Santa Barbara Airport

A Legacy of Private Aviation

In 1916 the Loughead brothers, who later changed their name to Lockheed, built a seaplane factory in the Goleta Valley called the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company and constructed a wooden ramp from which their planes could take off. In 1928, a Hisso-powered airplane was landed in a cow pasture by Gordon Sackett and Royce Stetson, who proceeded to set up a flight school at the location. This location later became Santa Barbara Municipal Airport. The airstrip developed into an airfield in the late 1930s as airplane manufacturing grew. Frederick Stearns, the founder of Santa Barbara Airways, built two additional runways on site, two large hangars, and the installation of radio equipment. Western General also began producing Meteor airplanes on-site. Airline flights began in 1937 on Pacific Seaboard Air Lines, which moved its operations to the East Coast and became Chicago and Southern Airlines in 1953. In 1936 United began operating flights from the airport. The impending WWII caused the US government to create a program whereby 250 airports would be built across the country, funded by cost-sharing with local governments. As such, Santa Barbara enrolled in the program, and the groundbreaking for SBA was in 1941. The outbreak of WWII caused the airport to become MCAS Santa Barbara (Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara) in 1942. It served as an aviator training base for the US Marines and was further expanded with many hangars and other buildings. In 1946, it reverted to a civilian airport. Nonetheless, in 1942 United Airlines commissioned a terminal building designed in Spanish by Willam Edwards and Joseph Plunkett, whose work helped shape the Mediterranean style of the city at large. In 1947 the Santa Barbara Flying Club was formed with the intention of promoting general aviation in the region. That same year Southwest is listed as having serviced the airport with Douglas DC-3s. Originally there were four runways, although the development of UC Santa Barbara and the construction of hangars to support the production of the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy led to the removal of the fourth runway. American Airlines began flying to Dallas/Fort Worth in 1984. In 2011 a second terminal building opened at 72,000 square feet to add to the old terminal building from the 40s (which had additions made in 1967 and 1972 removed so that it could be restored to its original state and incorporated into the new terminal). The new terminal building was built next to the old one at $63 million. The aircraft parking ramp was redesigned, while a new loop road and short-term parking were constructed. There are now four glass boarding bridges and four hardstands.