San Francisco Airport
Unfinished History
China Clipper at Treasure island in 1939.
Photo: Greg Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco has had designs on a number of locations for its airport. The China Clipper was based on newly built Treasure Island in 1939. Originally Treasure Island was thought to be an ideal spot for the airport, but the Navy took it over. Earlier a military airfield occupied Crissy Field on the northern shore near the Golden Gate. Plans were even floated in the 1920s to build an airfield in India Basin over the Islais Creek marshes. Finally, the city of San Francisco purchased the tidelands at the eastern edge of the D.O. Mills estate (which was eventually subdivided and became the town of Millbrae), and there open the airport in the early 1930s, today's site of SFO International Airport.
--Chris Carlsson
SF International Airport 2009.
Photo: LisaRuth Elliott