Historic California
Posts, Camps Stations and Airfields:
Banning Landing
Strip
(Banning Auxiliary
Field)
Banning airport was established
in 1927 on 68 acres of land purchased from the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company by members of the Banning Kiwanis Club and the
Banning Post of the American Legion. The airport comprised a
hangar and 2;240 feet dirt landing strip. In the mid 1930s the
airport was annexed by the City of Banning, which subsequently
improved the site and enlarged it to 127.15 acres. The airport
remains in operation and is principally used by the general public.
Recently North American Jet Charter started operation of flights
to Europe and South America from the airport.
Military use of the airport
is well known. While it was under control it was known as Banning
Landing Strip. In 1943 the U.S. Army conducted a training program
for Army engineers in airport construction at the airport. The
program, known as Project X: How to Build an Air Field in
Italy, resulted in improvement of the landing strip and extension
of the strip to 5,000 feet. No other improvements were made to
the airport by the military. The landing strip continues to be
beneficially used. Listing of the airport in various military
publications supports its use by the U.S. Army Ground and Air
Forces during World War II. There is anecdotal evidence that
General Patton used the airport during WWII to travel between
his headquarters in Banning and his field headquarters in the
California Arizona Maneuver Area. No evidence was found of ordnance
use or storage at the airport. Records also indicate that the
airfield served as an auxiliary field for the Contract Flying
School operated by the Ryan School of Aeronautics at Ryan Field.
Source US Army Corps of Engineers,
Los Angeles District
Extract of January 1945 US
Army and Navy Directory of Air Fields
