangars on the east side of the field,

one of which was described as having "Dycer Airport" painted on the roof.

Dycer Airport was apparently closed at some point between 1937-41,

as it was not depicted on the 1941 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

By the time of a 1972 aerial photo, the site of Dycer Airport had been covered with dense housing.

As seen in the March 2004 USGS aerial photo, the site of the former airfield has been densely redeveloped.

Not a trace of the airfield appears to remain today, with one possible exception.

A building with a white arched roof is visible on the west side of Western Avenue,

between 91^st & 92^nd Streets.

It appears to resemble a hangar - could this be a former Dycer Airport hangar,

possibly relocated a few blocks north & reused?

The site of Dycer Airport is bounded by Western Avenue on the east, Van Ness Avenue on the west,

93^rd Street on the north, and 96^th Street on the south.

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Gardena Airport, Gardena, CA

33.89 North / 118.32 West (Southeast of Hawthorne Airport, CA)

What was known at the time as "Gardena Valley Airport",

as depicted on a 1939 report on existing & proposed airports by LA County's Regional Planning Commission

(courtesy of Chris Killian, via Dan MacPherson).

Photo of the airport has not been located.

The date of construction of Gardena Airport is unknown.

It was located only 2 miles south of the Hawthorne Airport.

Gardena Airport was a separate & distinct airfield from Gardena Valley Airport,

which was located one mile northeast.

The Standard Oil Company's 1929 "Airplane Landing Fields of the Pacific West" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

described a Gardena Commercial Airport as being located "1.5 miles south" of the town of Gardena,

which may have been this airport.

It was said to be operated by Airylite, Inc.,

and to have a 2,000' east/west graded runway.

A hangar was said to be marked "Airylite Gardena" & "Shell".

A 1939 report on existing & proposed airports

by LA County's Regional Planning Commission (courtesy of Chris Killian, via Dan MacPherson)

labeled the field as "Gardena Valley Airport".

The description of Gardena Valley Airport said:

"This recently established airport can be developed as a capacious Class 2 airport,

principally for private & student flying.

It is used at present by the University of Southern California for student training under the C.A.A. program.

Drainage problems must be solved,

and depend largely on major drainage improvements in the Gardena Valley.

A well developed airport at this site would help to solve the problem of private hangar space

that will result from the transformation of Los Angeles airport into a transport line terminal."

It was depicted as having a single 1,800' dirt east/west runway,

southwest of the intersection Rosecrans Avenue & Grammercy Place.

The field was described as having a hangar & an office.

The owner was listed as Elva Kistleman,

the lessee as E.G. Kidwell,

and the operators as E.G. Kidwell, Eager, Hanson, and Untermeyer.

An additional plot of land, extending to the south to Compton Boulevard,

was labeled as "suitable for expansion".

"Gardena Valley" Airport, as depicted on the 1940 San Diego Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

"Gardena" Airport, as depicted on the 1941 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

"Gardena" Airport was depicted as an auxiliary airfield on the 1944 LA Sectional Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of John Voss).

According to Dan MacPherson , the original Gardena Airport closed just after WW2.

It was no longer depicted at all on the 1948 San Diego Sectional Aeronautical Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).

By the time of a 1972 aerial photo, the site of Gardena Airport had been covered with dense housing.

As seen in the March 2004 USGS aerial photo,

the site of the site of the former Gardena Airport is located in what has become a densely developed area,

and not a trace of the airfield appears to remain today.

The site of Gardena Airport was bounded by Rosecrans Avenue on the north,

Compton Avenue (Marine Avenue) on the south,

Crenshaw Boulevard on the west, and Grammercy Place on the east.

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Dycer Airport / Universal Airport / Gotch's Airport / Western Avenue Airport /

Gardena Valley Airport, Gardena, CA

33.9 North / 118.31 West (Southeast of Hawthorne Airport, CA)

A 1931 street map (courtesy of Gary Alexander) labeled the airfield at this location simply as “Airport”.

Gardena Valley Airport was a separate & distinct airfield from Gardena Airport,

which was located one mile southwest.

In the 1920s, this airport was first known as Dycer Airport.

In 1926, Charles Dycer developed the Dycer Sportplane,

which may have been a civil conversion of the Curtiss JN-4D.

