An opportunity to remember the history of Burbank

The City Council has begun plans for a monumental gateway for the city of Burbank at the five points intersection (“Monument funds approved,” March 18). Mayor Jef Vander Borght mentions that he has already approached the Lockheed Martin Co. about supporting public art in Burbank. Their response was “lukewarm.” Lockheed isn’t in Burbank anymore; it’s up to us now. But please, not more “signature art” ? make this something meaningful.

Important as Lockheed is, there is so much more to aviation history in the Burbank area. Where the Los Angeles Zoo parking lot is today was once Griffith Park Aerodrome, location of Glenn Martin’s factory in 1916 and birthplace of the California Air National Guard in 1924; Donald Douglas worked there and Bill Boeing learned to fly there.

Fighter pilots were trained there to join the American Eagle Squadron in England before our official involvement in World War II. Howard Hughes built his H-1 racer there and set speed records from there.

Al Menasco made racing engines and landing gear on San Fernando Road. Al Wilson flew stunts for movie serials from a dirt strip near Clybourn Avenue and Sherman Way.

Waldo Waterman laid out Metropolitan (Van Nuys) Airport in 1929. Howard Hughes filmed ‘Hell’s Angels’ just west of the field that same year. Bob Hope launched his United Services Organizations tours from there with the “Hollywood” Air National Guard unit. Van Nuys Airport is now the busiest civil aviation airport in the nation.

The Boeing Co. built United Airport in a dusty field on the edge of Burbank in 1930, the first million-dollar airport ever. Jack Northrop’s company was on the southwest corner of the field, where he built his first “flying wing.”

The Bendix cross country speed races started from Burbank nine times during the 1930s.

Jimmy Doolittle, Roscoe Turner, Amelia Earhart, Pancho Barnes, Wiley Post, Will Rogers, Paul Mantz, Laura Ingalls, Bobbie Trout and so many others flew in and out of our little airport. Cecil Allen, Milo Burcham, Richard Bong, Herman Salmon and others gave their lives here to further aviation.

Of course, Lockheed was the big dog in town. They built the world’s fastest aircraft here in the 1930s. Later, Hudson bombers and P-38s helped save us and our Allies in World War II.

The most beautiful airliner in the world, the Lockheed Constellation, was designed and built here. Aircraft like the P2V, F-90, F-94, F-104, C-130 and so many more first flew from our Burbank runways.

The world-acclaimed Skunk Works was born here in 1943 to create America’s first operational jet, the P-80. The U-2, SR-71 and the F-117 Stealth Fighter and who knows what else, were made here by our friends and neighbors, in complete secrecy, to defend our country.

Even with most physical traces of that history gone, there remains one place of remembrance for aviators in the area. The “Portal of the Folded Wings-Shrine To Aviation” at Pierce Brothers/Valhalla Memorial Park in Burbank holds the ashes of over a dozen famed aviators including Charley Taylor and Walter Brookins of the Wright brothers flying team. Roy Knabenshue, America’s first dirigible pilot and co-organizer of the 1910 Air Meet at Dominguez Rancho, is there. John Moisont, winner of the 1910 Statue of Liberty Race; Bert Kinner, builder of the first certified aircraft engine; and Amelia Earharts’ first airplane; and Bobbi Trout, the queen of the San Fernando Valley skies, are there. This National Historic Registry site by itself makes Burbank a center of aviation history. I don’t believe there is another place where so many aviators are buried together. Lockheed’s Carl Squire called the Portal “the Arlington of the air.”

If only we had preserved some building from the old plant and some land to dedicate as a museum, we could have “owned” that entire great heritage. Sadly, it was all wiped away.

This is our last chance.

The intersection of Victory and Burbank boulevards is a central spot from which this great tradition of aviation heritage developed and where it can be honored. Let this small piece of land honor the thousands who came here to design and build aircraft, to fly and to defend our country. Make this more than just a gateway to our city; make it a focal point for aviation and space history in the San Fernando Valley. We owe it to the men and women who did the work and we owe it to ourselves and to our children. It’s our story.