Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a

United States 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 ...

Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. NAS Alameda had two

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s: 13–31 measuring and 07-25 measuring . Two

helicopter pad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...

s and a

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

were also part of the facilities.

History

In 1927,

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s at the west end of Alameda Island on the east shore of

were filled to form an airport (Alameda Airport) with an east–west runway, three

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s, an administration building, and a yacht harbor. The airport site included the Alameda Terminal of the

First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...

(

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

#440). By 1930,

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

operations referred to the site as Benton Field.

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

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 A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

squadrons and two utility squadrons. Appropriations were increased in 1940 for construction of two seaplane hangars and an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

berthing pier. Naval operations began on 1 November 1940. – 1997 Fleet Air Wing 8 began patrol and scouting missions following the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. In April 1942, loaded at Alameda the 16

B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in e ...

aircraft that would take part in the Doolittle Raid on Japan. From August through December 1944, US President Richard Nixon was assigned to Fleet Air Wing 8 at Naval Air Station Alameda, California. Air support training unit No. 2 at Alameda included the fleet

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

operator's school, Link

celestial navigation Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the practice of position fixing using stars and other celestial bodies that enables a navigator to accurately determine their actual current physical position in space (or on the surface of ...

trainer school, and aviation storekeeper school. As

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 opposin ...

continued, Alameda became headquarters for a system of auxiliary airfields: *

Naval Auxiliary Air Station Arcata Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...

* Clear Lake Outlying Field * Concord Outlying Field * Crescent City Outlying Field *

Crows Landing Naval Auxiliary Air Station NASA Crows Landing Airport is a private use airport owned by the NASA Ames Research Center, northwest of the central business district of Crows Landing, in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The airfield was formerly named Naval Au ...

* Fallon Auxiliary Airfield * Half Moon Bay Outlying Field * Hollister Auxiliary Airfield * King City Auxiliary Airfield * Livermore Auxiliary Airfield * Monterey Auxiliary Airfield * Oakland Auxiliary Airfield * Paso Robles Outlying Field * San Francisco Auxiliary Airfield * San Luis Obispo Outlying Field * Santa Rosa Outlying Field * Treasure Island Auxiliary Airfield * Tulare Lake Outlying Field *

Naval Auxiliary Air Station Vernalis Naval Auxiliary Air Station Vernalis was a United States Navy facility located in the small town of Vernalis, California during World War II. It opened on June 8, 1943, and closed on October 15, 1945. History It served as an auxiliary station ...

* Watsonville Auxiliary Airfield Alameda remained an important naval base through the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. From 1949 to 1953, the Navy based the

Lockheed R6V Constitution The Lockheed R6V ConstitutionThe Constitutions were identified as R6O until 1950. was a large, propeller-driven, double-decker transport aircraft developed in the 1940s by Lockheed as a long-range, high-capacity transport and airliner for th ...

—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 Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, Hawaii.

During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

portion of the Cold War and its later post-Vietnam era, the base was homeport to the aircraft carriers , , , , , and . NAS Alameda also housed a major aircraft overhaul facility employing thousand of civilian employees that was known as Naval Air Rework Facility (NARF) Alameda and later renamed Naval Aviation Depot (NADEP) Alameda. The base was also the focus for northern California

Naval Air Reserve A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

operations after 1961, hosting various Reserve Force Squadrons attached to Carrier Air Wing Reserve 30 (CVWR-30), also known as CAG-30, equipped with aircraft such as the KA-3 Skywarrior...later replaced by the A-6 Intruder, and the A-4 Skyhawk...later replaced by A-7 Corsair II. Other Naval Air Reserve Force Squadrons external to CVWR-30 flew the

Sikorsky H-34 The Sikorsky H-34 "Choctaw" (company designation S-58) is an American Reciprocating engine, piston-engined military helicopter originally designed by Sikorsky Aircraft, Sikorsky as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft for the United States ...

Sea Horse...later replaced by the SH-3 Sea King, the CH-53 Sea Stallion, and

MH-53E Sea Dragon The Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion is a heavy-lift helicopter operated by the United States military. As the Sikorsky S-80, it was developed from the CH-53 Sea Stallion, mainly by adding a third engine, adding a seventh blade to the main rotor, ...