The Dycer Airport company eventually moved to a new site further north at Western Avenue & 136^th Street,

which became known as Dycer Airport.

The Standard Oil Company's 1929 "Airplane Landing Fields of the Pacific West" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

listed a "Universal Airport" as being located "1 mile southeast of Gardena",

which may have been this airport.

It was said to be operated by the Universal Institute of Aeronautics.

The airfield area was said to consist of a "Main field" (a 3,100' north/south by 2,500' east/west graded area)

along with an "Auxiliary field" (a 2,000' north/south graded area).

Four individual & 2 large steel hangars were said to be located along the north side of the main & auxiliary fields,

marked "U. I. A.".

The earliest depiction which has been located of an airfield at this location

was on a 1931 street map (courtesy of Gary Alexander), which labeled the airfield simply as “Airport”.

According to Dan MacPherson, this airport became known as Gotch's Airport, in 1936.

It was owned by Gus Gotch, a 1930's air racer.

It was on a flood plain & was under water during the rainy season.

It was next known as Western Avenue Airport (one of several with that name over the years).

That is how it was labeled on a 1939 report on existing & proposed airports

by LA County's Regional Planning Commission (courtesy of Chris Killian, via Dan MacPherson).

The description of Western Avenue Airport said:

"This Class 1 airport, only a short distance north of the Gardena Valley Airport,

is subject to serious drainage problems, standing under water for fairly long periods every winter.

It is believed that this district does not warrant maintenance of 2 airports in such close proximity.

There is little to chose between these two,

but the drainage is believed to be more satisfactory at the other site.

The choice of the Gardena Valley Airport for use in the C.A.A. student training program

resulted in the elimination of the Western Avenue Airport from the Master Plan."

Western Avenue Airport was depicted as having 3 dirt runways forming an "X"

(with the longest being a 1,600' east/west strip)

at the southwest corner of Western Avenue & 135^th Street.

The field was described as having 2 hangars, and office, and a repair shop.

The owner was listed as Charles Dycer,

and the operator was listed as Karl Christianson.

A much larger plot of land, extending to the south to Rosecrans Avenue & to the west to the drainage ditch,

was labeled as "suitable for expansion".

A square portion of this land just to the southwest of the runways was labeled "Model Airplane Airport".

"Western Ave" Airport, as depicted on the 1940 San Diego Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

"Western Ave" Airport, as depicted on the 1941 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

A circa 1945 photo of a Vega 35 at Gardena Valley Airport by Harry Gordon.

Harry recalled, “My first open cockpit flight was in this Vega 35, based at Gardena Valley Airport.

The airplane was a North American design.

The prototype was the NA-35, built as a potential primary trainer for the Army, but the Ryan ST was chosen instead (both planes used the Menasco engine).

NAA then sold the design & manufacturing rights to Vega, but only 5 Model 35s were built.

NAA reportedly used the NA-35 wing design for the Navion.

The plane bears the airport emblem 'Fly Gardena Valley Airport' which was also on the Cub I flew for my first solo.”

A 1946-47 aerial view of Gardena Valley Airport, taken by Harry Gordon “at 800' from the downwind leg.

That is Western Avenue crossing diagonally from top to bottom in the photo.

My photos were taken, unfortunately, with a box camera,

which had a shutter speed of probably less than 1/50 second, not good in a vibrating airplane.

The big hangar was built early in 1946.

The photo plane was a war surplus Aeronca L-3, one of 2 or 3 rented for $6/hr by a Mr. Whitmore, whose flight office was his car.”

As of 1950, it was known as Gardena Valley Airport.

Gardena Valley Airport was depicted as an active airfield on the 1950 LAX Chart (according to Bob Cannon).

According to Dan MacPherson,

Gardena Valley had a single runway along the northern edge of the property.

An undated photo of a pilot in front of an unidentified plane marked “Gardena Valley Airport, Pacific Pilots Plan” (courtesy of Jim Osborne).

Gardena Valley Airport was still depicted on a 1954 LA road map (courtesy of Dan MacPherson),

but that does not necessarily mean it was still an active airport at that time.

Gardena Valley Airport was evidently closed (for reasons unknown) at some point between 1950-54,

as it was no longer depicted at all on the September 1954 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy),

nor depicted at all on a 1957 street map (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

By the time of a 1972 aerial photo, the site of Gardena Valley Airport had been covered with buildings.

