AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 30
BRIEFING
F IRST LOOK /
This shrine to
American aviation
sits under the
departure path
from Runway 15 at
Hollywood Burbank
Airport; the 78-foottall
rotunda was
designed by a San
Francisco architect
and Italian sculptor.
Portal of the Folded Wings
A shrine to American aviation
BY BARRY SCHIFF
MOST PILOTS DEPARTING RUNWAY 15 at the Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR)
in Burbank, California, have no idea that their initial climb passes almost directly
over a shrine to American aviation. A quarter mile beyond the runway threshold
is the Portal of the Folded Wings, the final resting place of a few dozen aviation
pioneers. Visitors at the portal get the feeling that the stream of low-flying jetliners
passing thunderously overhead are paying homage, a fitting tribute to those
aeronautical compatriots who have flown west.
The portal was designed by Kenneth MacDonald Jr., a well-known San Francisco
architect, and Italian sculptor Federico Augustino Giorgi, who is buried at the
point offering the best view of the portal. The structure was completed in 1924
and intended as a grand entrance to the Valhalla Memorial Park, the cemetery with
which the portal was associated. Surrounded then by farms and dairies, the 78-foottall
rotunda was the tallest structure for miles and used by early pilots as an aviation
30
AOPA PILOT / August 2023
checkpoint. They referred to the cemetery as
the " marble orchard. "
The portal, with its graceful garden walls
and three reflection pools, became a tourist
attraction and was used for musical concerts,
radio broadcasts, and other public events during
the 1920s and 1930s.
Aviation enthusiast James Gillette was
impressed by the portal's proximity to Burbank's
then-called Union Airport and the Lockheed
Company. He conceived a plan to dedicate the
structure as a shrine to aviation and a memorial
to early aviators. Gillette tirelessly pursued that
CHRIS ROSE
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023
Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 10
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 12
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 20
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 22
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 24
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 26
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 28
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 30
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 32
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 34
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 36
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 50
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 54
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 58
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 62
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 66
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 68
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 70
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 72
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 76
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 78
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 79
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 80
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 81
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 82
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 83
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 84
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 85
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 86
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 87
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 88
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 89
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 90
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 91
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 92
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 93
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 94
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 95
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 96
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 98
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 99
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 100
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 101
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 102
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 103
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 104
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 105
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 106
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 107
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 108
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 109
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 110
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - 112
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - August 2023 - Cover4
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