Airfield: 1916-1939
Redwood City was an important center for early aviation and Stanford Redwood City is located on what was once an airfield. Silas Christofferson, a visionary young pilot and engineer, bought Michael Lynch’s flower field in early 1916 and built an airfield, engine manufacturing plant and flying school. Christofferson designed stronger aircraft engines, more easily assembled aircraft bodies and more comfortable cockpits. Redwood City’s favorable winds and weather allowed him to fly year-round. Christofferson died here on October 31, 1916, while flight-testing a plane he was designing for the U.S. military. He was 26 years old.
The flying school continued to operate and chief instructor Frank Bryant trained many of the first Chinese, Chinese-American, Korean and Japanese pilots and the first woman to receive a pilot’s license on the West Coast, Helen Hodge. Walter Varney, who later founded Continental and United Airline, leaned to fly at the airfield and purchased the property in 1919. Varney taught aerial acrobatics, operated an air taxi, and delivered local fresh flowers by air to West Coast customers before establishing his Varney Air Lines business in Boise, Idaho, in 1926.
Redwood City made a serious proposal to host the first long-haul airport on San Francisco Bay and the slogan “Climate Best by Government Test” was a centerpiece of the campaign. Mills Field in Millbrea was selected instead as the site for what is now San Francisco International Airport. The Redwood City Airfield closed in 1939.
"This is the age of doing it first. Be original; don’t copy."
Silas Christofferson, 1912
(There is a small panel in braille below the main text)
Images:
(Top) Redwood City from the air in 1916.
(Bottom Left) Silas Christofferson came to the Bay Area in 1912 to learn to fly from esteemed instructor Frank Bryant, whom he hired for his flying school.
(Bottom Right) The flying school in 1919. . This historical marker was erected by Stanford University. It is in Redwood City in San Mateo County California