Orange County Branch Newsletter

April 2012

Secretary's Column

John Wayne Airport Historical Civil Engineering Landmark


About five years ago with the encouragement of Fred Meier, I volunteered at an ASCE OC Branch board meeting to digitize the Orange County Civil Engineering Landmarks into a powerpoint presentation that members could use when presenting to pre-college students about civil engineer.  This is one of the more rewarding activities that I have done for ASCE.  Since I am not a native of Orange County, I didn't know much about the history of Orange County.  Being involved with the History and Heritage Committee provided valuable historical information that I still use till this day.  As I went through the list of projects that were identified as Civil Engineering Landmarks in Orange County, I noticed there were no transportation projects.  A list of the projects that have acheived this honor is available on the History and Heritage Committee page of the OC Branch website, and generally consist of historic military bases and water projects.  My favorite project still is the blimp hangers at the Marine Air Station Tustin, which are the worlds largest wood-framed structures.  Someone from our branch (not me) should update the wikipedia page one of these days.  I have a friend who serves in the Marines and was stationed at the Marine Air Station Tustin and was able to get a tour before they closed the facility.  My memory of the breif tour is of the blimp hamgers being oversized for the helicoptors stored inside.  Hopefully one day they will turn one of the hangers into an air and space museum, so everyone can enjoy the engineering marvel.  I also enjoyed learning about the history of water in Orange County from the Zanja water conduits at the San Juan Capistrano Mission to the more recent Orange County Water District's Groundwater Replenishment System.  With my experiece at the time being mostly on transportation projects, I felt compelled to fill the gap missing in the list of Orange County Historical Civil Engineering Landmarks.

With Fred Meier's enthusiastic support, I took on the task to learn about the history of transportation in Orange County.  The project needed to be more than 50 years old, which limited the possibilites, but one day as I sat in the lobby of the John Wayne Airport's office it came to me.  The decorations of the lobby of John Wayne Airport's office are a tribute to Eddie Martin, a leader in the development of aviation when it was in it's infancy.  I quickly asked my client at John Wayne Airport if there was information on the history of the airport and soon I found myself preparing an application for John Wayne Airport to be recognized as a Orange County Historical Civil Engineering Landmark.  Once the airport staff were assured that the classification would not affect their ability to make changes to structures at the airport, they were very helpful in preparing a timeline of the history of the airport.  I had the opportunity to meet senior staff at the airport, like Alan Murphy the John Wayne Airport Director.  Even with the help from John Wayne Airport staff, the process took multiple years to complete. The best part of  working on the application, was to have the opportunity to work with Fred Meier.  He told detailed stories about the history of many historical civil engineering projects constructed during his lifetime.  I am grateful that I was able to complete the project while he was still alive.  Bill Lawson, PE has done a great job trying to fill the big shoes that Bill left and wrote an excellent article in May 2011 summarizing the history of John Wayne Airport.

On April 13, 2011 my work was completed when the plaque was installed in the lobby of Terminal B.  All the hard work paid off that day.  The employees who participated at the unveiling event were very proud to work at a facility with such great history.  My hope is that people waiting around for their luggage at John Wayne Airport will take notice of our plaque and become interested to learn more about why this site was selected by ASCE.  The airport has a nice page on their website about the recognition by ASCE.

Pictured L-R - Alan L. Murphy, John Wayne Airport Director; Ziad Mazboudi, ASCE OC Branch President; Bill Lawson, ASCE OC, History & Heritage Committee Chair; John M. W. Moorlach, Vice Chairman, Orange County Board of Supervisors

With the passing of Fred Meier last year, it has created urgency within the Orange County Branch to collect oral histories of our experienced members.  Bill Lawson is spearheading the collection of oral histories and we hope to add these great stories to future articles and our website soon.  I still am helping with the History and Heritage Committee.  Currently we are in the process of updating the website to include details about the historical civil engineering sites in Orange County.  Hopefully some of our members will feel the passion to help like I did and join us in making more information available to our members and the public.

Thank you to the Orange County Archives for allowing us to use their historical photos.

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