The Fullerton Municipal Airport traces its origins back as early as 1913 when barnstormers and crop dusters used the then vacant site as a makeshift landing strip. 

 In January 1927, the City Council signed Ordinance 514 leasing the land to the Chamber for five years at a fee of $1 per year.  The Chamber of Commerce in turn subleased operations to William Dowling and friend, Willard Morris of Yorba Linda.

Nailing several wooden planks together, the Dowling’s hitched the drag to a tractor and cleared off the first formal landing strip.  A small hangar was built and on February 24, 1927, William Dowling - piloting a "jenny”, a Curtis JN-4D Primary Military Training bi-plane - flew from Brea to make the first landing at Fullerton Airport.  By July the Airport's location was listed on aviation maps.

The Airport was officially dedicated April 21, 1928.

The 1930s ushered in a decade of "firsts" for the little airfield.  In 1931 airmail service was launched, with Postmaster John B. Horner marking the occasion by hand-canceling letters.  The mail also carried an Airport cachet specially issued for the day.  In 1934 the first industrial lease was issued at the Airport - to a manufacturer of metal dirigibles.  While that business never got off the ground (literally), it led the way for many other firms who saw the advantage of an airfield to their business operations.  In July 1938 the first night flights were recorded.

In January 1941 the Chamber of Commerce's 14-year stewardship of the Airport ended with the City Council, at the urging of the Chamber, voting to take direct control of the facility.

In 1939 the James-Colboch Air Service became headquarters for a new government program called the Civilian Pilot Training Program.  The program, operated in conjunction with Fullerton Junior College, helped Airport operators make ends meet until the U.S. entered World War II in 1941.  With the nation's entry into the war, all civilian flying was stopped within 150 miles of the coastline, and CPTP pilots and their planes were sent to Parker, Arizona,., to complete their training.  The Airport was then closed.

By 1948, however, the Airport, equipped with such modern features as landing lights, was home base to more than 200 planes, as compared to 96 at Orange County Airport.  It was ranked the fourth largest airport in the state, and, because of the large number of planes, was known unofficially to the Federal Aviation Administration as the "Fullerton Air Force”.

In 1945 the Airport emerged on top of an attempt to build a competitive field.  The City Council rejected a proposal for a second airfield on property known as the Lochman Foundation Tract in what is now the Sunny Hills section of Fullerton.

In 1959 the FAA gave the City $300,000 for field improvements which included the addition of a control tower to the existing administration building, which had been constructed in 1948 at a cost of $120,000.  Fullerton's FAA tower was the first in the county.

In 1960 the City, using $101,000 in FAA and City funds, accomplished a number of long-needed projects, including extending the runways to its present length of 3,120 feet; building new taxiways on the north side of the field; and extending existing taxiways.

Fullerton Municipal Airport has played its part in writing aviation history over the years.  In 1949 Dick Riedel and Bill Barris piloted the Sunkist Lady to an endurance flight record, staying aloft 42 days.  In 1965 Hacienda Heights housewife Nancy Brissey landed a two-seat, single-engine plane at the Airport after piloting it 2,500 miles from Vero Beach, FL, the first solo flight of such duration by a student pilot.