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The following accumulated from some of our local historians :
(And needs fleshed-out by contibutions please....)(Rev Mar 30, 2008)

In the beginning, there were two brothers interested in airplanes. Their father owned a gravel pit located approximately at the south-east side of what's now the intersection of 91 and 15 freeways. They had the equipment, why not a runway. So they roughed one out. We'll take a guess at the 1930's. They called it "Custer Field". One of the guys was Kenny Custer.

Its unclear, but one recalls there was a trailer park built at the east end of the runway and that shutdown the airport for a while. Then another runway was built just a little northwest of the first one. Let's estimate 1945. Jumping ahead a little, this second runway was run over by the new I-15 freeway, and a new location was needed. This was called "Thursby Field".

At some point here, 1950's, one of the pictures below shows a "Corona Police Aero Squadron". One source identified the Luscomb as the "First" airplane operated by the "Corona Police Aero Squadron". One of the men in the picture is "Joe Greer", a name found frequently in all subsequent pictures.

At some point here, the US Army Corps of Engineers purchased agricultural land where AJO is currently located.

Joe Greer was the Chief of Police in Corona (dates*). Looking over old airport pictures, you see him frequently. One source feels we owe Joe Greer for keeping an airport in Corona.

One of our historians was a deputy sheriff. His crew was told to drive around and locate a new place for an airport (by Joe Greer, apparently). Faithfully, they drove around out in the darkness he recalls. Finally, it was decided to move the Corona Airport to the approximate location where it is now. However, the runway was built on the high ground just "south" of what is now known as Airport Drive.

After he retired from the police force, Joe Greer was made the Airport Manager at the present location. Don't know if he was Corona's 1st airport manager, but it certainly looks like he was the 1st airport manager after AJO moved onto the ACoE land. According to the pictures, this was about 1960.

As you can tell from the dated pictures, this was in about April 1960.

Later, funds were found to build a paved runway. They paved the lower ground. And the runway is located where it is today. One historian estimated this was in about 1966.

According to a presentation by the City of Corona on March 4, 2008 (a synopsis) :
* the Airport Master Plan was approved (by the city?) in 1977.
* the airport is located on 96 acres of land owned by ACoE
* 1980 to 2000 -- the airport expands to 276 hangars and over 500 aircraft
* 2001 to Present -- Flight activity declines from a maximum of 158,000 to 68,000 operations annually.
* 1998 -- walls were constructed on the north and south sides to protect against flooding
(It is said this was needed after the ACoE changed the route of the creek the preceeding year.)
* 2004 -- runways and taxiway lighting was upgraded.
* 2006 -- an upgraded AWSS was installed and the old AWOS removed.
* March 2008 -- There are presently 276 hangars, 15 businesses, and 40 acres of aircraft parking.
* The current lease with the ACoE extends to 2037
* In fiscal year 2006-2007 the airport City's Airport Fund rec'd $284,372 and spent $255,898 for the operation of the airport ($28474 surplus).
* The airport fund has a $300,000 loan amount outstanding to the General Fund for the construction of the flood wall(s); city paid appx $28,000 last year toward the loan debt.
* No funds are available for Airport Capital Improvement Projects.
* Corona Police Dept's Helicopter program provides a police presence at the airport 6 days a week.
* There are appx 500 tenants leasing space at the airport
* Appx 1/3 of the tenants are Corona residents.
* Appx 450,000 gallons of fuel are dispensed annually from (2) fueling stations.

And thus, the story that Corona Airport has been in 4 places over the years.

We hope to add a lot of details to this story. And it had better be soon. The people who made AJO what it is today, and remember the stories, are fast passing away.

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