Dear Garrett..

One of my “aviation dad’s” with my first flying job at the
Watsonville, California Airport…

Vern Ackerman honored as ‘Master Pilot’

Vern Ackerman sits in his old office at
Watsonville Municipal Airport in early
March.

By TODD GUILD OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN

WATSONVILLE Before launching a 42-year career concurrently managing the Watsonville airport and serving as Granite Construction’s chief pilot, Watsonville native Vern “Ack” Ackerman was known for setting two other aviation milestones.
In November 1945 he became the last pilot to fly a military plane off of Watsonville Naval Auxiliary Airfield when it closed at the end of World War II.
Soon after that, he was first to fly a civilian plane into the airport after it became a public airport.
Ackerman’s life in the air began as a young boy, when he fashioned toy airplanes from old apple crates.
He also made frequent bicycle trips to see the planes at Watsonville’s tiny airport, then an 85-acre speck southwest of the city, near the junction of Highway 1 and Salinas Road.
“It was in my blood from my young days,” he said.
On March 30, Ackerman will receive the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, which goes to aviators with at least 50 years of flying experience and no safety violations.
It is the highest honor given by the Federal Aviation Administration .
“I appreciate it,” he said of the award. “I spent my whole life in the plane business.”
Ackerman was also recently selected to participate in this year’s Honor Flight, a program that takes veterans to Washington , D.C. to see the monuments dedicated to them. Ackerman, 95, graduated from Watsonville High School in 1938 and took his first flight lesson less than a year later.
He soloed three months after that, and within a year completed advanced Civilian Pilot Training, a government program for prospective military pilots. He completed Navy pilot training on June 1, 1941, six months before Japanese pilots attacked Pearl Harbor.
During World War II, Ackerman served as a U.S. Navy flight instructor and as patrol plan commander for patrol missions in Iwo Jima, Saipan and other overseas locations. Upon his return, Ackerman was transferred to the Naval reserves at the Alameda Naval Air Station, and was appointed as Watsonville Airport Manager on Nov. 28, 1945.
During that time, he saw the airport grow in size and scope, going from 12 planes to more than 400 when he retired at the end of 1987.
As he led the airport and flew for Granite Construction, Ackerman also owned and ran Watsonville Flying Service flight school.
He took his last flight in his Baron BE58 on Aug. 13, 2003 and sold it that same year. “I still miss it,” he said. “I kept flying until I was 83 years old, and the only reason I stopped then was that I sold he plane.”
Ackerman said he loved being aloft, whether it was day or night, clear or inclement.
“I always looked forward to it,” he said. “I always looked forward to going to work.”
A Watsonville native, Ackerman said his mother grew up here. His grandmother came here in 1880.
“We’re a Watsonville family,” he said. “Even though I live in Carmel Valley now I’m a Watsonville kind of a guy.”