. Another land-based squadron under Fleet Logistics Support Wing flew the

C-9 Skytrain II The McDonnell Douglas C-9 was a military version of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 airliner. It was produced as the C-9A Nightingale for the United States Air Force, and the C-9B Skytrain II for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The final flight of th ...

. In the 1960s, a Naval Air Reserve unit also flew the

P-2 Neptune The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and P ...

before relocating to nearby NAS Moffett Field, transitioning to the

P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.. The television series ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...

'' often conducted vehicle-based experiments on the grounds of the station (referred to on-air as the "Alameda Runway"), due to the extensive safety zone that could be set up around the test site. For the same reason, this location has been used as a checkpoint for the

Bullrun rally The Bullrun Rally is an annual automobile rally of over 100 mainly exotic vehicles, with drivers from all around the world. Cars are typically highly modified exotics or restored classics and compete over seven days, traversing 3,000 to 4,000 miles. ...

race; the lengthy airstrip allowed for the staging of a challenge involving chasing a semi-trailer. A two-mile freeway loop was constructed on the base for the filming of a lengthy car chase sequence for the movie ''

The Matrix Reloaded ''The Matrix Reloaded'' is a 2003 American science-fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is a sequel to ''The Matrix'' (1999) and the second installment in the ''Matrix'' film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Laure ...

''. The loop cost over $1.5 million to construct and was used solely for shooting the film's chase scenes (a seven-week-long process) before it was demolished. The route is still visible on some aerial photography on the former Runway 07/25 and Runway 13/31. Since 2000, the city of Alameda has been planning the redevelopment of the former Naval Air Station, now known as Alameda Point. Complicating the redevelopment are several constraints: land-use constraints consisting of Tidelands Trust; soil and groundwater contamination; wildlife refuge buffer requirements; geotechnical issues; 100-year flood plans; institutional and contractual constraints with Alameda Measure A, the Alameda Naval Air Station Historic District and existing residents and leases. In August 2001, Alameda selected Alameda Point Community Partners (APCP) as the master developer for the property. APCP was a partnership of financier Morgan Stanley, Shea Homes of Livermore, Centex Homes of Dallas and the Industrial Realty Group. The development was estimated to cost $2 billion and take 15 years to complete. Alameda Point Community Partners was selected over Catellus and Harbor Bay/ Lennar, and signed a two-year exclusive negotiating contract as the property's master developer. By 2005, only Shea Homes and Centex Homes were working on redevelopment plans, and a Preliminary Development Concept called for building 1,700 homes on the site. In July 2006, the City of Alameda and the Navy agreed to a $108 million purchase deal. In September 2006, APCP decided that it would not move forward with the development plan identified in the Preliminary Development Concept and withdrew from the project. In May 2007, the city selected SunCal Companies as the master developer from a field of five applicant firms that sought to develop . In July 2007, the city and SunCal entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement as SunCal began to gather community input and develop preliminary plans. In August 2010, the Alameda City Council voted to terminate the exclusive negotiating agreement with SunCal and halt its proposal for the former Naval Air Station. Various reasons were cited in the staff report leading up to the vote, including the developer- and city-initiated ballot measure related to the project that was defeated in February 2010 by a margin of 85%.

Superfund cleanup site

NAS Alameda was listed as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

cleanup site on 22 July 1999. 25 locations on the base were identified as needing remediation. The largest of the individual locations is the West Beach Landfill which occupies approximately 110 acres (44.5 ha) in the southwestern corner of the base. Tests of the landfill indicate

polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

(PCB) contamination.

Notes

USS Hornet history

References

Alameda Naval Air Museum

External links

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD) ...

NAS Alameda
{{Authority control Alameda, Naval Air Station Buildings and structures in Alameda, California

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

Military Superfund sites Military installations closed in 1997 History of Alameda County, California Superfund sites in California Military facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, California World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in California Transportation buildings and structures in Alameda County, California Closed installations of the United States Navy

History

Superfund cleanup site

See also

Notes

References

External links