The Oroville Army Airdrome trained Army Air Corps pilots to fly the
Bell P- 39 Airacobra during World War II.
The P- 39 was unique in several respects:
Engine was behind the cockpit
Driveshaft ran under the pilot, between his legs, to the prop
Main cannon fired from the hub of the propeller
A ceiling of only 10,000 ft. (3,000 meters)
First US fighter with retractable landing gear
The P-39 was reportedly tricky to fly.
The British declined a US offer to supply them with P-39s.
The Russians accepted the US offer and mastered the low altitude P-39 to effectively knock out Nazi tanks.
Airport Site
The Oroville Airdrome is now the Oroville Municipal Airport, located west of Oroville on Chuck Yeager Drive, near the intersection of Highway 162 (Oroville Dam Boulevard West) and Larkin Road.
Claim To Fame
Chuck Yeager trained at Oroville Army Airdrome - the first man to break the sound barrier. While stationed here, Mr.Yeager married Glennis Dickhouse, a girl from Oroville High School's Class of 1943.
| Date | Aircraft | Pilot | Crash Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 MAY 1943 | P-39N-O | Carter, Lloyd C | 4 Mi NW Oroville |
| 22 AUG 1943 | P-39 | Simpson, Edward K | 5 Mi W Oroville Army Airport |
| 22 AUG 1943 | P-39Q | Hubbard, Glenn A | 5 Mi W Oroville Army Airport |
| 23 AUG 1943 | P-39Q | Mickelson, Harold J | 2 Mi N Army Airdrome |
| 23 AUG 1943 | P-39Q | Troup, Donald S | Army Airdrome |
| 25 AUG 1943 | P-39Q | Browning, James W | Oroville, CA |
| 31 AUG 1943 | AT-6A | Wellman, James I | Oroville Army Airdrome |
| 3 SEP 1943 | P-39Q | Sheppard, Keith S | Army Airdrome |
| 18 SEP 1943 | P-39 | Soens, Donald A | 10 mi. NE Roseville |
| 28 DEC 1943 | P-39Q | Weidman, Hubert L | 2 Mi E Butte City |
| 29 DEC 1943 | P-39Q | Green, Arthur L | Oroville AAF, CA |
| 9 JAN 1944 | P-30N | Dye, Rufus Jr | 3 Mi SE Oroville AAF |
| 12 JAN 1944 | P-39Q | Caporal, James E | 13 Mi W Gridley |
| 13 JAN 1944 | P-39 | Solberg, Henry L | 12 Mi NW Oroville |
| 13 JAN 1944 | P-39 | Watts, Wendell E | 12 Mi NW Oroville |
| 14 JAN 1944 | P-30NO | Gerigk, Chester | Oroville AAF, Runway 30 |
| 1963 | Helicopter | Birch, Richard L. | Near Feather River, South of lower bridge |
| 1963 | Helicopter | Cowart, Charles | Near Feather River, South of lower bridge |
| 1963 | Helicopter | Davis, Edward D. | Near Feather River, South of lower bridge |
| 1963 | Helicopter | Keuht, Loyd R. | Near Feather River, South of lower bridge |
| 1963 | Helicopter | Williams, Clarence A., Jr. | Near Feather River, South of lower bridge |
| 7 AUG 1996 | U-2 | Roby, Randy D., Capt. | Oroville Mercury parking lot on 2nd Street |
| 7 AUG 1996 | Jerri Vering (Civilian on ground) | Oroville Mercury parking lot on 2nd Street | |
Personnel in RED lost their lives in these crashes. | |||
Crash data partly provided by Aviation Archaeology Investigation & Research