Aviation View Magazine | Volume 1, Issue 4

47 AVIATION VIEW VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 VENTURA COUNTY A I RPORTS (OXNARD & CAMAR I LLO) has progressed from a sleepy, towerless facility to a bustling reliever airport, with an FAA air traffic control tower and annual operations numbering nearly 190,000. It also boasts a diverse collection of over 560 production, home- built, and WWII aircraft with active chapters of the Experimental Aircraft Association and the Commemorative Air Force. Currently, Camarillo Airport features a control tower, four full service FBOs –Air 7, Channel Islands Aviation, Sun Air Jets, and AVEX Aviation – as well as offering flight instruction, helicopter charters, aircraft maintenance, skydiving, and ultralights. Camarillo Airport is also home to the Oxnard Air Force Base, and the runway was lengthened to 8,000 to accommodate the Northrop F-89 “Scorpion” aircraft that were part of the Los Angeles area Air Defense Command. By 1958 the new Air Force base boasted four alert hangars, concrete ramps, and a 9,000-foot runway. In 1960, the supersonic McDonnell Douglas F-101B “Voodoo” interceptor aircraft, equipped with “Genie” tactical nuclear missiles, arrived. It was only 18 years later that the base was deactivated, and the land declared surplus. That is when the County of Ventura stepped in and from that day to this Camarillo Airport