El Mirage Field is a private airport located 3 miles west of
El Mirage, California
El Mirage (corruption of ''El Miraje'', Spanish for "The Mirage") is an unincorporated community in the western Victor Valley of the Mojave Desert, within San Bernardino County, California.
El Mirage is next to the El Mirage Lake, a dry lake b ...
. It is leased by
General Atomics
General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. Th ...
of
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
. Its primary use is the development and testing of
unmanned aerial vehicles
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
(UAV) for the United States military and US Government.
El Mirage Field, has a sister site located at
Grey Butte Field Airport
Gray Butte Field Airport is a private airport located 25 miles east of Palmdale, California. It is owned by General Atomics of San Diego. Its primary use is the development and testing of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for the United States Mi ...
.
History
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the airport was designated as Mirage Auxiliary Airfield (No 3), and was an auxiliary training airfield for
Victorville Army Airfield
Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810.
History
In 1858, Aaron G. Lane came to what is now known as Victorville and founded a waystation called "Lane's Cro ...
, California.
The wartime runways are abandoned and now used by General Atomics for their UAV testing.
See also
*
California World War II Army Airfields
References
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database detailing information and first hand memories about airports in the United States which are no longer in operation, or are rarely used.
The website was started by Paul Freeman in 1999 a ...
: California - Southern Palmdale area
External links
Airports in San Bernardino County, California
{{California-airport-stub