Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Zamperini Field is a busy general aviation airport in Torrance, California, three miles southwest of downtown Torrance in the crowded airspace south of Los Angeles International. Owned and operated by the City of Torrance, it is named after local athlete and World War II hero Louis Zamperini and today combines flight training and business aviation with a resident helicopter manufacturer and an aviation museum.
Zamperini Field is a city-owned general aviation airport in Torrance, California, named on 7 December 1946 - the fifth anniversary of Pearl Harbor - for Louis Zamperini, a Torrance High School athletics star and World War II airman. It is of interest to visiting pilots both for its position amid some of the busiest airspace in the country and for its resident aviation businesses, including the Robinson Helicopter Company's production and test facilities and the Western Museum of Flight.
The airfield lies in Los Angeles County, three miles southwest of downtown Torrance, within the dense airspace of the greater Los Angeles basin. It sits roughly eight miles south of Los Angeles International Airport's Class B airspace and about nine miles west of Long Beach's Class C airspace, and is also close to the smaller Compton/Woodley and Hawthorne Municipal (Jack Northrop Field) airports. Pilots flying to Zamperini Field for the first time are expected to be thoroughly familiar with the surrounding Class B and Class C airspace requirements before arrival. Southern California Approach/Departure provides the overlying terminal radar service on 124.3 MHz.
Zamperini Field has two parallel hard-surfaced, lit runway pairs. The longer pair, 11L/29R, measures 4454 ft on runway 11L and 4449 ft on runway 29R, with an ILS serving runway 29R. The shorter pair, 11R/29L, measures 2996 ft in each direction and is also lit.
Torrance Tower provides air traffic control on 124 MHz, which also serves as the CTAF; ground movements are handled on 120.9 MHz. The field's ATIS broadcasts on 125.6 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz. Southern California Approach/Departure works arriving and departing traffic on 124.3 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 29R.
Given the field's position amid overlapping Class B and Class C airspace and its proximity to Los Angeles International, Long Beach, Compton/Woodley and Hawthorne Municipal, pilots should plan to coordinate closely with Southern California Approach and Torrance Tower when joining the pattern, and should be fully briefed on the local airspace structure before arrival.
The airport lies three miles southwest of downtown Torrance and can be positioned relative to Los Angeles International Airport roughly eight miles to the north and Long Beach Airport about nine miles to the east. The smaller Compton/Woodley and Hawthorne Municipal airports lie nearby and can help with orientation when inbound from the Los Angeles basin.
The site began life in 1941 when the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads purchased land on the Weston Ranch property, then in Lomita, to develop the Lomita Flight Strip as an emergency landing field for military aircraft and to support civil air transport development. The United States Army Air Forces completed the airfield on 31 March 1943, using it as an emergency landing field for aircraft on training flights. The Army vacated the site in early 1946 and the War Assets Administration transferred ownership to the City of Torrance. On 7 December 1946 the airport was renamed Zamperini Field in honour of Louis Zamperini, a Torrance High School athletics legend and World War II hero.
Zamperini Field remains a general aviation airport owned by the City of Torrance, supporting a wide range of flying activity with several fixed base operators on site. The Robinson Helicopter Company's entire production, assembly and testing operation is based on the southeast side of the airfield in the largest buildings on the airfield. The Western Museum of Flight, relocated from Hawthorne, is also based at the field.