Zamperini Field is a public airport three miles southwest of downtown Torrance, in Los Angeles County, California. The airport is classified by the FAA as a Regional Reliever and was once known as Torrance Municipal Airport; it was renamed for local sports and war hero Louis Zamperini on December 7, 1946, the 5th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Zamperini Field covers and has two asphalt/concrete runways: 11L/29R, 5,000 x 150 ft and 11R/29L, 3,000 x 75 ft. It has one asphalthelipad, 110 x 110 ft. In the year ending May 31, 2005 the airport had 173,027 aircraft operations, average 474 per day: 99% general aviation, 1% military and <1% air taxi. 499 aircraft are based at the airport: 89% single-engine, 8% multi-engine, 2% helicopter and <1% glider.
Terminal
Zamperini Field has a small terminal with a vending machine, conference room, bathroom, and flight planning room. Outside a patio has small tables. Inside the terminal are historical papers related to the airport on the wall and a security post. A Lockheed T-33 is on display on the turn court outside the terminal.
Helicopter operations
The helipad for a neighboring hospital, the Torrance Medical Center, is at the north-west corner of the airfield.
Manufacturing
Zamperini Field is the home of Robinson Helicopter Company. Their entire production, assembly, and testing facilities are on the southeast side of the airfield and are the largest buildings at the field.
January 19, 2019: An Aviat Pitts S-1T, N31WK, collided with an experimental Rutan VariEze, N27GM, while taxiing to parking at Zamperini Field Airport, Torrance, California. The owner/pilot of the Pitts was not injured; the airplane sustained minor damage. The owner/pilot of VariEze sustained minor injuries; the airplane was substantially damaged.
September 19, 2019: A Cessna 177, N2323Y, airplane, was substantially damaged when it impacted a building about 3/4 mile east of the Zamperini Field Airport Torrance, California. The commercial pilot was fatally injured, and the passenger was seriously injured.
November 7, 2019: A Cirrus SR-22 departed from Zamperini Field in Torrance and had been in the air for about 19 minutes before it crashed. It had been heading to Cable Airport, a small independently owned airport less than two miles from the neighborhood where the plane went down, according to flight records. The pilot of a single-engine plane flying to a small airport in San Bernardino County was killed when his aircraft crashed into a home as it neared its destination, authorities said. Two people in the home were unharmed.
