Marine Corps Air Station Tustin (
IATA: NTK,
ICAO: KNTK,
FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
LID
A lid, also known as a cover, is part of a container, and serves as the closure or seal, usually one that completely closes the object. Lids can be placed on small containers such as tubs as well as larger lids for open-head pails and drums. S ...
: NTK) is a former
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 ...
and
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
air station, located in
Tustin, California
Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city is located next to the county seat, Santa Ana, and does not include the unincorporated community ...
.
History
The Air Station was established in 1942 by the United States Navy as a lighter-than-air base, officially known as Naval Air Station Santa Ana.
The base was designed for
blimp
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hy ...
operations in support of the Navy's coastal patrol efforts 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 ...
. It was commissioned on 1 October 1942 by its commandant, Capt. Howard N. Coulter. As of July 1947, the facility, under command of Capt. Benjamin May, had personnel consisting of 100 officers, 500 enlisted men and 180 civilian employees. NAS Santa Ana was decommissioned in 1949. In 1951, the facility was reactivated as Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana
to support the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. It was the country's first air facility developed solely for helicopter operations. It was renamed Marine Corps Air Station Tustin in 1979.
During the Vietnam War, the base was a center for on-going testing of radar installations (including the Sperry TPS-34) which were erected, tested, disassembled and shipped to South Vietnam. It also was a training facility for helicopter pilots.
By the early 1990s, MCAS Tustin was a major center for Marine Corps helicopter aviation and radar on the Pacific Coast. Its primary purpose was to provide support services and material for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and for other units utilizing the base. About 4,500 residents once lived on the base, and the base employed nearly 5,000 military personnel and civilians. In addition to providing military support, MCAS Tustin leased to farmers for commercial crop development. For many years, agricultural lands surrounded the facility. However beginning in the 1980s residential and light industrial/manufacturing areas developed adjacent to the station.
In 1991 and again in 1993, under the authority of the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990, it was announced that MCAS Tustin would be closed. Operational closure of the base occurred in July 1999. However, the north hangar is still used as a storage and repair center for commercial blimps. Of the approximately , some (now known collectively as "Tustin Legacy") have been conveyed to the City of Tustin, private developers and public institutions for a combination of residential, commercial, educational, and public recreational and open-space uses. The remaining will be conveyed to other federal agencies, the City of Tustin and public institutions for the same uses once environmental clean-up operations have been concluded. The site of the base is now the home of the academy of the Orange County Sheriff's Department (California), Orange County Sheriff's Department. Much of the former base has become residential housing.
The large blimp hangars have been used for location shooting for numerous movies and TV programs, including JAG (TV series), JAG and The X-Files.
In 1993, the blimp hangars were designated a List of historic civil engineering landmarks, National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). There have been talks regarding making one of the hangars a military museum.
The base was featured in ''Visiting... with Huell Howser'' Episode 1509.
Worldwide Aeros Corp is, as of 2013, utilizing one of the historic hangars to build a prototype Aeroscraft, cargo airship under contract from the United States Department of Defense, Pentagon and NASA. In October, 2013, part of the roof collapsed, damaging the airship prototype.
Future
Plans are in the works to convert of the former base into a regional park, originally scheduled to be opened in 2016.
In the summer of 2013, OC Parks was in the process of gathering input from the community in order to determine the features and layout of the forthcoming facilities.
Although the preservation of the hangars is one of the greatest concerns raised in surveys taken by OC Parks, the fate of the south hangar is uncertain.
The City of Tustin has reportedly met with officials from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, proposing the former air base as a potential site for a new stadium for the team, whose lease with the Anaheim, California, City of Anaheim's Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Angel Stadium allowed the team to opt out between 2016 and 2019.
In 2016, Orange County and the South Orange County Community College District arranged for a land swap of ten acres to be used to replace the aging Orange County Animal Shelter in nearby Orange, California, Orange. In July 2016, a ground-breaking ceremony was held.
See also
* List of United States Marine Corps installations
* Hangar One (Mountain View, California)
* Tillamook Air Museum
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
External links
OC ParksBase Realignment and Closure Project Management Officeat The California State Military Museum
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
Photos of the Air Station at the Tustin Historical Society website* http://ocparks.com/about/projects/tbh
{{authority control
Buildings and structures in Orange County, California
Transportation buildings and structures in Orange County, California
Tustin, California
United States Marine Corps air stations, Tustin
Formerly Used Defense Sites in California
Defunct airports in California
World War II airfields in the United States
History of Orange County, California
Military facilities in Greater Los Angeles
National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, California
World War II on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks
1942 establishments in California
1999 disestablishments in California
Military airbases established in 1942
Military installations closed in 1999
Closed installations of the United States Navy