San Francisco Airport - Revision history

Ccarlsson: added new photo

2026-03-25T05:54:54Z

added new photo

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:54, 24 March 2026
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	''Photo: SFMemory.org''		''Photo: SFMemory.org''

			[[Image:SFO Jan 1966 Radar, Control Tower men with binoculars sfm005-10834.jpg\|800px]]

			'''SFO, January 1966, Air Traffic Control before computers!'''

			''Photo: SFMemory.org sfm005-10834''

Ccarlsson: added photos

2024-02-19T04:45:37Z

added photos

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 ''Video: Shaping San Francisco''
 [[A UFO Blimp-napping over Daly City? August 16th, 1942 |Prev. Document]]  [[Mills Field |Next Document]]
-[[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Transit]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:2010s]] [[category:dissent]] [[category:South Bay and Peninsula]] [[category:2020s]]
+[[category:Transit]] [[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:2010s]]  [[category:2020s]] [[category:dissent]] [[category:South Bay and Peninsula]]

Ccarlsson: added image

2023-11-11T19:24:28Z

added image

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:24, 11 November 2023
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	Commercial air traffic was still a couple of decades away. For a brief time it was projected that Treasure Island, built originally for the [[Treasure Island Fair: Golden Gate International Exposition\|Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939-40]], would be converted to an airport after the World’s Fair. [[The China Clipper\|The ''China Clipper'']] was based on newly built [[TI 1938\|Treasure Island]] in 1939. But when WWII interceded, Treasure Island became a naval base with navy taking over the original terminal building and the hangars.		Commercial air traffic was still a couple of decades away. For a brief time it was projected that Treasure Island, built originally for the [[Treasure Island Fair: Golden Gate International Exposition\|Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939-40]], would be converted to an airport after the World’s Fair. [[The China Clipper\|The ''China Clipper'']] was based on newly built [[TI 1938\|Treasure Island]] in 1939. But when WWII interceded, Treasure Island became a naval base with navy taking over the original terminal building and the hangars.

	Plans were floated in the 1920s to build an airfield in India Basin over the [[Islais Creek Remembered\|Islais Creek marshes]]. Eventually, the city of San Francisco purchased the tidelands at the eastern edge of the Darius Ogden Mills estate (which was eventually subdivided and became the town of Millbrae) in San Mateo county, and there opened the airport as [[Mills Field\|Mills Field]] in the late 1920s. On June 9, 1931, the name was changed to San Francisco airport and was soon added to the purview of the City’s Public Utilities Commission.		Plans were floated in the 1920s to build an airfield in India Basin over the [[Islais Creek Remembered\|Islais Creek marshes]].

			[[Image:1928-birds-eye-vie-of-proposed-China-Basin-airport-by-JR-Miller-and-TL-Pflueger SFMOMA.jpg]]

			'''1928 view of proposed China Basin airport by J.R. Miller and Timothy Pflueger.'''

			''Image: courtesy SF Museum of Modern Art''

			Eventually, the city of San Francisco purchased the tidelands at the eastern edge of the Darius Ogden Mills estate (which was eventually subdivided and became the town of Millbrae) in San Mateo county, and there opened the airport as [[Mills Field\|Mills Field]] in the late 1920s. On June 9, 1931, the name was changed to San Francisco airport and was soon added to the purview of the City’s Public Utilities Commission.

	[[Image:Mills Field 1928 pub 2011.032.0077 0.jpg]]		[[Image:Mills Field 1928 pub 2011.032.0077 0.jpg]]

Ccarlsson: added Eric Porter video

2023-11-11T03:06:44Z

added Eric Porter video

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:06, 10 November 2023
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	''Image via Kim Lee, Facebook''		''Image via Kim Lee, Facebook''

			<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/peoples-history-of-sfo-eric-porter-nov-8-2023" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

			'''Eric Porter, author of the recent ''A People’s History of SFO'', gives a deep look at SFO—San Francisco International Airport—'''which has come a long way from its muddy beginnings as Mills Field in the 1920s. Functioning as the center of the Bay Area’s modernizing transportation networks, SFO’s evolution illuminates fraught questions of access and employment discrimination, while becoming an “infrastructural manifestation of a succession of regional colonial presents, layered on top of sinking concrete, steel, and landfill upon mud.” And today’s airport, with rising bay waters lapping at its shores, confronts us with the implacable role of air travel in climate change, which no amount of
			berms and protective seawalls will solve.