As seen in the March 2004 USGS aerial photo, the area is now densely developed,

and not a trace of the airfield appears to remain today.

The site of Gardena Valley Airport is bounded by 135^th Street on the north, 139^th Street on the south,

Van Ness Avenue on the west, and Western Avenue on the east.

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Rogers Airport, Los Angeles, CA

34.06 North / 118.36 West (Northeast of Los Angeles International Airport, CA)

A circa 1920s view of Rogers Airport.

A circa 1920s aerial view of Rogers Airport.

According to K.O. Eckland, Rogers Airport opened in 1918

at the northwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard & Crescent Avenue (now Fairfax Avenue).

It had a single 1,800' dirt runway.

The pictures above show that the airfield had several hangars & buildings.

A 1923 LA Chamber of Commerce table of LA-area airfields (courtesy of K.O. Eckland)

described Rogers as having an 1,800' east/west runway.

Rogers Airport (as well as a dense grouping of other vintage airfields),

as depicted on the 1929 "Rand McNally Standard Map of CA With Air Trails" (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

The map Rogers Airport as being operated by Rogers Aircraft, Inc.,

and being 3,681' x 1,500' in size.

Rogers Airport was evidently closed (for reasons unknown) at some point between 1929-41,

as it was no longer depicted on a 1931 street map (courtesy of Gary Alexander),

a 1940 LA street map (courtesy of Dan MacPherson),

or the 1941 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

By the time of a 1948 aerial photo, the site of Rogers Airport had been covered with buildings.

As seen in the March 2004 USGS aerial view,

the site of Rogers Airport is in what has become a very densely developed area,

and not a trace of the former airport remains.

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Hughes Airport, Culver City, CA

33.98 North / 118.43 West (North of Los Angeles International Airport, CA)

Hughes Airport, as depicted on a 1940 LA street map (courtesy of Dan MacPherson)

Young industrialist Howard Hughes established a new aircraft division within his Hughes Tool Company in 1932.

The first facilities of the new aircraft division were in space rented from the Lockheed Company in Burbank.

As the aircraft company grew, Hughes needed more space,

and in 1940, he purchased over 1,000 acres of the Ballona Wetlands just west of Culver City for $500,000.

Hughes recognized the area as one of the few large tracts of remaining undeveloped land in Los Angeles.

The high water table made it necessary to sink 50' pilings into the wetlands

to support Hughes’ buildings & reroute the course of the Centinela River,

which flowed through the site every spring & flooded it.

The earliest depiction of the Hughes Airport which has been located

was on a 1940 LA street map (courtesy of Dan MacPherson).

The Hughes plant opened in 1941, with an initial workforce of just 250 employees (later to grow in to the thousands).

Hughes Airport, as depicted on the 1941 LA Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

The Hughes Airport was not depicted at all on the 1942 USGS topo map

(but that was most likely a case of censorship due to wartime security concerns).

In 1943, Hughes built the world’s longest private runway on the site.

Runway 5/23 was 9,600' long - nearly 2 miles in length.

It was not paved for its first few years,

because Hughes believed that paved runways imparted unnecessary stress on an aircraft's landing gear.

He reportedly had to add fill regularly to keep the ground solid.

Building 15 (also known as the Hughes Cargo Building) was built in 1943.

It was the Hughes plant’s signature structure.

It was a giant double-gabled hangar, measuring 742' x 248', with Hughes’ name painted on the roof.

A circa 1946 photo of the 1^st prototype of the Hughes XF-11A,

with a Lockheed Constellation in the background.

Shortly after the end of WW2,

Hughes developed the experimental XF-11 twin-engine reconnaissance plane.

It had several radical features, one of which, its contra-rotating propellers, would nearly kill Howard Hughes.

The 1^st prototype of the Hughes XF-11 takes off from Culver City on July 7, 1946 on its ill-fated maiden flight.

Shortly after Howard Hughes took off in the XF-11 prototype from the Culver City runway,

one of the propellers inadvertently went into reverse thrust, sending the craft out of control.

The XF-11 crashed into a house in Beverly Hills, severely injuring Howard Hughes.

The 2^nd prototype of the Hughes XF-11 takes off from Culver City on April 4, 1947.

It had been fitted with conventional 4-bladed propellers, addressing the 1^st prototype's fatal flaw.

