Schipske - Rosie the Riveter in Long Beach

AVIATION IN LONG BEACH. Prior to the construction of a 150-acre municipal airport in 1923, pilots could be seen taking off and landing on the long strand of beach for which Long Beach, California, is named. As commercial aviation grew, so did the Long Beach Municipal Airport and the militarys interest in locating its operations in this Southern California city. (Long Beach Airport Archives.)

DAUGHERTY FIELD. The Long Beach Municipal Airport was situated near the intersection of Spring Street and Cherry Avenue and was named Daugherty Field in honor of Earl S. Daugherty, a pioneer aviator. The city used the airfield to attract the U.S. Navy by offering to lease it for $1 a year if the navy built a naval reserve air base. The city also constructed a hangar and other facilities on the airfield for the U.S. Army Air Corps. (Above, Long Beach Airport Archives; below, Long Beach Heritage Museum.)

EXPANSION OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION. Relations between the City of Long Beach and the U.S. Navy soon soured because the city wanted the municipal airfield to become the site of expanding private and commercial aviation, as shown in the picture. United, TWA, American, and Western Airlines all provided service from the Long Beach Airport in the late 1930s. After the Long Beach city manager proclaimed that the city wanted the navy to leave, the navy purchased property offered by Susanna Bixby Bryant and relocated its air station to Los Alamitos. Instead of returning the airfield to the City of Long Beach, the navy transferred the property to the U.S. Army Air Corps, which operated a base near the airfield. A small naval auxiliary air station remained at the Long Beach airfield. (Long Beach History Collection, Long Beach Public Library.)

LOOKING NORTH AT LONG BEACH AIRPORT. By the late 1930s, the Long Beach Municipal Airport was one of the largest and busiest municipal airports in the United States. Equipped with five long runways that were lit at night, the airfield accommodated the army, the navy, and commercial air traffic. Aviator Charles Lindberg, who used the Long Beach Airport for an emergency landing, praised the airport for its advanced features. During the war, the field became known as the Long Beach Army Airfield and was home to the 18-person squadron of women air service pilots (WASP) of the 6th Ferrying Group of the Army Air Transport Command, who flew thousands of military aircraft in and out of the Long Beach location. (Long Beach Airport Archives.)