AVALON, Calif. — The mountaintop runway on Santa Catalina Island, a tourist destination off the Southern California coast, has reopened after five months of construction. A World War II-era DC-3 touched down on the new runway at the Airport in the Sky to mark the occasion on Friday, the Orange County Register reported . It was followed by six CJ-6 Warbirds that flew in formation over the runway and two more war-era aircraft that made a high-speed, low-altitude fly-by. About 100 U.S. Marines and Navy sailors began working on the island in December under an agreement between the military and the Catalina Island Conservancy to rebuild the deteriorating runway. The trust then partnered with the Defence Department’s Innovative Readiness Training Program, which looks to match up the needs of communities with military training opportunities.

Source: National Post May 04, 2019 21:06 UTC