Naval Auxiliary Landing Field (NALF) Santa Rosa, California, also known as Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Santa Rosa, was a military

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...

, in Sonoma County, California, USA.

History

NALF Santa Rosa was first commissioned in 1943, as a naval outlying landing field of

Naval Air Station Alameda Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay. NAS Alameda had two runways: 13–31 measuring and 07-25 measuring . Two helicopter pads and a control tower were ...

. There were two 7,000-foot concrete runways. One of these runways was oriented at 160-340 and the other was oriented at 060–240. Each runway had a parallel taxiway, and there was a concrete apron in the northwest quadrant of the runway crossing. Two other outlying landing fields,

Naval Outlying Landing Field Cotati Naval Outlying Landing Field Cotati was a naval airfield located near Cotati, in Sonoma County, California, USA. It maintained active naval flight operations during the period 1941–1945. History The federal government purchased 142 acres of ...

and Naval Outlying Landing Field Little River, supported Santa Rosa flight operations training 21 squadrons of fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo planes 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 Santa Rosa airfield was relinquished by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

between 1946–48 and reactivated in 1951 for the Korean War. It was abandoned by the Navy between 1952 and 1954. It was reopened between 1966 and 1967 as a civilian airport named the Santa Rosa Air Center, and it permanently closed in 1991.

Film locations

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Die Hard 2 ''Die Hard 2'' (also known by its tagline ''Die Harder'')The film's onscreen title is ''Die Hard 2'', as also given at the initial home-video release'official website The film's original advertising used "Die Harder" as a tagline, and many rele ...

'' (1990) Scenes shot at Santa Rosa Air Center. *''

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! ''Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot'' is a 1992 American buddy cop action black comedy film directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Getty. The film was released in the United States on February 21, 1992. The film rec ...

'' (1992) Shot over a four-week period at Santa Rosa Air Center.

References

{{Reflist

External links

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 ...

: Santa Rosa Air Center History of Santa Rosa, California Military in the San Francisco Bay Area

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

Closed installations of the United States Navy