This is the earliest photo which shows much of the Hughes Airfield.

An undated photo of Howard Hughes at the controls of his HK-1 Hercules flying boat.

One of the most famous projects to come out of the Hughes Culver City facility was the HK-1 Hercules flying boat

(better known as the "Spruce Goose").

As WW2 continued to rage, with the supply of strategic metals becoming constrained,

Hughes became convinced that wood would be a logical substitute to replace metal in the construction of aircraft.

He formed a joint venture with Henry Kaiser to develop a flying boat, which could serve as an "air bridge",

linking the US with overseas allies & bypassing the U-boats which threatened shipping traffic.

The aircraft which was developed, the HK-1 Hercules, was the largest airplane ever built

(and continues to have the largest wingspan of any aircraft to the present day).

Its entire airframe was made of laminated wood.

The HK-1 was built in the giant Building 15 (also known as the Hughes Cargo Building).

As large as the Cargo Building was, it wasn’t quite big enough to house the gigantic plane.

The hull & wings were built as separate units & sent off to Long Beach for assembly.

It was in Long Beach that the Hughes Hercules made its first & only flight in 1947 with Hughes himself at the controls.

Unfortunately, the Hercules project did not result in any production,

as WW2 ended before the aircraft was ready & the government did not see fit to order any examples.

The sole prototype of the HK-1 spent the next 38 years in storage

in a specially-constructed climate-controlled hangar in Long Beach.

A 1943-48 aerial view of the Hughes Airport (from the Alexandria Digital Library @ UC Santa Barbara, courtesy of Jonathan Westerling),

showing the field to have a single northeast/southwest unpaved runway, with a number of buildings along the southeast side of the field.

The runway of Hughes Airport was paved in 1948.

In 1950, frequent Hughes contractor Del Web was brought in to build the 2-story, 37,000-square-foot administration building,

which included Howard Hughes' hardwood clad office.

In an architectural nod to the noted eccentric's fear of hallways,

The offices within the administration building included a bizarre set of doorways

designed to cut through the adjoining suite of offices.

The offices also included a screening room & a wall-sized aeronautical chart depicting the entire world.

A 1952 aerial view looking west at the Hughes Airfield,

with a large number of aircraft on the field.

The Hughes Aircraft Company eventually grew to a total of over 15,000 employees by 1952.

The company developed & tested a variety of advanced experimental helicopters in the 1950s & 1960s.

The first helicopter built by Hughes was the giant XH-17.

It was a limited flight test design in response to a military proposal

for a helicopter that could air-lift a tank or similar large & heavy loads.

The contract for the XH-17 was originally awarded to Kellett Aircraft in Pennsylvania

but was sold to Hughes in 1948.

As a flying test rig, the XH-17 utilized as many existing parts as possible,

including a cockpit from a Waco CG-15 glider,

landing gear from both a B-25 & C-54, and a bomb-bay fuel tank from a B-29.

A pair of General Electric J35 jet engines were modified

to route bleed air into the 130 foot 2-blade rotor,

where the air was mixed with fuel at the rotor tips in 4 burners.

With the giant rotor turning at only 88 rpm,

the engines & pressure-jets were expected to produce 3,480 hp.

Ground tests of the XH-17 began in December of 1949

and the first flight occurred in October of 1952.

An undated photo (circa 1952-55) of the first helicopter produced by Hughes, the giant XH-17 Flying Crane,

flying above the Culver City runway.

According to John Aldaz, “The XH-17 was only insured for westbound (headwind) flights,

above the Hughes runway, then towed back east to the hangar.

Once, the frustrated test pilot turned it around & flew it back about 150 feet, because there was no wind that day.

He didn't lose his job, but came close.”

Testing of the XH-17 validated the basic design concept, the aircraft having lifted loads of over 10,000 pounds.

A circa 1954-55 photo of the XH-17 prototype & the XH-28 mock-up (in the rear) inside the giant Hughes assembly hall (courtesy of John Aldaz).

The XH-17 tests were judged "somewhat less than successful", (for reasons unknown),

and XH-17 testing was canceled in late 1955.

A circa 1954-55 photo of the full-size mockup of the massive Hughes XH-28 helicopter,

pictured inside the former Spruce Goose assembly hangar at Hughes Culver City (courtesy of John Aldaz),

shown straddling a cargo platform carrying a truck.

