40,000 Attend Tracy Airport Dedication Sunday Afternoon,” screamed the banner headline that ran across the front page of the Tracy Press in 1929.

The story under the headline told of the three-day “Air Circus” that culminated in the dedication ceremony Sunday, April 28, 1929, for Tracy’s American Legion Airport.

In 1928, members of Tracy’s James McDermott American Legion post attended the state Legion convention in Stockton, where Legion leaders urged the development of airports throughout the state. In September 1928, the American Legion Airport Committee was formed under the leadership of H.J. “Hap” Frerichs and C.L. “Casey” Jones, two World War I veterans. The Legion committee convinced the Tracy City Council to purchase 158 acres south of town for the airport, stipulating that the Legion post would develop the property. The site was chosen at the 200-foot elevation in an effort to be above the tule fog that lies low in the Central Valley each winter.  In agreeing to purchase the airport property, the council allocated $1,500 to provide materials for the Legion members to level a gravel runway and build hangars. The Legion operated the airport for three years, but dreams of developing an airport with regular air service never materialized. With the Great Depression taking hold, the city took over the airport in 1932.

During the 1930s, several operators leased the airport from the city without any real success.  Finally in 1940, the airport took on a new life. The Boeing School of Aeronautics, which trained pilots for United Air Lines, realized that its original location at Oakland Airport was too congested and opted to come to Tracy at the urging of the Tracy Chamber of Commerce. From October 1940 through December 1941, the school trained some 120 young pilots. All were college students who had already learned to fly. In Tracy, they lived at the Tracy Inn, took ground-school classes next door at the old Central School and practiced visual and instrument flying at the airport.  The training in Tracy ended soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The West Coast was considered too vulnerable to a possible attack. Early in 1942, the school was moved Cheyenne, Wyoming, and later to Denver.  The young student pilots who trained in Tracy later became United’s senior captains, proudly known as “Tracy Aces.”

During World War II, the Army Air Corps took over the airport as an auxiliary landing field for student pilots at Stockton Field training for multi-engine aircraft. The Army constructed two 4,000-foot concrete runways and a third of 3,400 feet. Two parallel landing strips at New Jerusalem were also constructed.  Following the war, the Army returned Tracy airport to the city along with the New Jerusalem facility that included some 250 acres of farmland. The stipulation was that both airports would remain in aviation use.

In postwar America, interest in flying sprouted with the growth of general aviation. At Tracy airport, Frank Duarte operated Tracy Flying Service, and pilots formed the Tracy Flying Club. The flying club sponsored sports-car races at the airport in 1958 and 1959. In 2001, a park developed at the airport was dedicated as American Legion Park in recognition of the Legion’s role in establishing the airport in 1929.

The preceding information is an excerpt from an article written by Sam Matthews in the Tracy Press on May 2, 2019 explaining some of the rich history of Tracy Municipal Airport.