			''Video: Shaping San Francisco''


	[[A UFO Blimp-napping over Daly City? August 16th, 1942 \|Prev. Document]] [[Mills Field \|Next Document]]		[[A UFO Blimp-napping over Daly City? August 16th, 1942 \|Prev. Document]] [[Mills Field \|Next Document]]

	[[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Transit]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:2010s]] [[category:dissent]] [[category:South Bay and Peninsula]]		[[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Transit]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:2010s]] [[category:dissent]] [[category:South Bay and Peninsula]] [[category:2020s]]

Ccarlsson: added lost landscapes video

2023-11-04T04:59:26Z

added lost landscapes video

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:59, 3 November 2023
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	''by Chris Carlsson''		''by Chris Carlsson''

			<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/sf-airport-1941-and-clipper-cove-from-lost-landscapes-no-1" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe>

			'''Footage from SFO in 1941, followed by images of the PanAm Clipper circling around in Clipper Cove off Treasure Island.'''

			''Video: from "Lost Landscapes #1, 2007" courtesy Prelinger Archives''

	[[Image:outofsf$china-clipper.jpg]]		[[Image:outofsf$china-clipper.jpg]]

Ccarlsson: added category

2021-03-04T05:42:27Z

added category

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:42, 3 March 2021
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	[[A UFO Blimp-napping over Daly City? August 16th, 1942 \|Prev. Document]] [[Mills Field \|Next Document]]		[[A UFO Blimp-napping over Daly City? August 16th, 1942 \|Prev. Document]] [[Mills Field \|Next Document]]

	[[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Transit]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:2010s]] [[category:dissent]]		[[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Transit]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:2010s]] [[category:dissent]] [[category:South Bay and Peninsula]]

Ccarlsson: added photo

2020-06-23T00:43:40Z

added photo

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:43, 22 June 2020
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	''Photo: LisaRuth Elliott''		''Photo: LisaRuth Elliott''

			[[Image:SFO-from-air 20150402 133601.jpg]]

			'''SFO, 2015.'''

			''Photo: Chris Carlsson''

	[[Image:PSA stewardesses c 1970s via Kim Lee FB.jpg]]		[[Image:PSA stewardesses c 1970s via Kim Lee FB.jpg]]

Ccarlsson: added photo

2020-05-25T23:36:17Z

added photo

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:36, 25 May 2020
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	''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''		''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

			[[Image:SF Airport Aug 28, 1954 wnp010.10117.jpg\|800px]]

			'''Open house at the San Francisco Airport, August 28, 1954.'''

			''Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp010.10117''

	[[Image:San Francisco International Airport 1959 pub 2011.032.0502 copy.jpg]]		[[Image:San Francisco International Airport 1959 pub 2011.032.0502 copy.jpg]]

Ccarlsson: added links

2019-03-28T16:08:18Z

added links

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:08, 28 March 2019
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	''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''		''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

	In the late 1990s during the first Dotcom tech boom, SFO became the nation’s 9th busiest airport. SFO found itself confronted with chronic delays, which were blamed on the old mid-century runways, no longer separated enough to accommodate a higher flow of airline traffic. Mayor Willie Brown, the consummate deal-maker, embarked on a campaign to build new runways into San Francisco Bay in order to allow expansion of the airport. But strong opposition by Supervisor Aaron Peskin and a panoply of local environmental groups, plus the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, ultimately derailed the plans. Air traffic has fallen considerably since those booming times, and SFO now ranks 21st in airport business. Oakland and San Jose airports have also taken up some of the pressure on SFO.		In the late 1990s during the first Dotcom tech boom, SFO became the nation’s 9th busiest airport. SFO found itself confronted with chronic delays, which were blamed on the old mid-century runways, no longer separated enough to accommodate a higher flow of airline traffic. [[Mayor Willie Brown\|Mayor Willie Brown]], the consummate deal-maker, embarked on a campaign to build new runways into San Francisco Bay in order to allow expansion of the airport. But strong opposition by Supervisor Aaron Peskin and a panoply of local environmental groups, plus the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, ultimately derailed the plans. Air traffic has fallen considerably since those booming times, and SFO now ranks 21st in airport business. Oakland and San Jose airports have also taken up some of the pressure on SFO.

	[[Image:Map of existing SFO runways.jpg]]		[[Image:Map of existing SFO runways.jpg]]
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	'''Expansion plans as laid out by Mayor Willie Brown in the 1990s, defeated by environmental and political opposition.'''		'''Expansion plans as laid out by Mayor Willie Brown in the 1990s, defeated by environmental and political opposition.'''

