Clover Field
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Santa Monica Airport Santa Monica Municipal Airport Clover Field |
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2006 USGS airphoto
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | City of Santa Monica | ||||||||||
| Operator | Santa Monica Airport Commission | ||||||||||
| Serves | Southern California | ||||||||||
| Location | Santa Monica and Mar Vista, Los Angeles, California | ||||||||||
| Opened | 15 April 1923 | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 177 ft / 53.9 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 34°00′57″N 118°27′05″W / 34.01583°N 118.45139°W | ||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||
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 KSMO
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Santa Monica Airport (IATA: SMO, ICAO: KSMO, FAA LID: SMO) (Santa Monica Municipal Airport) is a general aviation airport largely in Santa Monica, California. The airport is about 2 miles (3 km) from the Pacific Ocean (Santa Monica Bay) and 6 miles (10 km) north of LAX. The FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2009–2013 categorized it as a reliever airport. The airport will remain open until 2029.
Originally Clover Field, after World War I aviator 2nd lieutenant Greayer "Grubby" Clover, the airport was the home of the Douglas Aircraft company. The first circumnavigation of the world by air, accomplished by the U.S. Army in a special custom built aircraft named the Douglas World Cruiser, took off from Clover Field on St. Patrick's day, March 17, 1924, and returned there after some 28,000 miles (45,000 km). Cloverfield Boulevard—which confuses the field's naming for a crop of green rather than a fallen soldier—is a remnant of the airport's original name.
Clover Field was once the site of the Army's 40th Division Aviation, 115th Observation Squadron and became a Distribution Center after World War II. Douglas Aircraft Company was headquartered adjacent to Clover Field. Among other important aircraft built there, Douglas manufactured the entire Douglas Commercial "DC" series of reciprocating-engine-powered airliners, DC-1 (a prototype), DC-2, DC-3, DC-4, DC-5 (only 12 built), DC-6, and DC-7. During World War II, Bolo B-18 and B-18A bombers and thousands of C-47 (military version of the DC-3) and C-54 (later the civilian DC-4) military transports were built at Santa Monica, during which time the airport area was cleverly disguised from the air with the construction of a false "town" (built with the help of Hollywood craftsmen) suspended atop it.
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Wikipedia