"The World's Largest Family-Owned, Public-Use Airport"
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Dewey Cable - The Man, The Legend Dewey McKinley Cable was born November 19, 1897, at Dysart, Iowa, to Norman N. and Millie V.(Lewis) Cable, both of Iowa. He had two sisters and four brothers. After graduating from Waterloo School, he did farm work and took engineering courses at Hawkeye Technical University in Ames. He married Maude Lazemby of Dewar in November, 1920.
Dewey Walter
Maude In 1923 Nathan Northey, a wealthy neighbor who owned several enterprises including Herrick Refrigerator Company, asked Dewey to come to California to manage his ranching interests in Spadra. Dewey and Maude jumped at the opportunity. Dewey was so successful with the walnut and orange groves in Spadra that Northey asked him to also manage his grape vineyard, hog ranch, and truck farm in San Joaquin Valley. Dewey managed these properties until 1938 when Northey's son decided to sell the properties.
In addition to the oranges and walnuts, Maude and Dewey raised four sons and one daughter. Arthur, the eldest, was tragically killed in 1939 at the age of seventeen. It was one of those foggy Southern California spring mornings when it was difficult to see across the street. He was waiting for the school bus, which stopped for him. A large truck came along, but the driver didn't see the stopped bus until it was too late. The truck impacted the bus so hard it ran over Arthur. Paul, born September 3, 1923, joined the Army Air Force in 1943 and served in the South Pacific during World War II. He married Ruth Maxine Koontz, and they live in San Dimas. They have one son David, who soloed and got his drivers license on his sixteenth birthday. They have one daughter Diane who also soloed at a tender age. Walter David, born Aug 7, 1926, had barely started his Army Air Force flight training when the war was over and he was sent home. In 1951 he married Marilyn Valentine of Pomona and they live in Claremont. They have one daughter Debra Jo and one son Robert (Rob) Young. Debra started taking flying lessons when she was thirteen and soloed on her sixteenth birthday. Rob also soloed on his sixteenth birthday, which is somewhat of a tradition with the Cable clan. Millie, born Nov. 3, 1931, was licensed to fly at seventeen, and worked at the airport until she married Wilburn Coy Stewart of Marysville. They had two sons Michael and Craig. Millie has passed away May 29th 1999. Roger, born Feb. 11, 1938, soloed in seven different aircraft on his sixteenth birthday. After serving in the Navy, he married Barbara Jean Barnard, and they had one son Bob and he has a daughter Lori. They have since divorced, and Roger lives in Hawaii. Dewey's brother John was 19 when he started flying in 1923 and was hooked on flying from the beginning. His flying career reads like an adventure story. He barnstormed all over the mid-west and started Waterloo, Iowa's first airport. He flew airmail from 1931 to 1933. In 1935 he started ferrying aircraft for Douglas Aircraft Co. Later he joined TWA and flew for them until Douglas asked him to return as their test pilot in 1937. On Sundays when he could borrow a plane, John would circle Cable's Spadra home and then land at the nearby landing strip on W.K. Kellogg's ranch. He would take Dewey and the rest of the family up for a ride in the open cockpit biplane. These rides sparked Dewey's interest in flying. John was selected as the test pilot for the Douglas DC-4. At the time it was the most advanced airliner in the world. He was killed the following year on January 23, 1939, while demonstrating an A-20 Havoc for the French Air Ministry. The plane went into a flat spin and crashed in the parking lot at the Santa Monica Airport. John bailed out before the aircraft crashed but his parachute failed to open in time. His passenger, Capt. Paul Chemidlin, was pulled from the burning wreckage with severe injuries. The crash made headline news across the country. Congress even got into the act, because the U. S. was neutral and the presence of a French pilot implied otherwise. At John's funeral, Dewey met Mr. Donald Douglas and was offered a job. He started working at the Santa Monica facility shortly thereafter. Later he was made lead man in the A-20 engine department at the Long Beach facility. When Paul turned eighteen, he too started working for Douglas Aircraft, converting DC-3s to C-47s. In 1943 Paul went into the Army Air Force, and Dewey started working at the Ontario Airport as foreman of the P-38 overhaul repair facility. Within a year, Dewey took over the military depot at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, where military vehicles were reconditioned. This turned out to be a fortunate move for him, because Brackett Field was located just across the street. During the war civilian aircraft were not allowed to fly within 150 miles of the coastline and all aircraft had to be dismantled and locked in a hanger. Brackett, being a civilian field, was closed, and the Civil Air Patrol was used to keep watch on the aircraft. Dewey joined the Old Baldy Squadron, which was the local unit based there. Dewey then bought a dismantled 1940, 50 hp Porterfield and took it to his hilltop home and restored it. His next problem was to figure out how he could fly it with all the war-time restrictions. As the newly elected Commander of the local Civil Air Patrol unit, Dewey persuaded the Western Air Defense Command to allow private planes to fly from Brackett Field to a zone outside the metropolitan area. "This," he said, "would let civilian pilots maintain their proficiency if they are needed in the war effort." Under this arrangement, a plane could fly into and out of the area after a flight plan had been filed weeks in advance. The flight plan had to specify the date of the flight and the time of day. No night flying was allowed. Consequently Brackett became the only private airfield in Southern California that was operational during the war. He and others in the Civil Air Patrol flew their aircraft out to Silverlake for practice. They also used Quartzsite and Lone Pine. Thus Dewey finally received his pilot's license in 1944 at age 46. He remained at the military depot until late 1944. As the war started to wind down, some restrictions on flying were being lifted. Arlington Airstrip, which is now Riverside Municipal Airport, was the first airport in the area released by the military. Dewey took advantage of the opportunity and started a flight school there. It didn't take him long to realize his lease arrangement wasn't what he had expected, and so he pursued his dream of having his own airport. He flew all over the Pomona and San Gabriel Valleys looking for suitable locations. He checked out Pasadena, Pomona, Chino, Riverside, Diamond Bar Ranch, San Bernardino, and Ontario. He found several locations but they were either too expensive or had restrictions which made them unsuitable. He finally settled on a site north of Route 66 in the San Antonio Wash between Upland and Claremont and began work in April 1945. Dewey Cable was an active member of California Airport Owners and Operators Association, the San Bernardino Aviation Department., the Civil Air Patrol from 1942 and was the Old Baldy Squadron Commander from 1942 to 1946. He was a member of the Pomona Moose Lodge #650 from 1928, and for thirteen years had perfect attendance at the Upland Lions Club. Dewey Cable was a "get the job done" type of person. He was a dreamer and more importantly, one that made his dreams come true. He always said, "The most important thing is to get up each day and get something done. Don't sit and dream about it, or draw pictures, get out and do it." That was his legacy, he didn't believe in plans or permits, just build it. This caused many problems over the years, but somehow it all seemed to get resolved.
Everyone respected Dewey, whether they agreed with him or not. He was someone to look up to, the type of person that made this country great. God knows we need more like him today!
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