Warbird Information Exchange

Wiki: In 1927, wetlands at the west end of Alameda Island on the east shore of San Francisco Bay were filled to form an airport with an east/west runway, three hangars, an administration building, and a yacht harbor. The airport site included the Alameda Terminal of the First Transcontinental Railroad (California Historical Landmark #440). By 1930, United States Army Air Corps operations referred to the site as Benton Field. Pan American World Airways used the yacht harbor as the California terminal for China Clipper trans-Pacific flights beginning in 1935. The China Clipper terminal is designated California Historical Landmark #968.

On 1 June 1936, the city of Alameda, California ceded the airport to the United States government a few months before the Army discontinued operations from the field. Pan American World Airways shifted its terminal to Treasure Island in 1939 for the Golden Gate International Exposition. Congressional appropriations passed in 1938 for construction of naval air station facilities for two carrier air wings, five seaplane squadrons and two utility squadrons. Appropriations were increased in 1940 for construction of two seaplane hangars and an aircraft carrier berthing pier, and naval operations began on 1 November 1940. Fleet Air Wing 8 began patrol and scouting missions following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In April 1942, the USS Hornet (CV-8) loaded at Alameda the 16 B-25 aircraft that would take part in the Doolittle Raid on Japan.

Air support training unit No. 2 at Alameda included the fleet radar operator's school, Link celestial navigation Trainer school, and aviation storekeeper school. As World War II continued, Alameda became headquarters for a system of auxiliary airfields.

Alameda remained an important naval base through the Cold War. From 1949 to 1953, the Navy based the Lockheed R6V Constitution—the largest airplane ever listed on the Navy inventory—at NAS Alameda. The two prototypes regularly flew between nearby NAS Moffett Field and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The base was the focus for northern California United States Navy Reserve drill after 1961. Runways were lengthened for jet aircraft, and the airport was renamed Nimitz Field in 1967 following the death of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Nuclear powered aircraft carriers were home ported at Alameda into the 1990s, and thousands of local civilians were employed overhauling aircraft at the naval aviation depot.[1]

The base was closed in 1997


Sources: NMNA archives, SDASM archives.


NAS Alameda c 1940


NAS Alameda


NAS Alameda


NAS Alameda, Runway Three One


NAS Alameda


Carriers Coral Sea (CVA 43), Hancock (CVA 19), Oriskany (CVA 34) and Enterprise (CVAN 65) morredat Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1974


Overhead view of the carrier Yorktown (CV 10) taking on vehicles and supplies at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1943


Overhead view of the carrier Yorktown (CV 10) taking on vehicles and supplies at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1943


Carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV 31) pictured moored at Carrier ier 2 at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, Californiac 1945


Carriers Hancock (CVA 19), Bon Homme Richard (CVA 31), and Midway (CVA 41) berthed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1958


In San Francisco Bay, California, fireboats greet the nuclear powered attack aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV(N) 65) as the ship returns to her homeport at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda c 1968


NAS Alameda


NAS Alameda


NAS Alameda, CA Hangar 1941


NAS Alameda, CA Gate 1941


NAS Alameda, CA Senior Officers' Quarters in 1941


SNJ-4 Texans in flight near Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1942


VF-17 NAS Alameda formal disestablishment of the squadron, April 10th 1944


OS2U Kingfisher taxis at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1942


JRM-1 Mars Marshall Mars on display for civilian visitors, probably at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1955


JRM-1 Mars Hawaii Mars pictured moored, probably at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1955


PBM Mariner of Transport Squadron (VR) 2 pictured on the waterfront, probably at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1954


PBM Mariner of Transport Squadron (VR) 2 pictured on the waterfront, probably at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California c 1954


HU-16C Albatross assigned to Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California, pictured on the ground c 1965


RC-45J NAS Alameda


T-28C Trojan assigned to Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California


NAS Alameda 6G Photo Date September, 1965

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Wiki: In 1931, the city of Sunnyvale acquired a 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) parcel of farmland bordering San Francisco Bay, paid for with nearly $480,000 raised by the citizens of Santa Clara County, then "sold" the parcel for $1 to the US government as a home base for the Navy airship USS Macon. The location proved to be ideal for an airport, since the area is often clear while other parts of the San Francisco Bay are covered in fog. This is due to the Coast Range to the west which blocks the cold oceanic air which is the cause of San Francisco fog.

Naval air operations

The naval air station was authorized by an Act of Congress, signed by President Herbert Hoover on 12 February 1931. Construction of the original facilities was begun 8 July 1931. The base was originally named Airbase Sunnyvale CAL as it was thought that calling it Mountain View would cause officials to fear airships colliding with mountainsides. The original station was commissioned on 12 April 1933 and dedicated NAS Sunnyvale. After the death of Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, who is credited with the creation of the airfield, in the loss of the USS Akron on 4 April 1933, the airfield at Naval Air Station Sunnyvale was named Moffett Field on 1 September 1933.

