Airport named for Tuskegee Airman

OCEANSIDE — The fact that Bob Maxwell helped save the Oceanside Municipal Airport from demise a few years ago doesn’t surprise his daughter, Margaret.

“My father was always very interested in transportation and aviation and thought that anything was possible if you had goals and put your mind to it,” said the Oceanside resident at Saturday’s dedication ceremony to rename the airport the Bob Maxwell Memorial Airfield. “Nobody could ever tell him ‘no’ or that something couldn’t be done.”

She thinks some of his tenacity and can-do spirit came from being a Tuskegee Airman in World War II.

“When (African-American soldiers) were told they couldn’t be in the Army, he said, ‘Yes, we can,’ and as a Tuskegee Airman he showed them it could be done,” she said.

It was that same determination and resolve, combined with his love of aviation and Oceanside, that spurred Bob Maxwell to lead the fight to keep the small airport open.

“He made sure the airport stayed alive and well. We owe a huge debt to Bob Maxwell,” said Gordon Nesbit, president of the Oceanside Airport Association.

A crowd of about 100 people, including Oceanside city officials, Maxwell friends and aviation enthusiasts, gathered at the tiny airport to pay tribute to this hometown hero with the unveiling of a monument and plaque making the name change — to Bob Maxwell Memorial Airfield — official.

“It’s an honor well-deserved. Bob was wonderful,” said Reginald Owens, past president of North San Diego County NAACP, who was the event’s master of ceremonies.

Maxwell died in August 2010 at age 88, but his legacy lives on as an aviator and a community leader.

“It wasn’t just that he was a Tuskegee Airman, but it was his connection to aviation, to the airport and to Oceanside that made us want to honor him,” said Oceanside City Councilman Jerry Kern. “There are lots of people in our own neighborhoods, like Bob Maxwell, who are heroes.”

Jeffrey Woodson, president of the local chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, gave the keynote address.

“Bob embodied the courage and strength of the Tuskegee Airmen. Bob had their determination, strength, persistence, intellect and patriotism,” Woodson said. “They put their lives on the line to fight for their country and their beliefs.”

After receiving his commercial pilot’s license, Maxwell joined the Army Air Corps and was among nearly 1,000 black airmen who trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Ala., during World War II.

He also served on the board of directors of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, the San Diego Air and Space Museum, the Oceanside Transportation Committee and the San Diego Airports Advisory Committee, and he was president of the San Diego Regional Transportation Alliance.

“In order to list all of his accomplishments, we had to buy an extra-large brass plaque,” Kern said with a chuckle.

Nesbit is optimistic that renaming the airport after the local hero will increase interest not only among the community, but also with young aviators.

“The Oceanside airport is a jewel of an airport. There are very few airports of this size, and it really gets back to the heart of aviation,” he said.

Built in 1963, the airport has 68 planes that use it as home base. Nesbit estimated there are 50 to 60 takeoffs and landings daily. Plans to rejuvenate the airport include new hangars, new administration and maintenance buildings and a restaurant.

“It’s airports like this where the interest of future aviators is incubated and grown,” Nesbit said. “I think new young pilots is what our country needs.”