One of the most unusual aircraft to be developed by Hughes at Culver City

was the massive XH-28 flying crane helicopter.

The XH-28 was intended to be an enlarged operational follow-on to the XH-17.

Development of the XH-28 was begun in January 1951

to meet an Army requirement for a flying crane capable of transporting

combat-loaded military vehicles weighting up to 20 tons.

Like the XH-17 which was then about to be flown,

the XH-28 was to use a pressure-jet system to drive the 4-bladed main rotor,

with 2 Allison XT40-A-8 turbines being geared to a compressor unit

and compressed air dueled to burners at the tip of each blade.

A circa 1954-55 photo of the full-size mockup of the massive Hughes XH-28 helicopter,

pictured inside the former Spruce Goose assembly hangar at Hughes Culver City (courtesy of John Aldaz),

shown straddling a cargo platform carrying a truck.

Weighing 105,000 pounds fully loaded,

the XH-28 was to have had enclosed accommodation for 2 pilots.

Its 4 tall undercarriage units, each with dual-wheels,

would have given it a spider look while providing adequate clearance for outsize loads.

These loads were to have been either slung beneath the fuselage

or carried on a flat-bed attached between the undercarriage legs

and fitted with a ramp for loading & unloading vehicles.

The XH-28 design was subjected to extensive wind-tunnel tests with various suspended loads,

and a full-scale wooden mock-up was completed inside Hughes' Building 15 (the former Spruce Goose assembly hall) by 1954-55.

In spite of the XH-28's promising capability,

the program was canceled due to cutbacks in the research & development budget made near the end of the Korean War,

and no actual XH-28 aircraft was built.

A 1953 aerial view of the Hughes Airport (from the Alexandria Digital Library @ UC Santa Barbara, courtesy of Jonathan Westerling),

showing the paved runway (somewhat shorter than the field's original unpaved runway),

along with a significantly expanded number of hangars & other buildings.

A closeup from the 1953 aerial view, showing an amazing number & variety of military & civilian aircraft parked on the ramp of Hughes Airport.

Note the giant “Hughes” lettering on the Hercules hangar.

The September 1954 USAF LA Sectional Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

depicted Hughes Airport as a private airfield with a 6,800' paved runway & its own control tower.

An undated (circa 1950s?) aerial view looking west along Hughes' Runway 23

(with 1 aircraft on the turnaround pad at the bottom, and another aircraft midway along the runway).

The 1955 San Diego Sectional Aeronautical Chart (courtesy of John Voss)

depicted Hughes Airport as a private airfield.

It was described as consisting of a single 6,800' foot asphalt runway (9,115' available).

A 1962 aerial view of the Hughes Airport (from the Alexandria Digital Library @ UC Santa Barbara, courtesy of Jonathan Westerling),

showing that the paved runway had been extended to the southwest at some point between 1955-62.

Hughes Airport was listed as an active private airfield in the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory,

with an 8,800' paved runway.

The Hughes XV-9A hot-cycle experimental helicopter,

built & flown at Culver City from 1964-1965.

Hughes was depicted as an active private airfield

on the 1965 LA Local Area aeronautical chart (courtesy of John Voss).

An undated photo of the Hughes Model 269 assembly line in Culver City.

A 1967 street map depicted Hughes Airport as having a single runway, a taxiway, and 2 buildings.

A Hughes OH-6A Cayuse, one of the thousands of OH-6s built at Culver City.

The Culver City production line for the Army's OH-6A in 1968.

At peak production, over 100 OH-6A's were built per month.

The Hughes Culver City facility eventually became the Hughes Helicopter Company,

where thousands of civil & military helicopters were built,

including the Hughes 300, 500, and OH-6 models.

Ed Fuller recalled, “When I graduated from high school in 1968,

I took a job at Hughes Tool Company in Kearny Mesa, CA as a B-Structural Assembler.

There we built the airframes for the OH-6 Cayuse.

The airframes were then trucked up to Culver City for wiring & final assembly.

Of course, everyone knew WE did the hard part - all they did up there was add accessories. :)

There was also a side area in the plant where they built Model 269 components.”

A 1968 aerial photo from the UCSB Map & Imagery Laboratory

depicted Hughes Airport as having a single paved runway.