After the ditching of the Macon on 12 February 1935, the Navy wanted to close Moffett Field due to its high cost of operations. Also, in San Diego, the Army and Navy were having jurisdictional issues over North Island in San Diego harbor, which had both NAS San Diego as well as the Army's Rockwell Field dividing the island. The Navy wanted the Army out of North Island in San Diego harbor as it needed to expand NAS San Diego as a training airfield for its growing number of aircraft carrier pilots. The Army resisted strongly, as Rockwell Field was a major training airfield for flight cadets, and had been using the field for flight training since 1912. With the subtle assistance of President Franklin Roosevelt, a former assistant secretary of the Navy, a complex arrangement of facilities realignment was made by the War Department which transferred Moffett to Army jurisdiction and Rockwell Field was transferred to the Navy in October 1935, becoming NAS North Island.

Upon taking jurisdiction of Moffett Field, the Army took on the high cost of Hangar One's maintenance and wanted to inactivate the facility. However, President Roosevelt would not allow the closure of the facility, and the Army assigned Moffett to its Western Flying Training Command as headquarters for pilot and aircrew flight training west of the Rocky Mountains. Also in 1939, Moffett saw the establishment of the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory.

As an aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy wanted to use the airship hangars at Moffett for blimp operations along with Pacific Coast. However, the Army, still stinging about having to transfer Rockwell Field to the Navy, resisted strongly. Again the inter-service rivalry was overruled by the War Department, citing the Navy's need for coastal defense a priority and ordered the Army to move its training headquarters to Hamilton Field in Marin County, north of San Francisco.

On April 16, 1942, control of the facility was returned to the Navy and it was re-commissioned as Naval Air Station Sunnyvale. Four days later it was renamed NAS Moffett Field. From the end of World War II until its closure, NAS Moffett Field saw the development and use of several generations of land-based anti-submarine warfare and maritime patrol aircraft, including the Lockheed P2V Neptune and Lockheed P-3 Orion. Until the demise of the USSR and for some time thereafter, daily anti-submarine, maritime reconnaissance, Fleet support, and various training sorties flew out from NAS Moffett Field to patrol along the Pacific coastline, while Moffett's other squadrons and aircraft periodically deployed to other Pacific, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf bases for periods of up to six months.

In 1960, the nearby Air Force Satellite Test Center (STC), was created adjacent to (on the SW corner of) NAS Moffett Field. Often referred to as "the Blue Cube," it was operational until 2010 as Onizuka Air Force Station, now part of the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN).

At its peak in the 1990s, NAS Moffett Field was the U.S. Navy's principal Pacific Fleet base for the P-3C operations. In addition to headquarters staffs for Commander, U.S. Patrol Wings Pacific Fleet (COMPATWINGSPAC); Commader, Patrol Wing TEN (COMPATWING 10); and Commander, Reserve Patrol Wing Pacific / Patrol Wing FOUR (COMRESPATWINGPAC/COMPATWING 4), the air station also hosted Patrol Squadron THIRTY-ONE (VP-31)...the west coast P-3C Fleet Replacement Squadron, six additional active duty P-3C squadrons and a Naval Air Reserve P-3C squadron in addition to NASA and California Air National Guard aviation activities.


Construction of Hangar One at NAS Sunnyvale circa 1931 - 1934


Construction of Hangar One at NAS Sunnyvale circa 1931 - 1934


Naval Air Station Sunnyvale, Mt View, Ca


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field 1954


NAS Moffet Field


NAS Moffet Field


Former Naval Air Station Moffett Field, currently owned operated by NASA.


TG aircraft pictured on the ground at Naval Air Station (NAS) Sunnyvale, California (later NAS Moffett Field) 1934


OS2U-2 pictured with Zap Flaps open. The flaps increased drag, which hurt performance Moffett Field c 1943


An SNJ Texas assigned to Lieutenant H.K. Butcher flying over Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field, California.


An SNJ-5 Texan assigned to Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field, California, in flight over the San Gabriel Mountains


F6F-5 Hellcat from NAS Moffett Field, CA, 1949


F6F-5E Hellcat NATC Moffett Fireld. The 34 view shows the radone configuration.1944 NAS Patuxent MD


F6F-5P Hellcat aircraft of CASU-27 in flight. 1945


F6F-5 Hellcat aircraft test plane NACA 208 of NAS Moffett Field, CA, is on the ground. NACA was National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, a forerunner of NASA 1958


North American FJ-4B (AF-1E) 'Furys' of VA-212 at NAS Moffett Field, CA.


