“FLYERS & FLOODS: 75 Years at Santa Paula Airport”

The new exhibition, “Flyers & Floods: 75 Years at Santa Paula Airport,” will open on Sunday, July 3, 2005, at the City of Santa Paula’s California Oil Museum (1001 E. Main St., Santa Paula, 805-933-0076, $4 Adults, $3 Seniors, $1 Children). The opening reception will run from 1 to 3 PM and the program will begin at 1:30 PM. The exhibit highlights the pioneers, innovators, and famous names that called Santa Paula Airport home during the past 75 years. The exhibit runs through October 23. The speakers at the Sunday reception program are guest curator Wendell Dowling, and airport aviators Bruce Dickenson and Mike Dewey. Mr. Dowling, noted Santa Paula artist and muralist, will make a gallery presentation about the exhibit. Bruce Dickenson will recount the founding of the airport by his grandfather, Ralph Dickenson. Mike Dewey will discuss the plans for the new Aviation Museum of Santa Paula and speak about his adventures in aviation at the airport.The Santa Paula Airport was founded in 1930 by a group of Santa Clara River Valley ranchers led by Ralph Dickenson. They selected a site along the river that had been swept clean by floodwaters released when the St. Francis Dam failed in 1928. The St. Francis Dam disaster resulted in the loss of nearly 500 lives, second only to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake in its human cost. The heavy rains in January and March of this year again caused flooding at the airport when the Santa Clara River damaged the airport runway and temporarily closed the airport.Over the past 75 years, the privately owned airport has attracted many colorful fliers and residents. Longtime airport pilot Sammy Mason formed the famous “Hollywood Hawks Airshow” in the 1940s, flying his Stearman biplane, “Checkers.” He taught actor Steve McQueen to fly at Santa Paula Airport in the late 1970s. McQueen owned a hangar at the airport where he stored his beloved collection of motorcycles, as well as his airplanes. The airport hangars have been home for other celebrity fliers through the years, including Cliff Robertson and Clete Roberts.The pioneering Dickenson and Dewey families made Santa Paula Airport notable in the flying world. Ralph Dickenson led the airport association as president for its first 45 years, followed by his son Don and grandson Bruce. Jim Dewey made Santa Paula Airport well-known in the 1960s for rebuilding and restoring classic aircraft. He won the Pan-Pacific Air Race in 1976. His son Mike Dewey became a accomplished air racer, and a veteran aerobatic performer in television and motion pictures. Bruce Dickenson and Mike Dewey are key players in the campaign to develop a permanent new home for the Aviation Museum of Santa Paula at the airport.