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50-690: Willows-Glenn County Airport dates to October 1928 when the Airways Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce selected a location west of Willows as an Intermediate Landing Field. The County of Glenn purchased an 80-acre tract of land for approximately $ 2000 and the City of Willows purchased the adjoining 80-acre tract of land for $ 2092.80. The land was leased to the Commerce Department Airways Division, which put up an additional $ 8000 for construction and equipment. Willows-Glenn County Airport

100-514: A certificate of airworthiness from the Post Office, and that each company needed to post at least ten thousand dollars in good faith bonds. United States legislation authorizing aerial navigation and contract services for the transportation of United States air mail. Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley ( Spanish : Valle de Sacramento ) is the area of the Central Valley of

150-408: A bidding period for small airmail routes, setting rates and subsidies contractors would receive for flying mail. The first contracts were awarded to Colonial Air Transport , National Air Transport , Robertson Aircraft Corporation , Western Air Express and Varney Air Lines . Contractors were paid $ 3.00 per pound of mail for the first 1,000 miles traveled. Due to the surplus aircraft available after

200-445: A lease (numbers W 868-ENG-2344 and W2972-ENG-1045) with Glenn County, California, in 1942. The site was used as an auxiliary airfield for Chico Army Airfield . The only improvement to the site was the asphalt runway. The Fourth Air Force declared the field excess to its needs on July 24, 1944. The lease was terminated June 11, 1945. MENDOCINO AIR TANKER SQUAD In 1956, through the efforts of Forest Service Officer Joseph Bolles Ely ,

250-567: A rain-snow mix every few years, but, on the average, only snows about every 5 years. Farther south in Sacramento, snow rarely occurs. During the autumn and winter months, the entire Central Valley is susceptible to dense tule fog that makes driving hazardous, especially at night and especially south of Corning. The fog can last for weeks depending on how weak the wind is. In more recent years, statewide droughts in California have further strained both

300-584: A second runway was built by the Army Air Forces in 1941 in preparation for taking over the airport as an auxiliary airfield during World War II.  In October 1941, the Sacramento construction firm, A. Tiechert & Sons Inc., was awarded a $ 140,000 contract by the Army to build the new runway. WORLD WAR II During the final days of March 1942, the North American B-25 Mitchell bombers assigned to

350-523: A squadron under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle were undergoing final preparations at the Sacramento Air Depot (SAD) located at McClellan Field in Sacramento . Alterations to the bomber's carburetors had been made to enable the planes to fly the long distance required for the mission. Due to the highly secretive nature of this mission, the mechanics at SAD were not aware of that and changed

400-469: A threaded knob allowed him to measure precise amounts of fertilizer and seed that dropped from the hopper into a box. The wash from the propeller spread the product over a 50-foot swath. Nolta's method vastly improved rice propagation, leading to an entire industry of ag (agriculture) pilots seeding and fertilizing rice and other crops throughout the North Sacramento Valley . Nolta's method allowed

450-463: A two-foot in diameter mirror producing 1,000,000 candlepower of light, capable of being seen for fifteen to forty miles. The Willows Airport beacon and field lights were powered by electricity from Pacific Gas & Electric Company . The original rotating beacon at the Willows Airport was 24 inches in diameter and flashed a single clear light every six seconds. In addition to the beacon, the tower

500-527: Is 4,125 by 100 feet (1,257 x 30 m) and 13/31 is 3,788 by 60 feet (1,155 x 18 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2021, the airport had 29,500 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 81 per day. At that time there were 39 aircraft based at this airport: 36 single- engine , 1 multi-engine, 1 jet , and 1 helicopter . [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (PDF) . United States Department of

550-667: Is also the route of Amtrak 's Coast Starlight passenger train. The Union Pacific also has two east–west lines, through Donner Pass (the former Central Pacific Railroad ), and through the Feather River gorge (the former Western Pacific Railroad ). Amtrak's California Zephyr uses the Donner Pass route. The BNSF Railway has a line from Klamath Falls, Oregon , to a junction with the Union Pacific Feather River line at Keddie . The BNSF has trackage rights on both

