Archie Mitchell was known by some as the “local boy who made good,” but he was known to all as Ontario’s Aviation Pioneer. In 1891, Mitchell was born to Canadian parents of Scottish a...nd British decent. He grew up in Ontario and attended Central Elementary and Chaffey High Schools. His passion for flying began when he watch pilots perform maneuvers at a 1910 air meet event in Los Angeles. Shortly after, Mitchell enlisted in the Navy and began pilot training. By the time he finished his training, World War I had ended. After being discharged from the Navy, he and four other gentlemen decided to buy a single engine bi-plane called a “Jenny”. Mitchell created an airstrip near San Antonio Avenue on land he leased from the Union Pacific Railroad. He called the airstrip Latimer Field after nearby Latimer Packing House. A group of his friends with an interest in flying built a hanger and started the “Ontario Aircraft Corporation.” In 1923, the Ontario Aircraft Corporation hired Waldo Waterman, grandson of California Governor Robert Waterman, as a mechanic and flight instructor. In no time at all the fleet grew to ten. The Ontario Airport Corporation began as a small landing strip and a few years later the airstrip shifted three miles east to Ontario International Airport’s current location. Although Mitchell was Ontario’s Aviation Pioneer, flying was incidental to his practice of law. In 1912, after graduating from the University of Southern California Law School, he located his private practice at the Granada Theater/Emmons Building on Euclid Avenue. In 1914, he was appointed Ontario City Attorney where he served a 2-year term the first time and then a second term from 1937 until 1947. His second term ended as a result of being elected to the San Bernardino County Superior Court in Ontario. He was the first Ontario native to become a judge on the Superior Court West End. Mitchell remained in Ontario until his death in 1982 and will forever be remembered as “Ontario’s Favorite Son.”
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