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Today, there are two private airports in San Mateo County. One is located in San Carlos, along the mid-Peninsula. The other is Half Moon Bay Airport on the coast.
However, San Mateo County was home to several other airports, which have disappeared into the dust of history. Let’s take a quick journey back in time and recollect these forgotten hubs of yesteryear.
* Original San Carlos Airport
The earliest known references to this airport date back to 1929. Operated by Coaley Aircraft, it featured two runways, one which ran north/south measuring 2,700 feet, and a second running east/west measuring 3,700 feet. It had one hanger and a repair shop.
It closed for a time during the 1930s and early 1940s. However, it reopened in 1944 and finally closed permanently in 1951. Its location was very near the current San Carlos Airport.
* San Mateo Highlands Airport
The actual opening date of this airport is inconclusive due to a lack of verifiable data. The earliest references to it are from the mid-50s. It had three short runways, the longest being roughly 1,000 feet.
The location was north of the Hillcrest Detention Center. A relief home (no longer there) was to the southeast. San Mateo County Fire Station #17 was very close by as well. The station’s Chief was a pilot who frequently used the Highlands airport to assist other nearby crews when fires broke out.
Sometime before 1959, the airport shut down, and air support for other area firefighters was moved to the San Carlos Airport.
[Part 1 of 2] to be continued…
EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST HISTORY
i thought there was an airport near the RWC maintainance yard at about 1400 Broadway. below is quoted from the Historic Union Cemetery website
Three Die When Airplane Falls
Redwood City, Calif., Aug. 23, 1920
Three men were instantly killed at the Varney aviation file here late today when their airplane crashed to the ground from a height of 300 feet. The dead are Clift Prodge, 32, of Bristol, Eng., pilot; John C. Nelson and Gus Jamison, attaches of the Varney aviation school here. Prodger was a representative of a British craft company and was demonstrating the airplane.