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600-643: The Donner Pass ; State Route 49 , named in honor of the California Gold Rush and running through many old mining towns in the foothills of the valley; and State Route 45 , which runs along the course of the Sacramento River roughly ten miles (20 km) east of I-5. The Union Pacific Railroad serves the valley, with its principal north–south line from Oakland , California to Portland, Oregon , via Sacramento , Marysville , Chico , and Redding. This

650-578: The Doolittle Raid , he said, "We put the planes in the depot there at Sacramento to get a recheck, get them all set to go aboard the carrier, and as one plane would come out of that sort of interim overhaul period there, I’d take it up with the crew to Willows, California, to a field there and give them take-offs at Willows. Then, the last day, Jimmy Doolittle said, “Well we’ll finish up at Willows then we’re going to fly down to Alameda and go aboard.” The War Department acquired 318.2 acres (128.8 ha) by

700-526: The First World War , particularly de Havilland DH-4s , the act bolstered a nascent aviation industry in the United States. By 1927, over 2.5 million miles were traveled by US Airmail Service planes, carrying over 22 million letters. Further regulation ensued quite rapidly, such as those issued by second assistant postmaster general Col. Paul Henderson, which required pilots and their aircraft to receive

750-666: The U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River . It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California counties. Although many areas of the Sacramento Valley are rural, it contains several urban areas, including the state capital, Sacramento . Comparatively water-rich relative to the other segment of the Central Valley to

800-618: The heat index above 115 °F (46 °C) on the hottest days. At times the Breeze is gusty with wind speeds up to 30 mph (50 km/h) in the valley and 45 mph (75 km/h) in the windy delta region . This Breeze can also bring morning low clouds at times into the region, but the clouds generally burn off quickly and temperatures stay cool. Summer-like conditions continue into early to mid-September but weather starts to change to cooler, wetter, foggier weather during October which gives trees vibrant autumn foliage. Winters, also known as

850-403: The valley , they provide water for agricultural, industrial, residential, and recreation uses. Most of the rivers are heavily dammed and diverted. In more recent years, statewide droughts in California have further strained the Sacramento Valley's water security . The terrain of the Sacramento Valley is primarily flat grasslands that become lusher as one moves east from the rain shadow of

900-601: The Central Valley. The Sacramento Valley's agricultural industry also resembles that of the San Joaquin Valley to the south. Nuts, such as almonds and walnuts , are of greater importance north of the Delta, and rice , nonviable in the drier San Joaquin Valley, is a major crop. While the region is wetter, soils are somewhat poorer in the Sacramento Valley; this means some crops, particularly vegetables, are less profitable compared to

950-598: The Coast Ranges toward the Sierra. Unlike the San Joaquin Valley, which in its pre-irrigation state was a vegetation-hostile desert, the somewhat less arid Sacramento Valley had significant tracts of forest prior to the arrival of settlers of European ancestry. Most of it was cut down during the California Gold Rush and the ensuing wave of American settlement, although there are still some heavily tree-populated areas, such as

1000-665: The Cottonwood Ridge between Anderson and Cottonwood. There are some hills in Redding, a few more than Red Bluff, and north of Redding it is mainly foothills. One distinctive geographic feature of the Sacramento Valley is the Sutter Buttes . Nicknamed the smallest mountain range in the world, it consists of the remnants of an extinct volcano and is located just outside Yuba City , 44 miles north of Sacramento. Citrus and nut orchards and cattle ranches are common to both halves of

1050-739: The Interior . Contract Air Mail Route The Air Mail Act of 1925 , also known as the Kelly Act , was a key piece of legislation that intended to free the airmail from total control by the Post Office Department . In short, it allowed the Postmaster General to contract private companies to carry mail. The Act was sponsored by Pennsylvania representative Clyde Kelly , and became legislation in February that year. The act created

