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Santa Rosa Army Airfield
IATA: STS – ICAO: KSTS – FAA LID: STS
Summary
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°W / 38.50889; -122.81278Coordinates: 38°30′32″N 122°48′46″W / 38.50889°N 122.81278°W / 38.50889; -122.81278
Website Official website
Map
STS is located in California<div style="position: absolute; top: Expression error: Missing operand for *.%; left: 1154.6%; height: 0; width: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;">
Airplane silhouette
STS
Location in California
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
2/20 5,202 1,586 Asphalt
14/32 6,000 1,829 Asphalt
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Santa Rosa Army Airfield, now known as Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (IATA: STS, ICAO: KSTS, FAA Location identifier: STS) is 7 miles (11 km) northwest of downtown Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County, California.[1][2] During World War II it was used as a training base for the Fourth Air Force.

The current name of 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 doghouse.

History[]

Military use[]

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.[3]

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.

File:Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport (logo).png

Sonoma Air Attack Base[]

The Sonoma Air Attack Base of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (known as CDF or CAL FIRE) was established in 1964 and is located at the northeast corner of the airport. Sonoma responds to an average of 300 calls per year. Staff at the base consists of one battalion chief and one fire captain (air tactics group supervisors), one fire apparatus engineer (base manager), and six firefighters. The complement of aircraft located at Sonoma includes one OV-10 Bronco twin turboprop aircraft (Air Attack 140) and two Grumman S-2 Tracker twin turboprop air tankers (classified as S-2T's, Tankers 85 and 86.)

PcamSign

PCAM

On average, the base pumps about 300,000 US gallons (1,000 m3) of retardant a year. With the base’s pumps, four loading pits and equipment, Sonoma has a possible peak output of 120,000 US gallons (450 m3) of retardant each day. The base’s immediate response area covers 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2) and includes Marin County and portions of the CDF Sonoma–Lake–Napa, Santa Clara, San Mateo–Santa Cruz, and Mendocino Units.

Pacific Coast Air Museum[]

The Pacific Coast Air Museum is located on the southeast corner of the airport, next to the airplane hangar used in the 1963 Hollywood all-star comedy movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Known as the Butler Building, the hangar was built during World War II, and is still in use today.

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

PD-icon This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Santa Rosa Army Airfield and the edit history here.
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