east of the Santa Paula Airport. The accident took place around 12:30 p.m. on a Sunday. Mares and another passerby, Gabriel Pacheco, wound up working together to rescue Pollock from the burning plane.

Between the river and the highway is runway 22 of Santa Paula Airport, one of the most enduring and colorful of America’s old-time, small-town airfields. But Santa Paula Airport was actually ...