Santa Maria Army Air Field
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Santa Maria Public Airport Capt. G. Allan Hancock Field Santa Maria Army Airfield |
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2006 USGS Photo
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Santa Maria Public Airport District | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Santa Maria, California | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 261 ft / 80 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 34°53′56″N 120°27′27″W / 34.89889°N 120.45750°WCoordinates: 34°53′56″N 120°27′27″W / 34.89889°N 120.45750°W | ||||||||||||||
| Website | SantaMariaAirport.com | ||||||||||||||
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 SMX
SMX
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Source: FAA, airport website
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| Aircraft operations | 62,480 |
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| Based aircraft | 243 |
Santa Maria Public Airport (Capt. G. Allan Hancock Field) (IATA: SMX, ICAO: KSMX, FAA LID: SMX) is three miles (5 km) south of Santa Maria, in northern Santa Barbara County, California.
The airport was built by the United States Army during World War II, known as Santa Maria Army Air Field. Its primary mission was to provide training for B-25 bomber pilots, however flight training was abandoned by December 1942. The field fell into a state of disuse until the arrival of the Lockheed P-38 twin engine fighter in September 1943.
During its use by the military Santa Maria AAF also controlled Estrella Army Airfield, near Paso Robles as an auxiliary airfield to support the pilot training activity.
After the war Santa Barbara County and the city of Santa Maria acquired the land and facilities through two grants in 1948. In 1964 the Army Air Field was renamed Santa Maria Public Airport.
The first airline to serve Santa Maria was Pacific Seaboard Air Lines. In 1933 Pacific Seaboard was operating two daily round trip flights with single engine Bellanca CH-300s on a Los Angeles - Santa Barbara - Santa Maria - San Luis Obispo - Paso Robles - Monterey - Salinas - San Jose - San Francisco routing. Pacific Seaboard would later move its entire operation to the eastern U.S., be renamed Chicago and Southern Air Lines, and in 1953 be acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines.Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3s began service during the 1940s. The June 1, 1947 timetable lists three daily round trips flying Los Angeles-Oxnard-Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo-Coalinga-Monterey-Santa Cruz/Watsonville-San Jose/Moffett Field-San Francisco. Southwest changed its name to Pacific Air Lines and operated Martin 4-0-4 prop aircraft and Fairchild F-27 turboprops into Santa Maria during the 1960s. Pacific Air Lines merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West which became Hughes Airwest which in turn served Santa Maria with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets and Fairchild F-27 propjets. The Oct. 26, 1975 Hughes Airwest timetable listed DC-9 nonstops to Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as nonstop F-27s to LAX. This was the only time Santa Maria had nonstop mainline jets to LAX and SFO at the same time; DC-9 flights ended in a few months and Hughes Airwest left the airport in 1979.
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Wikipedia