NAS Moffet Field 1947


NAS Moffett Field 1954


TV-1 Shooting Star assigned to Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field, California c 1956


FJ-3 aircraft of VF-154 on the ground at NAS Moffett Field, CA 1957


A-1J of Attack Squadron One Hundred Sixty-Five (VA-165) from CVA-34 (USS Oriskany) on the ground at Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field 1963


T-34C Mentor of Training Air Wing (TAW) 5 pictured at Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field, California c 1981


P-3 Orions of Patrol Squadron (VP) 31 pictured inside Hangar One at Naval Air Station (NAS) Moffett Field, California 1970


VA-122 Flying Eagles A-1H Skyraider BuNo 139760, NJ-207, in-flight over Moffett Field, circa 1963

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Mark:

Good day!

Real nice pics of the Moffett type aircraft!

p.s Plz if you see a B/W of F4U-5s inside the blimp hangar plz let me know. At one time it was used for F4U storage also.

p.s ..nice ADs/Skyraiders!!

Tks

Thank You Mr. Allen, spent many months at Alameda, was temp. attached to VAQ-130 for training on the A3 Skywarrior prior to reporting to VQ-1 in Guam, also when I was with HC-1 out of North Island we would be flown to Alameda to board the USS Coral Sea homported there.
Spent 6 yrs at Moffet Field, first three working at AIMD overhauling ALLISON T56-14 turboprop engines and last three attached to VP-19 "Big Red", Moffet Field was considered "CHOICE" duty for Airdales

I grew up in Palo Alto in the early sixties - it seemed like you could see the blimp hangars from everywhere. When I was 3 I knew the difference between a P2-V and a P-3 when they flew over. The whole family would sit on the roof and watch the Blue Angels in their F11F Tigers. I remember hearing sonic booms on several occasions. I loved living near that place, all the sights and sounds.

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos ... 8364_n.jpg

Sikorsky JRS-1 #1063 @Moffett 1943

Thanks for posting. My dad was stationed there during World War II. When people asked him where he was stationed during the war, he always answered "on an island in the Pacific ocean---Alameda Naval Air Station".

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Better is the enemy of Good.

Is that an R3Y Tradewind in the background of the picture?
Kinda crummy shots, but... USS Hornet (CV-12) with a very full deckload passing under the Golden Gate circa 1954:

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Yep, sure looks like it. Interesting airplane. Love to see more pics of it. Mark? Whatcha got on the Convair Tradewind?

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

A few from the SDASM archives ...

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That last one must have been seen by the box artist for Revell:

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Fantastic pics as usual, Mark.

I had the fortune to fly out of both Moffett and Alameda. The view coming in and out of Alameda is second only to flying an approach into NAS North Island over the Hotel Del Coronado.

One of your photos is mis-labelled though. The picture of the Convair Pogo is actually out at Brown Field in San Diego. This photo was from the Media Day where the Sea Dart crashed. The Pogo DID spend a lot of time testing at NAS Moffett, but it was teathered inside Hangar 1.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

Much wlecome, nice to read about vets experiences at these NAS's. Good stuff. More Moffett Field photos. Many come from the Bill Larkins collection.


Moffett Field in the distance c 1965


The U.S.S. Macon airship approaching the mooring circle at Moffett Field on October 15, 1933


P-36A 79th Pursuit Squadron, 20th Pursuit Group, stationed at Moffett Field from November 1939 to September 1940


North American P-64 at Moffett Field on December 6, 1941


AT-6A Texan at Moffett Field


F6F Hellcat mishap Moffett Field c 1944


F6F Hellcat mishap Moffett Field c 1944


Avenger mishap Moffett Field c 1944


Beech C-45 Expeditor


AD-6 Skyraider/Bu. 134522 of VA-196 Moffett Field, CA, May 16, 1959.


AD-6 Skyraider/Bu. 134567 of VA-122 Moffett Field, CA, May 19, 1962.


AD-6 Skyraider/Bu. 135300 of VA-115 Moffett Field, CA, 1955


Douglas AD-6 Skyraider of VA-196


AD-6 Skyraider of VA-52 Moffett Field, CA, May 22, 1962


VF-154 @ Moffett Field, CA c 1950's


Lockheed P2V-6T Neptune of ATU-501 Moffett Field 1960


Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune of VP-874


F11F VA-156 F11F at NAS Moffett Field on a rainy day in May 1957.


FJ-3 Fury at Moffett Field May 1955.


Beech X-14A NASA234 At Ames Lab, Moffett Field, May 23, 1962.


Ryan XZV-3RY Vertiplane NASA235 Ex USAF 56-6941. At Ames Lab, Moffett Field, May 23, 1962.


P-51H Mustang NACA 130 in 1958


North American T-28B VA-122 Moffett Field 1962


US Naval Air Station Moffett Field, CA, June 6, 1947.

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Used to see the Beech X-14A back in the late 70's doing test flights around the field

Beautiful Shots!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to post them.
This T-28C is still with us (Bu No 140653):

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/t28regis ... 40653.html

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=653DB

Keep them coming!

Vinny