Willows Glenn County Airport (WLW)

Willows Glenn County Airport is a National Register of Historic Places facility that pioneered American agricultural aviation and aerial firefighting, operating since 1928 as Contract Air Mail Route 8's Beacon #12 in California's Sacramento Valley. The county-owned airport covers 320 acres at 141 feet elevation with two asphalt runways serving 29,500 annual general aviation operations, primarily supporting North Sacramento Valley agricultural activities including crop dusting operations that trace back to Floyd Nolta's 1928 innovations in aerial rice seeding. The airport hosts several agricultural application service operators using techniques developed here nearly a century ago, when Nolta perfected hoppers and seeding methods still used today across 130,000 acres of regional rice production. Historic significance includes being the birthplace of the Mendocino Air Tanker Squad (MATS) in 1956, America's first aerial firefighting squadron, and serving as a training site for Jimmy Doolittle's 1942 Tokyo raid preparation with B-25 Mitchell bombers. The facility features the last operational 51-foot steel beacon tower from 1928, making it one of only 28 airports nationwide listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Current operations include 40 based aircraft supporting agricultural spraying, general aviation, and occasional utility flights, with FBOs providing fuel services and hangar rentals that generate county revenue alongside state aviation grants.

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