Willy McLachlan reported that his father (George McLachlan) spent the last 20 years of his career as a pilot at Hughes Aircraft.

According to Willy, “My father reported to work there from 1968-79

as Assistant Manager of the Corporate Flight Operations Department,

both transporting Hughes executives & clients, Hughes engineering & research teams to job & test sites,

and testing various electronic & avionic systems for both fixed-wing & rotary-wing aircraft.”

A 1968 aerial photo looking east along the runway of Hughes Airport (from the LA Public Library).

Notice how undeveloped the surrounding area was, even in 1968.

Hal Ziegler recalled, “I was born in 1962 & lived in an area called Ladera Heights.

Ladera was directly below the final approach to the Hughes Airport.

As a child I became fascinated with aircraft because of all the interesting military aircraft that constantly 'buzzed' our home.

Eventually, I became so intrigued with the Hughes Airport that I would ride my bike there & jump their fence.

Then, I would explore as much as I could until I was discovered (between 1969-72).

A constant military aircraft that 'buzzed' our home during the entire Vietnam war - was an F-4 but it had a bright orange tail.

It made several landings & takeoffs daily for several years.

I could hear it on final & would run outside just to see it & try to get the pilot to wave at me

(it was that low & I could clearly see the pilot).”

By 1970, Hughes had delivered a total 1,434 helicopters to its biggest customer, the U.S. Army.

A 1972 aerial photo depicted just a single aircraft on the field, what appeared to be the Hughes corporate Convair 340.

A 1977 Hughes PR photo looking west at the Hughes Airfield (courtesy of former Hughes employee Jerry Dutcher).

A 1978 photo by Kenneth Larson (used by permission),

looking northeast at the hangars & runway of the Hughes Aircraft Company.

Note the Convair 340 (tail # 234H) just left of the hangar.

According to Willy McLachlan, his father (former Hughes pilot George McLachlan)

reported that the Convair 340 (in the photo above) was “Hughes Aircraft owned & operated.

That aircraft was tail number 324H, and my father regularly flew that plane as part of his duties there.

I often remember from my childhood him referring to 'Three Two Four Hotel'

in conversations about where he was flying, how many he was taking on the trip,

how long he would be gone, and if they were testing any electronics or avionics on the trip.

It often meant he was taking a large group of people, sometimes even Mr. Hughes himself.”

An undated photo of a mockup of the Hughes Helicopter Model 77,

which was selected to become the basis for the AH-64 Apache.

Note the differences from what would eventually become the Apache -

the rounded canopy, the lack of avionics bays on the side of the nose, the TOW missile launchers, etc.

The last aircraft developed at the Hughes Culver City facility was the Hughes Helicopter Model 77,

which eventually became the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

The first 5 Apache prototypes (YAH-64 AV02 through AV06) were built at Culver City.

The first flight of the first Apache prototype, YAH-64 AV02, at Palomar Airport in 1975.

Curiously, the first flight of an Apache did not actually take place at Culver City, for reasons unknown.

The first prototype, YAH-64 AV02, was trucked to Palomar Airport, where it conducted its first flight in 1975.

After an often strange & reclusive life, Howard Hughes died in 1976.

After the dust of Hughes’ estate had settled, the Culver City property was in the hands of Summa Corporation.

Summa proposed a mega-development, with 29,000 people in 13,000 units,

and an additional 20,000 employed by an on-site world-class motion picture studio.

The project was called "Playa Vista."

A 1980 aerial view showing the giant “Hughes” lettering on either side of the massive Building 15, the former Spruce Goose hangar.

The last photo which has been located showing aircraft at the Hughes Airfield was a 1980 aerial view.

A total of 7 aircraft were seen clustered around Hangar 45, including 2 business jets, several twin turboprops, and a C-130.

After the Apache was selected as the winner of the Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter competition in 1981,

Hughes Helicopter announced that production of the helicopter would not take place at Culver City,

but rather at a newly-built facility in Mesa, AZ

(where the author of this web site eventually worked in 1990).

This move was no doubt motivated by the much lower cost of doing business in AZ compared to the crowded LA area.

In 1984 the trustees of the Howard Hughes estate announced the sale

of the Hughes Helicopter Company to McDonnell Douglas.

