Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (former Santa Rosa Army Airfield) |
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USGS 2006 orthophoto
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Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
Owner/Operator | Sonoma County DOT | ||||||||||||||
Location | Sonoma County, near Santa Rosa, California | ||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 129 ft / 39 m | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 38°30′32″N 122°48′46″W / 38.50889°N 122.81278°WCoordinates: 38°30′32″N 122°48′46″W / 38.50889°N 122.81278°W | ||||||||||||||
Website | SonomaCountyAirport |
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Location in California | |||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Statistics (2014) | |||||||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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Aircraft operations | 73,576 |
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Based aircraft | 315 |
Total Passengers | 339,000 |
Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (IATA: STS, ICAO: KSTS, FAA LID: STS) is 7 miles (11 km) northwest of downtown Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County, California.
The airport is named after Charles M. Schulz, the famed cartoonist of the Peanuts comic strip, who lived in Santa Rosa for more than 30 years. The airport's logo features Snoopy in World War I flying ace attire atop his Sopwith Camel, that is to say, his doghouse.
In the 1930s Santa Rosa had a small municipal airfield owned by Richfield Oil Corporation next to the Redwood Highway about 6 miles southeast of the present airport. Use of the 3,000-foot sod runway at the earlier airfield was discontinued during World War II as facilities at the present airport improved.
Opened in June 1942 and known as Santa Rosa Army Air Field, the airfield was assigned to Fourth Air Force as a group and replacement training airfield. Known units assigned to Santa Rosa were:
The 478th Fighter Group was permanently assigned to Santa Rosa in December 1943 and began training replacement pilots, who were sent to combat units overseas after graduation.
The airfield was inactivated on January 31, 1946 and turned over to the War Assets Administration for eventual conversion to a civil airport.
From the late 1940s until the mid 1970s Southwest Airways and successors Pacific Air Lines, Air West and Hughes Airwest served Santa Rosa. Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3s followed by Pacific, Air West and Hughes Airwest Fairchild F-27 turboprops primarily flew to San Francisco (SFO).