Buchanan Field Airport is a medium sized general and business public airport in Contra Costa County, California, United States, one mile west of the center of Concord and just east of Pacheco in the San Francisco Bay Area. The airport's street address is 550Sally Ride Drive, Concord. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–15 categorized it as a reliever airport, and it has an FAA certified airport traffic control tower. History In 1942 Contra Costa County, California, purchased land for an airport in Central County for . The airport was being developed by the county until the United States Army Air Forces Fourth Air Force expropriated the site. The Army added land and built airport facilities and a training base for pilots, Concord Army Air Base. In 1946 the War Assets Administration (WAA) returned the airport to the county. In 1947 the transfer was formalized and the airport was named for County Supervisor WilliamJ. Buchanan, who served on the county Board of Supervisors (BOS) for more than forty years. The airport continued to be used on occasion by the United States Army to transport troops, especially during the Korean War. In 1972 George Lucas used Buchanan Field Airport for one of the last exterior scenes in the movie American Graffiti. In the scene, Steven Bolander (Ron Howard) says goodbye to friend Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss) before Curt leaves for college on the Douglas DC-7C in the background. In 1977 Buchanan Field reached its peak of activity with 357,000 total operations; by that criterion, Buchanan Field was the 16th busiest airport in the nation, ahead of San Francisco International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and LaGuardia Airport. During this time noise became a concern and in 1988 the county BOS instituted a county noise restriction ordinance restricting certain aircraft from operating at Buchanan Field. Beginning in the 1990s the county BOS updated the Buchanan Field Airport Master Plan. Commercial development of adjacent properties such as Sam's Club, Taco Bell, Sports Authority, and Jiffy Lube was allowed in 1992. The county has developed a new airport in Byron in the eastern part of the county. On August 14, 2018, the county BOS passed a resolution declaring the economic importance of these airports by recognizing that they are essential economic engines that aid Contra Costa County to meet the current and future transportation and economic needs of the community. The