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1100-403: The Sacramento Valley's and the Sacramento metropolitan region's water security . The Sacramento River and its tributaries are a significant part of the geography of the Sacramento Valley. Rising in the various mountain ranges (the various Northern Coast Ranges to the west, the southern Siskiyou Mountains to the north, and the northern Sierra Nevada to the east) that define the shape of

1150-501: The Sacramento Valley's and the San Joaquin Valley's water security . Interstate 5 is the primary route through the Sacramento Valley, traveling north–south roughly along the valley's western edge. Interstate 80 cuts a northeast-to-southwest swath through the southern end of the valley, mostly through Sacramento and Yolo Counties, and ends at the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge . Several secondary routes connect

1200-476: The San Joaquin Valley. The Sacramento Valley is also not as extensively cultivated; there are many more smallholdings and more uncultivated arable land compared to south of the Delta. The town of Corning produces olives for oil extraction and for consumption as fruit. The Sunsweet Growers Incorporated headquarters are in Yuba City . The valley controls more than two-thirds of the worldwide prune market through

1250-659: The United States, with temperatures often matching and even exceeding that of Phoenix, Arizona in its hottest years; the city's annual high temperature averages at 112 °F (44 °C). In the summer, the "Delta Breeze", which comes in from the San Francisco Bay Area , is known for bringing cooler temperatures and higher humidity to the southern parts of the valley. While it brings comparative relief for residents of Sacramento and Roseville, it often results in somewhat muggy conditions, with dew points sometimes reaching above 70 °F (21 °C) and occasionally pushing

1300-669: The Willows Airport became the base of operations for the Mendocino Air Tanker Squad (MATS), the first squadron of air tankers in the U.S. Local agricultural pilots made up the initial squadron which assisted on fires throughout California during 1956.   Willows Airport became the de facto center of aerial firefighting. In 1980, Carl Wilson, assistant director of the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experimentation Station in Riverside, wrote, "In October 1956, after

1350-564: The Willows Flying Service, which operated from the first hangar built at the airport. They were soon joined by other agricultural flying services. With extensive use by agricultural and other types of aviation, Willows Airport was able to thrive, even during the depths of the Great Depression. It became the busiest airport in northern California, other than those with passenger service. Air shows became annual events and were some of

1400-400: The airport from the federal government. Later in that decade the ownership of the airport was turned over to Glenn County. As an Intermediate Landing Field, use of the airport was limited to emergency landings. After the service clubs took over in 1932, the airport was open to all aviation uses. The airport was officially dedicated on September 9, 1933. The first decade of the Willows Airport

1450-508: The carburetor settings back to the factory recommendations.[1]  Lt. Col. Doolittle ordered the settings to be redone and wanted an additional test of the planes.  It was impossible to conduct the short-field takeoff maneuvers at McClellan Field in front of hundreds of workers, so arrangements were made to use the Willows Airport. During World War I, Jimmy Doolittle was an Army flying instructor at Rockwell Field in Coronado . Floyd Nolta

1500-676: The edge of the runway and green lights at opposite ends of the runway to aid pilots in a nighttime landing.   Willows Airport was described in the 1931 DOC Airways Guide:   "Willows—Department of Commerce Intermediate Landing Field site 12 San Francisco to Seattle Airway. One and one-half miles W. Altitude. 140 feet. Irregular shape, 85 acres, 2,781 by 2500 feet, sod, level, natural drainage. Directional arrow marked “12 SF-S.” Pole line to N. Beacon, boundary, approach and obstruction lights. Beacon 24-inch rotating, with green course lights flashing characteristic “2” (. . -). No servicing facilities." The Willows Airport tower, completed in late 1928,

1550-450: The field to be flooded before the seed was dropped, preventing any loss to birds. It also allowed a field to be planted much more quickly and economically than the previous labor-intensive method. By 1937, there were 130,000 acres of rice under cultivation. Modern ag pilots still use the same device perfected by Nolta in 1928. In addition to remaining as the airport manager, Nolta, along with his brothers, Vance Nolta and Dale Nolta, established

