Santa Monica Municipal Airport

Santa Monica, CA USA (KSMO / SMO)

The Santa Monica region is famous for its picturesque location, famous residents, and stunning climate. What many aviation students never realize, however, is the impact the State of California had on the birth of aviation in the United States. Aviation history was forged largely by the entreprenneurs who took to the skies shortly after the turn of the century, but climates like those of California, Arizona and Florida afforded many more flying days and consequently much more time for experimenting with things that had to become airborne to test adequately in the days before advanced computer simulations and even wind tunnels.

The Santa Monica airport is unique in that it is the oldest operating airport in the Los Angeles County, with a history that extends back to the days of the barn stormers of the 1920’s and their famous Wing Walkers. Some claim to find a history that extends back to 1917, it is certain that airport records indicate World War I pilots usedt he airstrip in 1919 as an grass landing strip. The first large industrial player to set their sights on Santa Monica was the Douglas Aircraft Company, which began to manufacture its early military aircraft and airliners, most noteably the DC-3 and DC-4. By 1929 The Douglas Aircraft Company had moved completely to KSMO and local historians and geographers agree that the Douglas Aircraft Co. was probably the initial player to single handedly transform a quiet beachside town into a primarily blue collar city formed around aircraft manufacturing.

While no artifact of history for sure, Western Air Charter is making history today by offering some of the most common sense air taxi solutions to the communities of Southern California. Founded by Ken Smith to provide air ambulance and executive charter services in their Cessna 310 and Cessna 421, Western Air Charter is your logical choice for Long Beach, Burbank, Santa Monica and other Southern California air taxi needs.

Western Air Charter is a proud sponsor of the KSMO airport and Van Nuys KVNY airports. They are located at 1805-D McKinley Ave. La Verne, CA 91750 Tel: 909.622.5613 or Toll Free at 888.662.5613