[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 30, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E900-E901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN HONOR OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOLLISTER MUNICIPAL AIRPORT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 30, 2012

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 100th 
Anniversary of the Hollister Municipal Airport. The history of this 
aviation gem is almost as old as aviation itself. It saw its first 
powered flight departure on April 14, 1912 from what was then a small 
livestock pasture. And while I rise to recognize this historical 
milestone for this place, I also rise to recognize the efforts of all 
the people who have made this place so special over the years. It is 
their work that makes the Hollister Airport so special.

[[Page E901]]

  I have had the great honor of representing Hollister in Congress for 
many years. It is a remarkable little city that is nestled between 
scenic coastal mountain ranges and surrounded by some of the world's 
most productive agriculture. There is little to hint that this 
beautiful rural community lies just fifty miles south of San Jose and 
the greater San Francisco Bay Area metropolis. However, along with its 
neighbor, the City San Juan Bautista, founded in the late eighteenth 
century, Hollister and its region's history are a microcosm of the 
California story, and the airport is an important part of that 
narrative.
  After WWI, pilots like Frank Bryant began shipping their planes by 
rail into Hollister for assembly and flight preparation. The little 
field just north of town was a popular site for various flying 
activities. By the mid 1920s, a pioneer in the then new business of 
crop dusting, a man named Everett Turner, purchased the land and 
converted the old pasture into Turner Field. For the next twenty years, 
crop dusters, mail-carrying aircraft, and all manner of recreational 
airplanes flew in and out Hollister's Turner Field airfield.
  With war looming in the early 1940s, the U.S. Navy took control of 
Turner Field and commissioned it the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, 
Hollister. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into 
WWII, the U.S. military faced a critical shortage of trained carrier 
pilots. The Navy began a massive pilot training program, which included 
the acquisition of the Del Monte Hotel in nearby Monterey to house 
pilot trainees at the nearby Monterey Naval Air Station and the 
expansion of the former Turner Field to primarily help train those and 
other pilots in ground attack techniques. VC 39 was the first squadron 
to report followed by VC 42 and VC 68 in 1943. The new base soon grew 
to accommodate two light carrier air groups of four squadrons with the 
addition of two hangars and a ground training building. By 1945, at the 
height of the Navy's presence, the base included 210 acres, two 200 
foot wide tarmac runways of 4,300 and 4,000 foot lengths, and billeting 
for 167 officers and 928 enlisted men.
  After the War, the Navy no longer needed its Hollister base and it 
sold the airfield to the City of Hollister. Since that time, the little 
airport has built upon the excellent facilities left by the Navy to 
grow into a thriving general aviation airport. It has become a national 
center for historic aircraft restoration as well as home to a critical 
base of aerial operations for Cal Fire, the State of California's 
wildland fire service. It is also an important business hub. With its 
close proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area, good flying weather, and 
high quality transportation links, the Hollister Airport is poised to 
become a leading regional economic engine. In addition, the Hollister 
Airport now hosts one of the West's premier air shows.
  Mr. Speaker, I know I speak for the whole House in offering our 
gratitude to the Hollister Airport family--past, present, and future--
for making this little gem such an important piece of our nation's 
aviation economy and culture.

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