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1600-558: The fleet. The U.S. Forest Service continued to base their regional operations at Willows Airport until 1982. Larger aircraft required a longer runway, so operations were moved to Chico Municipal Airport ( Butte County ). On October 6, 2023 the airport was listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Willows-Glenn County Airport covers an area of 320 acres (129 ha ) at an elevation of 141 feet (43 m) above mean sea level . It has two asphalt paved runways : 16/34

1650-627: The greater Sacramento area. Foothills become more common from just south of Corning to Shasta Lake City . These are known as the Valley Hills and begin south of the Tehama-Glenn County line near Corning. There are also a few hills in Red Bluff and Corning. There is one major range of foothills between Cottonwood and Red Bluff known as the Cottonwood Hills (a.k.a. 9-mile Hill), and there is

1700-635: The largest held in northern California.   Willows Airport was a beneficiary of the Roosevelt Administration's investments in public works. In 1934, the airport received $ 5,000 in funds from the short-lived Civil Works Administration (CWA) to build a hangar.  In 1935, Willows Airport was among 250 airports to receive funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) with the $ 10,819 going towards hangar and runway improvements.   An additional 125 acres were added in 1940, and

1750-660: The northern part of the valley and colder still in the foothills and frost can occur almost anywhere. Farther south near Sacramento, temperatures tend to stay between the low-50s and high-60s °F (10-20 °C), with nighttime temperatures dropping to the mid-30s and 40s °F (1-7 °C). Lower-elevation snowfall (in a relative sense) is more consistent in the foothills immediately above Sacramento and Folsom than anywhere else in California; Pollock Pines at 3,980 feet (1,210 m), gets an average of 65 inches (170 cm) of snow every winter, nearly double that of Yosemite Valley and more than triple that of Lucerne , Switzerland. During

1800-610: The over 400 growers in California. Weather patterns in the Sacramento Valley are very similar to those in the San Joaquin Valley to the south, although the humidity and precipitation tend to be a bit higher. Summers are the dry season, with average daytime temperatures in the low to high 90s °F (low to mid 30s °C) but triple digits (38 °C and above) are a common occurrence, especially in Chico , Redding , Red Bluff , and Sacramento . Redding in particular has been notorious for having extremely hot summers despite its northern latitude within

1850-482: The rainy season, are generally mild to cool, foggy and wet. The valley and lower foothills are completely snowless outside of exceptional years where some flurries may occur. The rainy season runs from November to early-April, with some rainfall in September, October, and May. Up north, the temperature averages in the mid-40s °F (mid-to-high single digits °C) and lows reaching to the low-10s °F (-10 to -12 °C), colder in

1900-490: The rainy season, the Sacramento Valley is prone to strong thunderstorms and tornadoes , mostly of EF0 or EF1 intensity, especially in Colusa County and areas around Corning and Orland. Flooding does occur at times during wetter periods, usually November to March. Snow in the valley is rare, although Redding and Red Bluff , being at the north end of the valley, often experience a light dusting or two per year. Chico may get

1950-513: The south, the San Joaquin Valley , there are slight differences in the crops are typically grown in the Sacramento Valley. Much wetter winters (averaging between 25–60 inches (640–1,520 mm) of annual precipitation in the nearby foothills) and an extensive system of irrigation canals allows for the economic viability of water-thirsty crops such as rice and Juglans hindsii -rootstock walnuts. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California (combined with unprecedented summer heat) have strained both

2000-523: The spectacular success on 25 wildfires, a series of drop tests were conducted at the Willows Airport. The primary objective was to determine the best height and air speed for the Stearmans and N3Ns (Air Force and Navy planes, respectively) to fly to obtain optimum patterns of water and sodium calcium borate on a geometric grid on the surface of the airport. Also, it was necessary to determine the effect of wind and other meteorological variables on drop patterns. As

