Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Gibbs Auxiliary
Field
Gibbs Auxiliary Field,
circa 1943
Gibbs Auxiliary
Field
The airport opened in July 1940 as "Gibbs
Field" as an all-way clay and gravel surface airfield. During
World War II, control of the airport was assumed by the United
States Army Air Forces, which built three hard runways. It was
called "Gibbs Auxiliary Field" and used as a support
airfield for the contractor pilot school at Ryan Field, near
Hemet. It also supported training activities at the United States
Army Desert Training Center (DTC) in the Mojave Desert, and later
as an auxiliary airfield for Lindbergh Field in San Diego. It
was used presumably as an overflow airfield to store newly manufactured
B-24 Liberator bombers and PBY Catalina amphibian aircraft made
by Consolidated Aircraft.
After the war the airport returned to
civil control. The Federal Aviation Administration has maintained
an Air Traffic Control Tower at the airport since 1965. It is
on the north side of the airport, just east of Taxiway C and
Runway 23/5, and the normal hours are 0600-2100 Local Time.
The field is currently named for John
J. Montgomery, an aviation pioneer who in 1883 made the first
manned, controlled, heavier-than-air flights in the Otay Mesa
area of San Diego. Montgomery Field is one of the nation's busiest
airports for small aircraft and has a number of flying clubs,
flight schools, plus business turboprops and jets based there.
The San Diego Fire Department bases aircraft there. King Schools,
Inc. is based nearby and its aircraft are based at the airport.
Since summer 2009, King Schools (in conjunction with Cessna)
has been flight-testing the prototype Cessna 162 Skycatcher Light-Sport
Aircraft at or around the airport.
Wikipedia 9 December 2014
Extract,
Army Air Forces Airfield Directory, January 1945
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