Airfield development on the Peninsula

Beginning in 1909, Walter Varney who was born on the San Francisco Peninsula in 1888, tinkered with and flew airplanes at the Ingleside Race Track in western San Francisco. In 1916, he acquired 403 acres of land in San Mateo, starting his fledgling flying school on the site that was to become the Bay Meadows race track. In 1921, he built a hanger on the site he then called Beresford Field. “Speed” Johnson took over the flying school in 1925 while Varney relocated to Salt Lake City to start Varney Air. Varney was awarded the first U.S. Postal Service contract for point to point air-mail delivery. Varney purchased six 90-horsepower Curtiss “Swallows” aircraft and flew from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada, carrying mail for the government. His new airline had a chief instructor, three advanced student pilots, four undergraduate mechanics, one bookkeeper and one traffic man. Later, Varney Air merged with United Airlines. In 1934, Varney started Varney Speed Lines primarily to carry U.S. mail. Varney Speed Lines became Continental Airlines in 1937.

When Bill Kyne built the Bay Meadows race track, the air field continued to be used occasionally. The Bay Meadows Airport ceased operation in 1947.

Another air field, smaller than Varney Field, San Mateo Air Field, was built in East San Mateo. The Parkside Shopping Center is on the site now.

Lynch Field in Redwood City was purchased by Silas Christofferson in June 1916, and he was to develop an airfield and a flying school almost immediately. Christofferson came from Portland, Oregon, and had great success with his airplanes — he had flown to an altitude record of nearly 20,000 feet. His reputation drew numerous people to his flying school from all over the world. It was a great success almost immediately and people from all over came to observe the flights that occurred to the north east of the downtown Redwood City by Chestnut Street between Veterans Boulevard and Broadway. However on Oct. 31, 1916, Silas Christofferson was killed when he was unable to pull out of a steep dive in his aircraft and it crashed.

At the Presidio in San Francisco, Crissy Field opened on July 1, 1921. The field, named by Maj. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, honored Maj. Dana H. Crissy who had died in an air crash in 1919. Administrative buildings, hangars and a Mission-style building were built for the enlisted men. Pilot training was informal. The future pilots usually learned their skills from an experienced pilot. In 1926, the Congressional Air Corps Act made their training official. In 1942, the Flight Officers Act ended the opportunity for enlisted men to serve as pilots. DeHavilland-4s were replaced by Douglas and Boeing aircraft in the mid-20s. The aircraft were getting larger and heavier and, in 1935, Hamilton Field in Marin County replaced Crissy Field.

In the mid-20s, San Francisco was searching for a permanent air field — Crissy Field and the Marina District in San Francisco, San Mateo Point and South San Francisco to name a few, as well as possibly building wooden runways on the waterfront were considered, but all were rejected due to unfavorable water conditions, fog or lack of expansion potential. A site in South San Francisco, east of Bayshore Highway, on the Point, was offered as an airport but the land had to be leveled at too high a cost and this was rejected. South San Francisco, however, did develop an airfield at the junction of Linden and San Mateo avenues. There was only one official flight from it before it closed. The open fields owned by the Mills’ estate were finally chosen for development and named Mills Field.

Rediscovering the Peninsula runs every weekend. It is compiled through our archives created by Jim Clifford and the late Darold Fredricks.