Last update: March 4, 2007. Inputs are welcome!

The original Rosamond Airport opened in 1947 at the site that is now the Skypark. It had various owners over the years. In 1967 Bill Aronson, with "Doc" Patton and Sam Ramsey as partners, purchased the airport from Bill Barnes, son of the famous Pancho Barnes. When Bill and his partners purchased the airport, Runway 07-25 was a 2,600 foot long dirt strip. The airport also had a 1,800 foot diagonal dirt strip, a house, and two barracks that were movie props. During 1967 Aronson paved the runway and 1,500 feet of taxiway with desert mix at a cost of $7,200. He also added runway lights and built a hangar on what is now Lot 11 for $2.40 per square foot including cement, electrical, and lounge.

Bill ran the Fixed Base Operation, Aronson Aviation, from 1967 to 1994. He provided fuel, maintenance and repair, airplane and glider flight instruction, and glider towing, with an avionics repair shop operation being run by his partner Sam Ramsey. At its peak, Aronson Aviation operated 14 gliders, 9 rental airplanes, and 3 towplanes. In 20 years he gave over 10,000 glider rides. (Related Story 1)  (Story 2)  From 1970 to 1986, Aronson Aviation offered an annual two-week glider course for Explorer Scouts that took them up to the point of solo flight. Over the years Bill received numerous letters of gratitude from participating Scouts who had gone on to successful careers with airlines and the military.

Some noteworthy names that learned to fly at Rosamond are: Governor Pat Brown, Barron Hilton, Billy Jack, Christopher Reeves, Linda Ronstadt, and Burt Rutan. Werner von Braun flew here. Paul Bikle, a member of the Soaring Hall of Fame, did a lot of soaring here. Numerous celebrity pilots were in and out of Rosamond over the years, including Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yeager, (Gov.) Jerry Brown, Chuck Conners, Paul Williams and many more.

Bill and his family lived in an old house on the airport, in the back of which was a large area of green cool grass with a few picnic tables.  On weekends the days ended with beer and BBQs, tales of glider flights, good thermals, laughter and jokes.  Pilots would camp out in trailers, campers, tents or sleep in their portable hangar under the stars, ready to resume flying the next day.

As an interesting aside, a creek used to flow from the north along the route of 40th Street West. It flowed year-round until the 1930s.

In the late 1970s Rosamond almost became the manufacturing site for the "Wing Derringer," a two-place twin, and the John Thorp "Sky Skooter," a two-place similar to the Cherokee.

Although the Skypark's current developed state has made it less suitable for film-making, over the years a lot of movies and commercials have been filmed at Rosamond. Titles include Sky Trap, Iron Eagle, Thrill Seekers, Celebrity Daredevils, The Flyer for the Smithsonian, and movies for Make-a-Wish Foundation. The last significant filming hosted involved an effects scene for the Paramount feature "Rat Race". 

NASA conducted a test here for the FAA to determine if pilots could fly safely with one eye. The pilots were first taught to fly a glider. After about five hours, they made precision takeoffs and landings with one eye covered. Test result: pilots performed as well with one eye as with two eyes.

The idea of a Skypark was Bill's. He formed AMT Development (Aronson, Martin, Tennant) on September 16, 1980 to move his idea along.

When the Skypark development was conceived, Runway 07-25 was still 2,600 feet long. The area that is now the eastern 1,000 feet of the runway, Lots 1 through 9, and the "East Annex" were all part of one parcel of land owned by Ruel G. Williams. An agreement was reached transferring what is now our eastern end and Lots 1 through 9 to the Skypark developers, in return for which Williams acquired airport access that allowed him to create the East Annex. He sub-divided the "East Annex" into 16 lots. An easement agreement filed on April 28, 1981 established a 75-foot wide taxiway through the annex, becoming an extension of the Skypark main taxiway. This arrangement (commonly referred to as "through the fence" access in skypark lingo) offers airport access but confers no participation in airport management and decisions. To maintain airport access, their easement agreement states that each lot owner in the annex is "obligated to pay the Association a monthly fee not to exceed fifty percent of the monthly airport tie down fee from time to time in effect."

In July of 1981 a tentative tract map for "Tract 4558" incorporating the consolidated property described above was prepared and filed.  On November 13, 1984 a "Precise Development Plan" based on this tentative tract submittal was approved by Kern County.  The detailed final Tract 4558 map was approved by Kern County in March of 1985, and in August of 1985 an additional PDP was approved for a restaurant and "lodge" on Lot 10. This was followed in October by a PDP for development of Lot 11 (the FBO area). 

At about this point, Bill Aronson and his partners sold the ready-to-go development project to Bear Valley Springs (BVS) Development Corp., headed by Carel F. Abresch, for further development. The arrangement was that the FBO would continue to be operated by Bill.  Much of the proceeds of the sale were in the form of trust deeds on the property.  Ominously for Aronson & company, it proved necessary to subordinate these trust deeds so that BVS could secure a $2.6 million construction loan to get the project underway.