	In the early 2000s the city-owned facility completed its most recent expansion, adding a dedicated International Terminal, as well as building a 6-mile automated shuttle train system, and running an extension of the BART train system directly to the airport.		In the early 2000s the city-owned facility completed its most recent expansion, adding a dedicated International Terminal, as well as building a 6-mile automated shuttle train system, and running an [[BART to SFO, Caltrain to Downtown: How One Happened and the Other Didn’t\|extension of the BART train system]] directly to the airport.

	San Francisco International Airport is a bastion of union labor in the Bay Area. Nearly everyone working there belongs to one of over a dozen unions associated with the airline business, from machinists and pilots to flight attendants and custodial workers at the airport. Still, in 1981 the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, and threw up a picket line at SFO. They were all fired by the government which sought to make an example of them to intimidate organized labor more generally. Their union was destroyed after a few months and a lack of solidarity from other airport unions.		San Francisco International Airport is a bastion of union labor in the Bay Area. Nearly everyone working there belongs to one of over a dozen unions associated with the airline business, from machinists and pilots to flight attendants and custodial workers at the airport. Still, in 1981 the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, and threw up a picket line at SFO. They were all fired by the government which sought to make an example of them to intimidate organized labor more generally. Their union was destroyed after a few months and a lack of solidarity from other airport unions.

Ccarlsson: added new article and many photos

2019-03-28T00:25:31Z

added new article and many photos

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:25, 27 March 2019
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	''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''		''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

	The airport construction also created a basin for the amphibious planes that were still a common part of early air travel. Pan American chose the San Francisco Airport as its location to do the first regularly scheduled trans-oceanic air service. The flight took off from the San Francisco airport and 59 hours later, after four stops, it landed in Manila, Philippines. The plane was so heavy that when it took off from the airport it had to fly under the cables of the East Bay Bridge that had not been completed yet. The plane, China Clipper, became instantly famous and set off a rage of new toys, beer and food all with the name China Clipper.		[[Image:Passengers board United Air Lines Douglas DC-3 at San Francisco Airport 1938 pub 1997.52.050.002b 0.jpg]]

			'''Passengers board a United Airlines Douglas DC-3, 1938.'''

			''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

			The airport construction also created a basin for the amphibious planes that were still a common part of early air travel. Pan American chose the San Francisco Airport as its location to do the first regularly scheduled trans-oceanic air service. The flight took off from the San Francisco airport and 59 hours later, after four stops, it landed in Manila, Philippines. The plane was so heavy that when it took off from the airport it had to fly under the cables of the East Bay Bridge that had not been completed yet. The plane, [[The China Clipper\|China Clipper]], became instantly famous and set off a rage of new toys, beer and food all with the name China Clipper.

	[[Image:San Francisco Airport 1939 9000 foot seawall defined a seaplane harbor and 315 acre extension of airfield pub 2009.104.037 0.jpg]]		[[Image:San Francisco Airport 1939 9000 foot seawall defined a seaplane harbor and 315 acre extension of airfield pub 2009.104.037 0.jpg]]

	'''San Francisco Airport, 1939. A 9000-foot seawall defined the new seaplane harbor and provided a 315 acre extension of the airport.'''		'''San Francisco Airport, 1939. A 9000-foot seawall defined the new seaplane harbor and provided a 315 acre extension of the airport.'''

			''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

			[[Image:Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boats moored at San Francisco Airport 1946 pub 2000.058.1407 0.jpg]]

			'''Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boats moored at SF Airport, 1946.'''

	''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''		''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''
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	''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''		''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

			[[Image:Nearly completed new terminal at San Francisco International Airport 1954 pub 1997.52.045.008 0.jpg]]

			'''Nearly completed new terminal at SF International Airport, 1954.'''

			''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

	[[Image:Passenger lobby at San Francisco International Airport 1954 pub 2011.032.0406 0.jpg]]		[[Image:Passenger lobby at San Francisco International Airport 1954 pub 2011.032.0406 0.jpg]]
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	''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''		''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

			[[Image:San Francisco International Airport 1959 pub 2011.032.0502 copy.jpg]]

			'''San Francisco International Airport, 1959.'''

