Naval Outlying Field Clark's Dry Lake was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

facility built for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The site had two

runways In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (grass, dirt, gravel, ...

and a bombing range for training. The base was a subcamp of

NAS San Diego Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...

. The site was built in 1938 and closed in 1962, but not used continuously. The range is in the Anza-Borrego desert, west of

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...

, north of

Borrego Springs, California Borrego Springs (''borrego'' is Spanish language, Spanish for "sheep") is a census-designated place (CDP) in northeastern San Diego County, California. It is located within the Low Desert area of Southern California. The population was 3,073 at t ...

. The Field Clark's Dry Lake was supported and used by

Naval Auxiliary Air Station Salton Sea Naval Auxiliary Air Station Salton Sea, was a United States Navy military facility located eight miles south of Salton City, California on the west shore of the Salton Sea. History It was an auxiliary field to Naval Air Station San Diego commission ...

27 miles away. The

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

was on the western side of Clark's Dry Lake. The airfield was mostly used as an Emergency Landing strip. The bombing target range was northeast of the runways. When in use the ground staff had a radio communication station to talk the

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

. In addition to bombing training, the base had gunnery and rocketry targets for training. The main runway was 7,500-feet, the other 5,000-feet, and both not usable when wet. Clark Lake Radio Observatory (CLRO) was a deep-space

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies Astronomical object, celestial objects using radio waves. It started in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observat ...

observatory center with a large

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...

array that opened in 1959 by the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

. This large array had 720 antennas that were 26 feet tall, they were lined up across the desert two miles long and one mile wide. The site was picked in 1958 as the lake is very flat, remote, and shielded by mountain ranges. The Observatory closed in 1986. One runway was used to support the Observatory, the runway was abandoned in the 1990s and is now gone. The site is now part of

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, AN-zə bə-RAY-goh'') is a California State Park located within the Colorado Desert of Southern California, United States. Created in 1932, the park takes its name from 18th ...

References

1939 establishments in California Installations of the United States Navy in California Salton Sea History of Imperial County, California Buildings and structures in Imperial County, California Field Clark's Dry Lake {{ImperialCountyCA-geo-stub Closed installations of the United States Navy

See also

References