No.10 -- Arvin-Sierra Gliderport, Tejon Ranch, Arvin, California

29 April 2000

Located on the historic Tejon Ranch, the Arvin-Sierra Glider Port was the site for the West Coast Soaring Championships. Many of America’s famous glider pilots made record flights from here, soaring over the mountains and into the desert. The contests were popular events to pilots and public alike and the site became the most important glider port in California. When World War II shut down activity here, those star pilots became key to the war effort — as pilots, scientists, engineers and builders of advanced aircraft, leaving an aerospace legacy that exists today. [References]

Click on any photo to see a larger version.

2000: Jeff Byard with Jim Short, getting the TG-2 to land on the old Arvin Sierra Glider Field.

Souvenir glider mail from the 1939 glider meet, flown by Woody Brown in his "Thunderbird" sailplane to Arvin, California.

Souvenir glider mail from the 1939 glider meet (back stamp)

Some ships during the 1937 Bakersfield meet, held at the Arvin site.

Three vintage sailplanes landed as part of the Landmark ceremony at the original Arvin site, private property of the Tejon Ranch.

NLS #10 souvenir mail was flown from Mountain Valley Airport, Tehachapi, to the Arvin site by Jeff Byard and Jim Short, and by Douglas and Bob Fronius, both flying beautifully restored Schweizer TG-2s.

Landmark Plaque

The much-written-about oak tree at the Arvin glider site in the late 1930s. It is much bigger now and gives nice shade.

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