			''Photo: courtesy San Francisco Airport Museums''

	In the late 1990s during the first Dotcom tech boom, SFO became the nation’s 9th busiest airport. SFO found itself confronted with chronic delays, which were blamed on the old mid-century runways, no longer separated enough to accommodate a higher flow of airline traffic. Mayor Willie Brown, the consummate deal-maker, embarked on a campaign to build new runways into San Francisco Bay in order to allow expansion of the airport. But strong opposition by Supervisor Aaron Peskin and a panoply of local environmental groups, plus the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, ultimately derailed the plans. Air traffic has fallen considerably since those booming times, and SFO now ranks 21st in airport business. Oakland and San Jose airports have also taken up some of the pressure on SFO.		In the late 1990s during the first Dotcom tech boom, SFO became the nation’s 9th busiest airport. SFO found itself confronted with chronic delays, which were blamed on the old mid-century runways, no longer separated enough to accommodate a higher flow of airline traffic. Mayor Willie Brown, the consummate deal-maker, embarked on a campaign to build new runways into San Francisco Bay in order to allow expansion of the airport. But strong opposition by Supervisor Aaron Peskin and a panoply of local environmental groups, plus the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, ultimately derailed the plans. Air traffic has fallen considerably since those booming times, and SFO now ranks 21st in airport business. Oakland and San Jose airports have also taken up some of the pressure on SFO.

			[[Image:Map of existing SFO runways.jpg]]

			'''Existing runway configuration at SFO.'''

			[[Image:Map of sfo runway plans.jpg]]

			'''Expansion plans as laid out by Mayor Willie Brown in the 1990s, defeated by environmental and political opposition.'''

	In the early 2000s the city-owned facility completed its most recent expansion, adding a dedicated International Terminal, as well as building a 6-mile automated shuttle train system, and running an extension of the BART train system directly to the airport.		In the early 2000s the city-owned facility completed its most recent expansion, adding a dedicated International Terminal, as well as building a 6-mile automated shuttle train system, and running an extension of the BART train system directly to the airport.
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	In January 2017, the incoming Trump administration promulgated draconian new rules to prevent immigration by Muslims, even banning green-card holders and people already holding valid visas and en route to U.S. airports. Thousands of people quickly besieged airports around the country, including SFO. For several days prior to a federal court judge reversing the ban (something that would happen twice more in the year), thousands of Bay Area residents marched, sang, chanted, and occupied the lobby of the International Terminal in a stirring rebuke to the xenophobia and racism that had taken over the government.		In January 2017, the incoming Trump administration promulgated draconian new rules to prevent immigration by Muslims, even banning green-card holders and people already holding valid visas and en route to U.S. airports. Thousands of people quickly besieged airports around the country, including SFO. For several days prior to a federal court judge reversing the ban (something that would happen twice more in the year), thousands of Bay Area residents marched, sang, chanted, and occupied the lobby of the International Terminal in a stirring rebuke to the xenophobia and racism that had taken over the government.

			[[Image:Jan-29-2017-sfo-protest-P1090282.jpg]]

	~~[[Image:SFO.JPG]]~~		'''Protests against the Trump Muslim ban rocked SFO in January 2017.'''

	'''~~SF International Airport 2009~~.'''

	~~''Photo: LisaRuth Elliott~~''

	~~[[Image~~:~~Mills-Field-airport.jpg]]~~		''Photo: Chris Carlsson''

	~~'''Mills Field, before it was renamed San Francisco International Airport, c~~. ~~1930s'''~~		[[Image:Jan-29-2017-sfo-protest-P1090267.jpg]]

	''Photo: ~~Shaping San Francisco~~''		''Photo: Chris Carlsson''

	[[Image:~~1927 SF airport~~.~~jpg~~]]		[[Image:SFO.JPG]]

	'''~~Mills Field, 1927~~.'''		'''SF International Airport 2009.'''

	''Photo: ~~Shaping San Francisco~~''		''Photo: LisaRuth Elliott''

	[[Image:PSA stewardesses c 1970s via Kim Lee FB.jpg]]		[[Image:PSA stewardesses c 1970s via Kim Lee FB.jpg]]
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	[[A UFO Blimp-napping over Daly City? August 16th, 1942 \|Prev. Document]] [[Mills Field \|Next Document]]		[[A UFO Blimp-napping over Daly City? August 16th, 1942 \|Prev. Document]] [[Mills Field \|Next Document]]

	[[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Transit]] [[category:1970s]]		[[category:San Francisco outside the city]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1930s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Transit]] [[category:1970s]] [[category:2010s]] [[category:dissent]]