ABOUT US
About us 
Contact Us 
Subscribe 

Search Site

This weekend’s Santa Paula Air Show will mark 80 years since the world famous airport opened, with an array of activities that haven’t changed all that much in the eight decades since - except there won’t be a Flying Squirrel, parachutist Rex Finney who experienced a rare mishap at the August 1930 opening, or the legendary Pancho Barnes.

The first airport in Ventura County, SZP opened in August 1930 with a dedication celebration that included air races, aerobatics and parachuting, and a visit from the Goodyear Blimp, and featured many famous aviators of the time such as Art Goebel, Roscoe Turner, Pancho Barnes, Jimmy Doolittle and Hawley Bowles. With a population at that time of 7,200, Santa Paula had more airplanes per capita than any other community in the nation.

The airport effort began shortly after the St. Francis Dam Disaster swept through the river valley after it collapsed a few minutes before midnight on March 13, 1928. Targeting a swatch of land swept clean from the flood waters, aviator Ralph Dickenson, considered the Father of the Airport, and co-founder Assemblyman Dan Emmett started a drive and garnered $1,000 each from 19 area ranchers, and proceeded to build the airport by hand.

In August 1930, the two-day dedication festivities kicked off by severing a silken cord - using an airplane with Dickenson at the throttle. During the dedication air show Finney, also known as “The Human Glider,” lost control of his parachute and had a hard landing - that caused him only minor injuries - onto the SZP runway. But he continued his distinguished career with Curtiss-Wright Flying Service, where Finney continued to thrill crowds with his own invention that allowed him to jump from a plane and make dramatic swoops, thrilling glides and stalls while in the air.

Finney was able to offer such an unusual demonstration due to his inventive turnouts with a triangular piece of sail cloth sewn between the legs of his flying suit, replicating the membranes of the flying squirrel. Finney would jump from the plane and stretch his legs apart as far as the sail cloth would allow, making him the man at that time who came the closest to actually flying on his own. Only after Finney had accomplished his stunts would he activate his parachute, floating to the ground almost as an afterthought.

In recent years the much more elaborate wing suit - also known as squirrel suit - was developed, and a dramatic demonstration of cliff jumping and soaring was aired on “60 Minutes.” But Finney apparently was the first, and his career continued to soar after his Santa Paula Airport mishap.

Pancho Barnes was a famous aviatrix with plenty of personality who could drink - and fly - most men under the table. The product of a wealthy Pasadena family, Pancho early on abandoned her minister husband and son and spent her life at the controls of the airplanes she loved.

She had a reputation as a flyer that equaled Amelia Earhart’s, a rollicking sense of humor, and enough sense to establish the famous Happy Bottom Riding Club adjacent to what is now known as Edwards Air Force Base. She became great friends and drinking buddies with early test pilots Chuck Yeager, General Jimmy Doolittle and Buzz Aldrin, the latter who became the second man to walk on the moon.

Pancho, who had been an early film stunt pilot, was further immortalized in the 1983 epic film “The Right Stuff.” No doubt Pancho would have loved it, but she had died eight years before.

Eighty years later Santa Paula Airport will again feature top-flight pilots and a show that Rex Finney and Pancho Barnes would love. Activities are planned throughout the day, kicking off with the parachute jump team; Rob Harrison, “The Tumbling Bear,” flying extreme aerobatics in his bright yellow Zlin 50LS; Clay Lacy in the only aerobatics Lear 24 Jet at air shows; Sam Mason doing glider aerobatics, Darin Moody, Great Lakes Aerobatics; Seamus McCaughley flying aerobatics in the blue Christian Eagle; Chris Olmsted doing aerobatics in the Pitts; Dog Fight with the Hellcat and the Zero; Ventura County Helicopter Water Drop demonstration; and Dan Gray, Legend, plus military fly-by.

There will be dozens of vendors offering food, arts, crafts and collectibles, a Kids Fun Zone, live band and Logsdon’s Patio Beer Garden overlooking the runway. Admission each day is $5 for adults, $3 for kids and active duty military with ID, and kids under 7 are free.

Santa Maria Street will be closed for the festival and there will be no parking at the airport, but parking lots and free shuttles are located on East Telegraph Road, Harding Park Little League Field, Mill and Ventura streets, Depot parking at North 10th and Railroad Avenue, Isbell Middle School (where there is a tunnel across the street that leads to the airport), Glen City School and Teague Park. For maps to the parking lots and other information visit www.santapaulaairport.com and follow the link to the Air Show News and Information.