[5][6] The airport was closed down at the onset of World War II due in part to the government shutdown of mining operations along with the wartime ban on civilian flight within 150 miles of the coast of California.

After acquiring the property, Litton spent $10,000 to repair the runway that had fallen into disrepair and partnered with local government and businesses through the Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce to reopen the airport and build an industrial park in order to attract new business to the region.

[5]: 351  The United States Forest Service and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection began using the airport as a base for their wildfire air attack operations in 1958.

[1] In the year ending December 31, 2017 the airport had 27,750 aircraft operations, average 76 per day: 96% general aviation and 4% air taxi.

The event features law enforcement aircraft and land vehicles, fire engines, civilian aircraft, a small car show for civilians, a array of CAL FIRE and United States Forest Service equipment are showed in addition of flyovers.