Not long after the acquisition, McDonnell Douglas decided to end manufacturing of complete aircraft at Culver City,

and moved the Light Helicopter production line (the Hughes 500 & its derivatives)

to a newly-constructed facility in Mesa as well, adjacent to the new Apache plant.

That left the Culver City facility with the production of components for the Apache & MD-500.

The last aircraft taxied down Culver City's Runway 23 in 1985.

Playa Capital Corporation had shortened the runway to 4,000',

to make room for their Playa Vista development.

The runway pavement has since been reduced to aggregate,

to be used to pave the streets of planned new developments at the site.

The closure of this airfield was just a matter of time,

as it was located in what became an extremely densely populated area.

Los Angeles International Airport is a mere one mile to the south,

making continued flight operations at the site nearly impossible.

The Culver City facility continued to produce components for the Apache,

until it was shut down in the 1990s by new corporate owner McDonnell Douglas.

Several of the Hughes buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991,

and thus cannot be torn down.

Therefore, any redevelopment of the site would have to take into account their historic preservation.

A map of the Hughes factory buildings by Kenneth Larson (used by permission).

The 1994 USGS aerial photo showed the Hughes Airfield before the runway was completely redeveloped.

A 1995 photo by Kenneth Larson (used by permission) l ooking southeast at the former Hughes buildings

A 1995 photo by Kenneth Larson (used by permission) looking northwest at the former Hughes buildings.

A 1995 photo by Kenneth Larson (used by permission) of Hughes Building 45, the hangar.

A 1995 photo by Kenneth Larson (used by permission) of Hughes Building 1.

In 1995, many of the former Hughes factory buildings were used in the filming of the science-fiction movie "Independence Day",

according to designer Kenneth A. Larson, who worked on the movie at the site.

The Hughes buildings were used for stages, production offices, model shops, and workshops.

Scenes for the movie were shot on a stage constructed within the historic Hughes Cargo Building,

where the Spruce Goose was built 50 years before.

A 1996 photo by Kenneth Larson (used by permission) of Hughes Building 12.

Several developers have tried to make deals for the Hughes site in the late 1990s,

only to see them fall through.

Movie production company DreamWorks SKG made plans to develop a $250 million studio on the site in 1998,

but walked away from the project the following year.

A 1996 photo by Kenneth Larson (used by permission) of the interior of Building 15, where the Spruce Goose was built.

USGS topo map 1998.

Although many of the former factory buildings have been demolished,

as of 2002 there were still 11 former Hughes buildings remaining at the site.

The most notable of the remaining buildings are the administration & cargo buildings.

The cargo building, where the Spruce Goose was built, has been used as a movie studio sound stage in recent years.

The administration building also still stands, with Howard Hughes hardwood paneled personal office also still inside.

The wall-sized global aeronautical chart has been earmarked to be removed & shipped to the Smithsonian Institution.

The March 2004 USGS aerial photo of the Hughes Airport site

showed that all of the runway had been removed,

but Building 45 (the hangar) & Building 15 (the former Spruce Goose factory building) still remained standing.

A close-up from the March 2004 USGS aerial photo

of Building 15, the former Spruce Goose factory.

A close-up from the March 2004 USGS aerial photo,

showing the helipad markings which still remained just southwest of the Building 45 hangar.

A November 2004 aerial photo by Jonathan Westerling,

showing the proximity of the former Hughes Airport (at the bottom of the photo)

with Los Angeles International Airport (in the background).

A February 2005 photo by Paul Freeman

of the condominiums which are being constructed over the western portion of the former Hughes runway.

Paul Freeman visited the Hughes Culver City site in 2005.

The western portion of the former runway is being redeveloped with a dense group of multi-story condominiums.

The middle portion of the property has been cleared (including the former runway pavement).

The eastern portion of the site contains the only 2 major buildings which have been spared -

Building 45 (the former hangar) & Building 15 (the former Spruce Goose assembly hall).

The buildings were apparently being reused for movie production.

A February 2005 photo by Paul Freeman of the redevelopment on the middle portion of the former Hughes runway,

with the former Building 45 (the hangar) on the right.

A February 2005 close-up by Paul Freeman of former Building 45 (the hangar),

with the remaining portion of former Hughes Airport runway pavement visible in the background.

A February 2005 photo by Paul Freeman of the historic Building 15 – the former Spruce Goose assembly building.