Hemet-Ryan Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) southwest of the central business district of Hemet, in Riverside County, California, United States.Hemet-Ryan is a main Cal Fire Air Attack Base, also used for civilian purposes, Civil Air Patrol meetings, and more. It is also home to a Riverside County Sheriff's Department aviation unit and a Mercy Air Air ambulance. The airport is named after the late Claude T. Ryan.HistoryThe airfield was opened in September 1940 by the United States Army Air Corps. It was assigned to the West Coast Training Center (later Western Flying Training Command) as a primary (level 1) pilot training airfield. Later it was activated as an Air Corps Training Detachment with Ryan School of Aeronautics conducting primary flight training under control of 5th Flying Training Detachment. Known sub-bases and auxiliaries were: Banning Auxiliary Field (Undetermined location) Highland Auxiliary Field (Undetermined location) Ryan Auxiliary Field #1 Ryan Auxiliary Field #2 Ryan Auxiliary Field #3 Valle Vista Auxiliary Field Gibbs Auxiliary Field Flight training was performed with PT-17 Stearmans as the primary trainer, along with Ryan PT-21 Recruits. Over 14,000 army cadets were trained to fly.
