At 4:49, the plane crash you mentioned was my great grandfather, Charlie Duffey. My mom (his grandaughter) found this video and showed me. Thank you for sharing about this little - yet meaningful - piece of history.
Wow, I just went down an Internet rabbit hole and happened to find this video because my grandfather flew out of that airport. He was a private pilot and as I’m looking at the video at about four minutes in, it mentions his crash and death. His name was Charles William Duffey And I am his granddaughter. Thank you for this video. I’m sharing it with my family members.
This place my dad moved us too from L.A. back in 1970 was a true breath of fresh air compared to the city even with the hills catching on fire and the smell of burning grass too the Alta Dena dairy cows next to Happy homes ! I loved exploring all the hills and fields around me then with my new friends and have had a lot of unanswered ouestions from the beginning. One has been rumor and speculation and stems from the many 20 mm cannon projectiles found on the North side of what is now the palms but was Industry Hills when I worked there during it's construction and after. On the side along what is Temple av. from Workman High school too Valinda av. Well called "Cardboard Hill" because someone discovered that you could use a flattened cardboard box like a sled on snow and slide from the top too the bottom and have a great ride then truge back up again to slide down again. We also were forced to run the hills for school and football which was a horror for me and others. Anyway the point is in this area we basically played in we would on occasion find a "Big Bullet" and would be king for a day showing off his find to everyone that was curious. I had one for a time but lost track of it many years ago and the speculation/rumor was that during the war warplanes traveling and Training in the area would use the hill for target practice or just would unload a few rounds just for fun. Never had any idea there was a private sky ranch on The opposite side of the hill I see every day. Great stuff I still have a lot to learn about around this place that once use to be "out in the sticks".
My grandparents lived in Puente (as we called it in the early years) on 8th Ave, just off Valley Blvd. My parents were divorced & I spent many of my toddler years with my grandparents. More than once, the phone would ring, my grandmother would answer it & have a very brief conversation. Then she would rush me out the back door of their house and would point to the sky & try to get me to look up. As a 3 year old, if what she was pointing at didn't appear instantly I wasn't interested. But I do remember a small plane flying overhead, waggling its wings. It was my father, as I learned years later. I don't know if he flew out of El Monte or Sky Ranch, but it was one of the two. Maybe both. This was in the late 1940's. Thank you for this video and the great memories it stirred.
I grew up in La Puente from 1956 through 1965. So many things felt so good to see again. I watched them get rid of Pass and Covina road, put Azusa avenue in from Francisquito to Amar, build the new Azusa avenue bridge over the railroad tracks, and all the orange groves and strawberry fields go away. I actually as an adult worked for Rowland School District building services and Hurley School was one of the schools I serviced. I never, ever had heard of the airport before. Thanks for the memories and the new found information!
So sad to learn the failing history of this once thriving airport. I too, never knew this airport existed. I began taking flying lessons in 1979 at Runway 37 Flight School on the north side of Brackett Field in La Verne. I would finish my lessons five years later at Cable Airport in Upland. I believe that Cable is the largest privately owned airport in the U.S. It is so sad to see the closure of Meadowlark in in Long Beach, Rialto Airport, and soon Santa Monica. This supremely interesting documentary reminds me so much of the camaraderie and fun I enjoyed at Cable. I so wish that this airport had survived, but sadly economics took its' toll. What a great piece of history you have revealed to we who grew up near La Puente. Thank you for this !
I'm from the area as well, and I used to fly out of the airfields you mentioned. Although my primary airport was Brackett, I was acquainted with the Cable family and even did some volunteer work at the airport.
Really interesting... I grew up in La Puente/Rowland Heights from 1961 until I left for the Navy in 1968. I now live 3 blocks from Knott Sky Park in 29 Palms. Donated to the City of 29 Palms by the Knott's Berry Farm family. I believe they built it with the hope of it developing into a fly-in desert resort. The only old building left is a Pre-school. It is a green oasis in the desert. Your story puts me in mind of the Huell Howser series of Visiting, California Gold, etc. He was a neighbor of ours out here in 29 Palms... it sure would be a good thing if you could follow in his footsteps.
Hey..iam the kid at the 16 minute mark, many years later we rode our bicycles back to the green airplane hangers to see what was there. In the hanger was an old dusty p-38 without propellers, covered with tarps. I also saw and heard the p-38 climbing to altitude and heading north, with a wonderful roar, that clear cool morning many years ago.
Really enjoy some much history so close to home. I was born and raised in La Puente 1977-2006, Galleano st off la seda/valley Blvd and attended Nogales high. Keep the videos coming. Thanks 👌🏼
We lived at 14114 Procter Ave. La Puente in 1950 not to far from the Sky Ranch Airport. It was very rural back then. My parents lived in an Army tent while my dad was building our home on Procter. We had a small chicken ranch. The Bells lived across the street. Mr. Clifton lived next door, and the Rodriquez (not sure of the spelling) family lived next to us on the other side. Thanks for the video it was very interesting!
...love this forgotten tail... fantastic insightful history... great video 😊😊my family and I moved to a house on Inyo street in 1988.. that elementary school is right by where we get pan dulce at ensenada market...
Sometimes what is known as "progress" is really destruction in disguise. Simpler times seemed to be better times, when people dreamed and then worked toward things together, with a purpose to enjoy the finer things in life. Then came the commercialism, the bootube, and the dumbing down. Progress... yeah. I used to be part of a great community that gathered and flew from Pitman Airport, Pitman, NJ. It had a grass runway and parking area with corrugated metal hangers in two rows, plus an office and pilot's club. It was a great place to be for a 14 year old like me obsessed with airplanes and flying. I especially wanted to be a crop dusting pilot. It was one of the pilots in a service based at Pitman that introduced me to the place and the owner of the flight school there who I took lessons from for two years. Eventually time caught up with the place. A fire devastated the hangers and any hardware in them and then Route 55, a new highway, cut off one end of the runway. The whole place is on big housing tract now. Not a sign of the airport exists.
this video is great. i loved it. keep up the great work marty!! i love local history. coming from old town la puente, rowland and stimpson. would love to see more!!
I first heard about Puente Sky Ranch from a random older customer I spoke with by phone when I worked at SureFire. He told me he used to fly into that airport in the 40’s. I’ve grown up in the WC/LP area (I’m 40yo) and never knew an airport existed. I wish I kept his contact info to call him back one day. I started Googling and found a website of old defunct airports all over the LA/Orange County, amazing how many there were.
When will new videos come out? last i heard was half a year ago when i asked about hells gates in turnbull, if there is nothing more to write about do some on the history of cities in general like whittier, fontana, jurupa valley, etc, also there is many stories old and new you can write about like the manson murder house and the house in chino that had a family murdered in it and many more
+Carlos Palacios There are plenty of stories to do. We're working on 5 more right now. They are all at different points in production. Our last video that we uploaded was on the Nike Missile bases back on May 7, 2015. Visit our youtube page and watch one of our 8 documentaries... plus we have 2 other interview videos as well. thanks for your interest.
The "Cal Aero Flight Academy" at what is now Chino Airport used a practice strip known as "Puente" between 1940 and late 1944. Where was it? It does not appear to be this airport, but one of the instructors (deceased) told me that it was.
If it wasn't Sky Ranch, then it was probably the current location of the Puente Hills Mall. Back then they wanted to make a horse track out there... however, Im not sure that ever happened. However, I do know that planes landed there from time to time.
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