The airport

This chapter tells the story of the early days of the Willows-Glenn County Airport and the fly-ins of the 1930s.

Jump to the timeline of the whole story.

Building the airport

About 1928

A first airstrip is built in Willows, on the site of today’s Glenn Medical Center. The exact year is not certain.

1929

The U.S. Department of Commerce builds the Willows-Glenn County Airport as an intermediate landing field on the Seattle–Los Angeles air mail route. Its Airways Division appoints Floyd Nolta as manager.

April 17, 1930

Nolta is sworn in as a special deputy and becomes Glenn County’s first flying officer. Each county appointed one to enforce aviation laws before federal rules took over.

1932

Local civic leaders, including Nolta, raise money through the American Legion and the Achaean Club and buy the airport from the Department of Commerce. Nolta stays on as manager, and Willows Flying Service moves into the first hangar built there.

The 1930s

Nolta stages annual air shows that grow into the largest in Northern California. With other ag flying services based there too, Willows becomes the busiest airport in Northern California without commercial airline service.

1942

The Army Air Forces takes over the airport as an auxiliary field for Chico Field, and Willows Flying Service moves to its own land about four miles north of town.

The air shows of the 1930s

Newspaper clippings show that Willows hosted large annual air shows at the airport in the 1930s, usually as benefits for the airport and run by local civic groups.

November 11, 1931

An Armistice Day air show billed as Northern California’s biggest, sponsored by the Willows American Legion Post and the Achaean Club, with proceeds for airport improvements. Stunt flying, air races, dead-stick landings, parachute jumps, and passenger flights ran all day, with an Aviators Ball the night before. Admission was 25 cents and parking was free. The Sacramento Bee reported preparations for a crowd of 2,500 and about 25 planes.

September 9–10, 1933

An airport dedication and air show, sponsored by the Willows Chamber of Commerce, the Achaean Club, and the local American Legion post. The program included an air parade, stunting, aerial combats, parachute jumping, bomb dropping, smoke writing, and joy hops. An aviation ball drew 350 couples, and stamp collectors nationwide mailed in for special dedication covers.

Late September 1937

The 7th Annual Northern California Air Show, a two-day event. Speed Nolta flew three Willows women who won a popularity contest to San Francisco to invite the mayor. The paper called Willows the busiest airport in northern California outside the airline hubs.

September 24–25, 1938

The 8th Annual Northern California Air Show, run by the Northern California Airshow Association, with Nolta as airport superintendent. Parachute jumps, upside-down flying, air races, and fireworks. About 60 planes came the year before, and 75 were expected.

The air show details come from 1930s newspaper clippings, which you can open in the archives. The airport’s early history is drawn from Floyd H. Nolta on Wikipedia.

The whole story on one timeline

From 1918 to Doolittle Day. Each entry is tagged with the chapter that tells its story.

1. 1918
   The farmers

   Floyd Nolta, a garage mechanic in Willows, enlists in the Army and is sent to Rockwell Field in Coronado, where one of the instructor pilots is Jimmy Doolittle. They become lifelong friends.

2. February 20, 1920
   The students

   Korean Americans open the Willows Korean Aviation School in Glenn County to train pilots for the Korean independence movement.

3. June 22–24, 1920
   The students

   The school’s first two airplanes arrive in Willows.

4. July 5, 1920
   The students

   The Willows Korean Aviation School celebrates its grand opening.

5. October 1920
   The students

   A flood destroys the rice fields of Kim Chong Lim, the school’s main backer.

6. April 1921
   The students

   The Willows Korean Aviation School closes after a little over a year.

7. 1927
   The farmers

   Floyd and Dale Nolta start Willows Flying Service and begin spraying crops in Glenn County.

8. 1928 to 1929
   The farmers

   Nolta seeds rice from the air. The earliest photograph is dated April 1, 1929.

9. 1929
   The airport

   The U.S. Department of Commerce builds the Willows-Glenn County Airport on the Seattle–Los Angeles air mail route, and Nolta is appointed manager.

10. 1931
    The farmers

    About 50,000 acres of Sacramento Valley rice are planted by airplane in a single year.

11. November 11, 1931
    The airport

    An Armistice Day air show, billed as Northern California’s biggest, raises money for the airport.

12. 1932
    The airport

    Local civic leaders buy the airport from the Department of Commerce.

13. September 9–10, 1933
    The airport

    The airport is dedicated with an air show and an aviation ball. The Chamber of Commerce is among the sponsors.

14. September 1937
    The airport

    The 7th Annual Northern California Air Show.

15. September 24–25, 1938
    The airport

    The 8th Annual Northern California Air Show.

16. March 30–31, 1942
    The raiders

    Five Doolittle Raider crews practice short takeoffs at Willows before boarding the USS Hornet.

17. April 18, 1942
    The raiders

    Sixteen B-25 bombers launch from the Hornet and strike Japan.

18. 1942
    The airport

    The Army Air Forces takes over the airport as an auxiliary field for Chico.

19. October 15, 1942
    The raiders

    Japanese forces execute Raiders Hallmark, Farrow, and Spatz in Shanghai.

20. 1949
    The students

    The Republic of Korea Air Force is founded and later recognizes the Willows school as its forerunner.

21. July–August 1955
    The firefighters

    Vance Nolta flies a Stearman fitted with a water tank, first on a test fire at the Nolta airstrip and then on the Mendenhall Fire, the first free-fall drop on a wildfire.

22. 1956
    The firefighters

    Eight pilots and seven aircraft form the Mendocino Air Tanker Squad, the first operational air tanker squadron in the United States.

23. 1959
    The firefighters

    Heavy air tankers carrying 2,000 gallons of retardant enter service.

24. January 12, 1961
    The archives

    General Doolittle gives a talk to the Rotary Club in Gridley.

25. 2019
    The students

    The remains of Willows Korean Aviation School co-founder Lee Jae-su are reinterred in South Korea.

26. April 6, 2023
    The airport

    The airport’s National Register of Historic Places nomination appears on a City of Willows agenda.

27. March 30–31, 2027
    The raiders

    The 85th anniversary of the Raiders’ training at Willows.

28. October 16, 2027
    The fly-in

    Doolittle Day: the fly-in at the Willows-Glenn County Airport (tentative).