A governing homeowner's association, named "The Rosamond Skypark Association", was incorporated on March 8, 1985 by Carel  Abresch. The original Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions were made on March 8, 1985 by BVS Development, Inc. and refiled on September 16, 1985. The CC&Rs among other things mandated that all construction was to be approved by an Architectural Committee, and established a scale for Association dues ($45.42 initially, now $54 per month for residential lots.)

On July 31, 1986, Lot 10 was split into two parcels per parcel Map 7985 with corresponding modification of the Skypark PDP. Parcel 1 was designated as a site for a motel or "lodge". A French restaurant, initially named The Cloudchaser, was built on Parcel 2.  During its period of operation the Cloudchaser was by far and away the most "upscale" eatery in the Rosamond area, with Continental cuisine, a grand piano and on some evenings a harpist in evening gown.

The final years of the 1980s were cruel ones for real estate throughout California, and the Skypark project was hit particularly hard. Slow sales led to a critical cash crunch for the developer and only increasingly frantic rounds of refinancing kept things afloat. Finally the plug was pulled. All sales activity ceased and the Cloudchaser closed its doors. The developer's remaining assets passed to the underwriting bank just in time for the bank itself to go under, and the government's Resolution Trust Corporation became owner of all unsold lots, representing more than half the properties in the project. This effectively placed the unsold lots in legal deep-freeze for over four years and put an end to any possibility of collecting Homeowners Association dues owed on the vacant lots.

Loss of the assessments due on the vacant lots meant a difficult period for the approximately 21 owner/residents of the Skypark. However, by avoiding unnecessary expenses and borrowing from themselves when capital expenditures were necessary they not only survived but made modest progress in improving the Skypark. In the early 1990s the restaurant reopened as the Golden Cantina, featuring a Mexican menu which quickly made it a popular gathering spot for Edwards AFB and Rosamond residents and for visitors to Willow Springs Raceway.

Village Investments Flyer
Click to view PDF copy (1.5mb download)

In February 1995 Village Investments bought the remaining empty lots from the Resolution Trust Corporation, and lot sales resumed at a slow but steady pace. For the Skypark Association, this marked the return of full income at last, and capital improvements could again be considered.

In 1997 most of Taxiway B ("Back Taxiway") was repaved with asphalt over the desert mix and an electric gate was installed at the end of Knox Avenue on the east side of Taxiway C ("Cross Taxiway").

During 1997-1998, an ambitious plan to update the CC&Rs was initiated and several individually popular changes were incorporated into a composite package. The unforeseen result of this all-or-nothing approach was failure to obtain the necessary supermajority. A greatly simplified rewrite limited to a purge of obsolete language was then produced and the resulting document approved by the Membership in September of 1998.

June of 1999 saw a complete re-topping of the main runway, Taxiway A (main taxiway), and adjoining ramp areas. Also during 1999 major landscaping improvements were made in the "Park" lot.

During 2000 the aircraft ramp at the Cantina was expanded, along with the runup pads at the runway ends. Four new homes were completed. A new steel gate was installed on the west cul-de-sac of Knox Avenue.

Deferred from 2001, a complete reseal of the cross and back taxiways in mid-2002 brought the Skypark's entire pavement inventory up to "grade A" condition. 

In early 2006 our original and sometimes troublesome low-intensity runway lighting system was finally replaced with an upgraded "medium intensity" system featuring standardized spacing and added taxiway lighting.  In October of '06 the runway & taxiways were completely re-striped.

Going into 2007, all lots in the original development have been sold, with only three currently being offered as resales. With 52 homes either occupied or well into construction the prospect of full build-out of the original Skypark project is now a near-term probability rather than a far-away dream.

Build-out of the project does not mean an end of the Skypark story.  Of great future significance was the 2005 purchase of the vacant 40 acres immediately west of the Skypark by the owner of Village Investments, who has expressed strong interest in developing airport-access homes on at least a portion of his purchase.  This use of the 'west end' property was envisioned as "Phase II" of the Skypark project back in 1984 by our original developers, who wrote provision for its incorporation into our CC&Rs and positioned the runway accordingly.

Much has changed in California aviation and today the Skypark is one of only a handful of privately-owned, public-use airports still open in Southern California. Fortunately, the Rosamond Skypark is positioned to remain an asset for our area and to California aviation for many, many years to come.

The above is compiled from numerous sources, and additional historical material, added insights or, of course, corrections are solicited. Photos showing the early days of the development or especially the pre-Skypark era would be wonderful additions. Please see our contact information on the website's home page.

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Last modified: 04/08/08