2050-487: The two roads, including Interstate 505 and State Route 113 . The Sacramento area has a web of urban freeways. Other principal routes in the region include State Route 99 , which runs along the valley's eastern edge, roughly parallel to I-5, from Sacramento until its northern terminus in Red Bluff ; State Route 20 , which traverses the valley from west to east on its route from State Route 1 in Mendocino County to

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2100-501: Was a mechanic in the same unit, and he and Doolittle became lifelong friends and bird hunting companions in the Willows area. Lt. Henry L. Miller USN was the naval officer assigned to teach the Army Air Forces pilots how to conduct short take-off procedures. In 1971, Rear Admiral Miller USN (Retired) gave an oral history about his long career in the Navy. In his recollection of his time assigned to

2150-443: Was also equipped with green course lights. Willows is located about 120 miles north of San Francisco, putting it in the second 100-mile section between San Francisco and Redding so it was assigned the designation “2.” Accordingly, the course lights at Willows flashed “U” (dot, dot, dash) representing “2.” As an Intermediate Landing Field, the Willows Airport was also equipped with 15-watt clear bulbs fixtures placed every 300 feet along

2200-627: Was closely connected to Floyd H. Nolta , a local civic leader, businessman, and pilot. He was selected by the Aeronautics Bureau as the manager of the airport. He served as the President of the Achaean Association and was Glenn County's first Flying Officer.   In 1928, Nolta perfected a method to drop rice seed and fertilizer from an airplane. The cultivation of rice in the Sacramento Valley began in 1908 near Biggs ( Butte County ) when it

2250-404: Was completed by January 10, 1929. There is no known record of when the concrete arrow and shed were removed. The beacon tower remains in its original location and is still used to the airport's rotating beacon. It is the only 51-foot Contracted Air Mail Route tower still in use in California at its original airport.   Illumination at the Willows Airport was provided by a 1000-watt lightbulb and

2300-424: Was determined that a Japanese variety of medium-grain rice would do well in the region. Cultivating rice was very labor-intensive, requiring the field to be prepared and then rice seed and dry fertilizer spread by tractor or animal-drawn farm implements. The field was flooded, hopefully before migratory birds ate the rice seed.   Nolta mounted a hopper in the cockpit of his Jenny JN-4 biplane. A sliding valve with

2350-592: Was manufactured by the International Derrick and Equipment Company (IDECO) of Columbus, Ohio. The growing interest in aviation in the late 1920s prompted Glenn County citizens to embrace the idea of the U.S. Department of Commerce funding an airport in Willows. It was with a great deal of pride that they dedicated their airport with a two-day celebration in June 1929.   From the outset, the Aeronautics Branch

2400-602: Was part of the San Francisco to Redding section of the Los Angeles-Seattle Contract Air Mail Route 8 (CAM-8). As the twelfth beacon north of San Francisco/Oakland it was designated as Beacon #12, “12 SF-S Willows DOCILF.” As an Intermediate Landing Field, the airport originally consisted only of this 51-foot steel tower, with an adjacent shed and concrete directional arrow, a primitive north–south grass runway, and field lighting. The airport lighting

2450-641: Was the case in most other air attack studies, this was an interagency operation involving the California Division of Forestry ( CalFire ), Los Angeles County Fire Department , U. S. Forest Service (R-5), Equipment Development Center at Arcadia, Forest Service Experiment Station, and private industry." The success of the squad in 1956 led to adding additional pilots in 1957 and then the California Division of Forestry ( CalFire ) to contract their own squad although many pilots flew for both agencies. Larger aircraft, mostly World War 2 surplus bombers, were added to

2500-550: Was unhappy with the Willows Airport runway because it was subject to flooding during the winter, prompting the DOC to threaten to move the airport elsewhere. Not wanting to lose their airport, Glenn County citizens held fundraisers, including a local production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado , to improve the runway. Concern also prompted the Achaean Club of Willows and the local American Legion post to raise enough funds to purchase

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