Flight 2

Page 2

Late in 1940 the War Department completed arrangements to lease the airfield from the city, and as they began extensive improvements, private aviation in Paso Robles came to a virtual standstill. Local flight students, including Dr. Lenord Poe, had to go over the Cuesta Grade to San Luis Obispo for instruction with the Civilian Pilot Training program.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, local pilots moved their planes to other areas for storage, with many civilian aircraft forced to spend the next years grounded on the ramp at Lone Pine. Dr. Ragsdale's Culver Cadet was dismantled and the wings were stored in his garage while the fuselage was kept in Paul Turner's garage on Park Street. Meanwhile, 1940 to 1941 saw extensive upgrading and modernization of the airfield in Paso Robles. A new large hangar, mess halls and other buildings were completed as well as construction of new runways, built to accommodate any aircraft then in use.

It seemed that not everyone looked favorably on these improvements. One woman, who lived on the edge of the airport property shouldered her shotgun and sat under the trees designated to be removed. Apparently this early environmental activist wasn't able to face down the War Department, as development continued. It was at this point that the little dirt strip had metamorphosed into Sherwood Field. The field was named for Captain George Sherwood, the first commander of the 115th Observation Squadron of the California National Guard. Sherwood was killed in 1935 while flying civilian mail near Burbank, ironically crash-landing in a cemetery. His observation squadron was the first military group to occupy Sherwood Field. According to Dan Krieger, writing in War Comes to the Middle Kingdom, the 115th was comprised of many photographers from southern California, some associated with the movie industry in civilian life. Sometimes Hollywood starlets would be brought to Paso Robles to entertain the troops.

Movieland expertise was evident in the 115th's winning entry in the 1941 Pioneer Day parade, a train complete with masked robbers who staged attacks on the locomotive along the parade route. One member of the 115th organized a baseball team to play against a local girls' team. He requested ten baseball bats from Warner Brothers Studio. When the studio mistakenly sent one hundred bats, the surplus was used as fuel for a post-game barbecue.

But it was not all fun and games for the one hundred-plus enlisted men and twenty-some officer-pilots. They continued training in observation and air reconnaissance as well as participating in flour-bombing and target-towing exercises with the recently completed Camp Roberts. Late in 1941 Sherwood Field was turned over to the Navy, which operated it as an emergency field. During this time the field was used at least once by a Hollywood movie company. Local residents recall watching stunt pilot Paul Mantz fly a Stearman biplane through the open doors of the big hangar and out the other side in a sequence for a Robert Taylor movie.