Torrance Airport (Images of Aviation) by Charles Lobb
For every story told by Tom Brokaw in The Greatest Generation there are probably ten thousand that haven’t yet been told but are just as interesting, if we only knew about them.
Slowly but surely, more of these tales are coming to the surface and are well-deserving of attention. One such is the story of how the Torrance Airport came into existence, and why.
Charles Lobb, who lives in Torrance, CA, was bitten by the flying-bug and eventually became a certified flight instructor for the Federal Aviation Administration. He’s also a history buff, and in 1994, the annual air fair held at the Torrance Airport (now known as Zamperini Field) celebrated the 50th anniversary of D-Day. He became curious about some of the tales told by the old-timers. “I decided to dig a bit to see what I could find,” he says.
“At first, I couldn’t find anything at all, but then someone suggested I try the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB. Almost immediately, they came up with five rolls of microfilm with 1800 frames per roll. Talk about a treasure trove!” He still sounds somewhat awed by the succeeding developments. He put the word out about his search, and discovered that the secretary of the National P-38 Association lived in the San Fernando Valley and could send him names of squadrons and pilots. Inquires brought in even more names and scrapbooks, anecdotal stories and TONS of photos!
“It was like the game of CLUE. I gathered together as much information as I could and assembled a slide show, which I presented for local pilot, historical and homeowner organizations for about five years. Then one day a gentleman approached me, saying ‘I’m an editor for Arcadia Publishing, and I think you have a book here.’ I let him talk me into it, and here we are.”
Torrance Airport is one of a huge series of local history books published by Arcadia, and made it to print in August, 2006. They have a tight format, 128 pages max, with lots of photos, but still, according to Lobb, “if I had six photos, I could use only two. But which two? We ended up with 205 pictures and I probably had several hundred more. There was easily three times more stuff than there was room.” The city of Torrance also hired a professional film producer to produce a film based on Chuck’s slides and on some of the 8 mm film shot by the pilots who trained here.
Along the way he unearthed a multitude of interesting facts, some of which didn’t make it into the book. First of all, he discovered Louis Zamperini, who grew up in Torrance and set several national track records running the mile in both high school and college. He was the youngest American to compete in the 1936 Olympics, finishing 8th in the 5000 meter race. Zamperini enlisted before the war started and became a bombardier. When his plane crashed in the Pacific, he drifted on a rubber raft for 47 days before being captured. He spent the rest of the war as a POW. Upon his triumphant return to Torrance, the airfield was renamed in his honor. Zamperini also wrote the forward to Lobb’s book.
Southern California had quickly become a Mecca for movie-makers in the early years of the 20th Century, and it didn’t take long for the burgeoning aircraft industry to follow suit. When WWII broke out with the attack on Pearl Harbor, folks in California suddenly realized they could be very vulnerable to an air attack from that direction. The Lomita Flight Strip, the original Army Air Corps name for the Torrance Airport, occupied a prime piece of land that is well sheltered from ocean weather by the Palos Verdes peninsula.
In the early 30s, there were some 60-plus air fields in the Los Angeles area, mostly small grass strips with one or two buildings. Today there are eight remaining. Flying was a relatively inexpensive hobby at that time, as one could buy a decent used bi-plane for about $300. The Graf Zeppelin landed at Mines Field in 1927 during it’s famous round–the-world flight, putting this quaint grass strip on the map. It later became LAX. “At that time, it was way out in the boondocks,” Lobb says, with a chuckle. “The public wondered why they built the airport so far from downtown”.
In the late 30’s, the hub of aerial commerce in the Los Angeles area was the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale with Charles Lindbergh one of many commercial transport pilots. During WW II, the field was commandeered by the Army Air Corps to form newly trained fighter pilots into squadrons who subsequently completed their training at bases throughout Southern California. The Lomita Flight Strip, built by funds appropriated by Congress, was one of these fields.
Some of the squadrons housed at Lomita were: 373rd Fighter Squadron (which sent pilots to various other units); the 55th Pursuit Squadron; the 429th Fighter Squadron and the 434th Fighter Squadron, which primarily sent pilots to Europe. After new fighter squadrons were no longer being formed, the 6th Ferry Command at Long Beach took over Lomita Flight Strip, with 1,700 pilots ferrying new aircraft to international locations. The 6th Ferry Command also included a squadron of WASPs (Women’s Auxiliary Service Pilots) who ferried planes to domestic sites.
After the war, it took several years to determine who owned the field, with the city of Torrance emerging victorious. During this time, Japanese-Americans coming back from internment camps were housed in the barracks at the field. “A good many of these folks stayed right here”, adds Lobb. “They went into farming and gardening. We have many large Japanese-American communities in the area.”
In 1948, the city took over the field and renamed it the Torrance Municipal Airport, Zamperini Field. The city’s Master Plan included adding a second runway, big enough for commercial aircraft, and added auto dealerships and a shopping center around the perimeter of the field, all of which are thriving today. In 1957, the Army installed a NIKE missile battery, complete with underground bunkers. “The bunkers are still there,” adds Lobb. “Now the fire department does search and rescue training in them.”
A fun aspect is appearing at reunions of military outfits with book or DVD at hand. “Some of these guys are still the same macho, hard-drinking guys they always were. Only now, they’re in their 80s and have wives who never knew them as teens or young men. The wives especially seem to really love seeing their husbands as they once were!”
Lobb has one last word of advice to anyone who is (or knows) a WWII veteran. “Get a tape recorder, sit down and get ‘em talking. You never know what you’ll get. Treasure, for sure.”
Lobb sells Torrance Airport for $20 and the DVD for $10 at his personal appearances. Of course, the book is also available at walk-in or on-line bookstores. (ISBN 0-7385-4662-3, Library of Congress Card Number 2006924923.)
