Rice Army Air Field (also known as Rice Air Base or Rice AAF) is an abandoned

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 ...

airfield in

Rice Valley The Rice Valley is a valley of the southeastern Mojave Desert, located within Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California. Geography Rice Valley is a mostly endorheic valley filled with bajada (geography), bajadas from neighboring ...

of the southern

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

, located east-southeast of the community of

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

. The airfield is located in

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Unit ...

just south of the

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish language, Spanish for Bernardino of Siena, "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a ...

county line and State Route 62.

Wartime use

Rice AAF was acquired 29 September 1942 and was part of the

Desert Training Center The Desert Training Center (DTC), also known as California–Arizona Maneuver Area (CAMA), was a World War II training facility established in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert, largely in Southern California and Western Arizona in 1942. It ...

in the

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. It apparently was a civil airfield before the war, known as "Rice Municipal Airport", its origins are unknown. The mission of the training center was to prepare United States Army ground forces in preparation for

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

– the invasion of North Africa. The center was commanded by then

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

. The facility was assigned to

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Fourth Air Force The Fourth Air Force (4 AF) is a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). It is headquartered at March Air Reserve Base, California. 4 AF directs the activities and supervises the training of more than 30,000 Air Force Reser ...

. The airfield consisted of two 5,000-foot runways with numerous dispersal pads extending off the runways to the south, and support facilities and barracks to house about 3,000 personnel. Under the

IV Air Support Command The I Tactical Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to Second Air Force, based at Biggs Field, Texas. It was inactivated on 22 December 1945. History General Headquarters Air Force (GHQ AF) reorganize ...

in 1942 and early 1943; the

71st Reconnaissance Group 020 is the national dialling code for London in the United Kingdom. All subscriber numbers within the area code consist of eight digits and it has capacity for approaching 100 million telephone numbers. The code is used at 170 telephone exch ...

and the 85th Bombardment Group flew reconnaissance and dive bomber training missions with the Army ground forces in the DTC. After most Army units had deployed to overseas theaters by mid-1943, Rice AAF became a

group training facility for units deploying to combat commands overseas, training pilots and aircrew with a wide variety of tactical aircraft, from light observation planes to medium bombers. Known units assigned to Rice were: *

312th Bombardment Group 31 may refer to: * 31 (number) Years * 31 BC * AD 31 * 1931 CE ('31) * 2031 CE ('31) Music * ''Thirty One'' (Jana Kramer album), 2015 * ''Thirty One'' (Jarryd James album), 2015 * "Thirty One", a song by Karma to Burn from the album ''Wild, ...

, 13 April – 15 August 1943 *

339th Fighter Group The 339th Fighter Group was a unit of the United States Air Forces during World War II.Maurer, Maurer (1983). ''Air Force Combat Units Of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . It comprised the 503rd, 504th, and 5 ...

, September 1943 – March 1944 By May 1944, the airfield was assigned to the 15th Bombardment Wing at

March Field March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Ma ...

as a sub-base. Military operations at Rice Army Air Field ended in August 1944, and the field was declared surplus in October. The facility was inactivated and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 1 January 1946.

Civil use

The War Assets Administration turned the military airfield to civil control, and was reused starting at some point in 1949 as a civilian airport. Rice was depicted as an active public-use airfield on the March 1952 San Diego Sectional Chart. The chart depicted Rice as having a 5,000' paved runway. The status of the Rice airfield evidently changed to a private airfield at some point between 1952 and 1955, as that is how it was depicted on the September 1955 San Diego Sectional Chart. The Rice Airport was evidently abandoned (for reasons unknown) at some point between 1955 and 1958. Today no standing structures remain of Rice Army Air Field and little but deteriorating concrete and bituminous runways remain in the desert. Two runways, one oriented NW/SE; the other NE/SW are faintly visible in aerial photography along with numerous fighter dispersal pads. A concrete parking area still exists about south of California Highway 62, which runs east/west north of the airfield. Dirt bike and dune buggy trails in the area obscure any evidence of roads or building foundations in what probably was the ground station. Generally, the entire area has reverted to its natural state. it was proposed that the Rice AAF site be used for the

Rice Solar Energy Project The Rice Solar Energy Project was a 150 MW concentrating solar power facility project proposed for Rice Valley in the southern Mojave Desert, within Riverside County in southern California. It was put on indefinite hold in 2014. Description Pro ...

.Rice Solar Energy Project
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References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . * * Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.
The California State Military Museum Historic California Posts: Rice Army Air Field
{{authority control Defunct airports in California Airports in Riverside County, California Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in California Military facilities in the Mojave Desert Military in Riverside County, California World War II airfields in the United States Airports established in 1942 1942 establishments in California 1944 disestablishments in California

Wartime use

Civil use

See also

References