Palmdale Airport

Like Downey Studios, Palmdale consists of a number of large hangars, which provided the massive floor area that certain movies demanded.

The hangar used for movie production of The Terminal and for a climactic scene of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is almost 600 feet long, 300 feet wide and 97 feet high.

History

1940 Palmdale Airport built, and is operated by the US government, primarily as an emergency landing strip.

1946 Operation of the airport is turned over to Los Angeles County for private use.

1950 The airport was again taken over by federal government for use in building and testing military aircraft. The facility is named United States Air Force Plant 42.

1984 The first B-1 bomber produced at Palmdale is revealed to the press. [photo]



Productions shot at Palmdale Airport


Feature Film (2)

TitleReleasedDirectorIMDB
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World2007Gore VerbinskiIMDB Database page about Pirates of the Caribbean: At World
The ocean battle between two large ships was staged inside hangars.
The Terminal2004Steven SpielbergIMDB Database page about The Terminal
The entire three-story airport terminal was constructed inside a hangar at Palmdale.