Marine Aviation in Orange County

As I was leaving MCAS Tustin So on Veterans Day, I drove to Orange County, Ca to see the two sights of the form Navy and Marine air bases: MCAS El Toro and MCAS Tustin (former NAS Santa Ana). Both of the bases are now closed, leaving only 2 Marine Air Stations in California (Miramar and Pendleton). You may recognize the name El Toro from Independence Day (Will Smith's character was a fighter pilot based there). Here is brief history of MCAS Tustin: taken from http://www.militarymuseum.org/MCASTustin.html

This field was originally built as a blimp base in 1942 as Santa Ana Naval Air Station. The predominant characteristic of this field is the image of its two huge blimp hangars. It was commissioned in October of that year as one of two new blimp bases on the west coast. The other was at Tillamook, Oregon. Blimps were used to patrol America's coastline primarily to watch for enemy submarine. At first 6, then 12 blimps operated out of the station. The large, all-wood hangers were built to house the blimps and at the time of their construction were and still are the world's largest clear span wooden buildings. These hangers became a necessity when the strong Santa Ana winds blew in from the desert disrupting blimp operations. The station had 6 mooring circles and its own helium generating plant.After the war the station was reduced in status as blimp operations were phased out.

The hangars are each more than 1,000 feet long & 300 feet wide. Each hangar was designed to hold six blimps simultaneously (see below) . In between the two hangars is a huge concrete circular blimp mooring pad. Extending outward from the central pad are concrete taxiways leading to numerous smaller concrete circular blimp mooring pads.

Following the end of World War II, the Santa Ana NAS was decommissioned by the Navy in 1949. It was then transferred to the Marine Corps in 1951, and was renamed Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana by 1965. It was later renamed Marine Corps Air Station Tustin.

The Marines used Tustin as their primary West Coast helicopter base, operating Medium & Heavy Transport & Attack Helicopter squadrons. A small 3,000 foot runway was built in between the "V" formed by the two blimp hangars (which must have made for interesting turbulence during crosswinds), along with a control tower nestled in between. Two modern hangars were added on the edge of the blimp mooring pad for helicopter maintenance.

The unique facilities at Tustin were very well suited to large-scale helicopter operations, as the blimp hangars were capable of providing indoor storage for huge numbers of helicopters, & the blimp mooring pad provided acres of ramp space for parking. At its peak, Tustin housed over 100 helicopters.

Tustin's location also was very suitable for USMC helicopter operations, as the surrounding mountain ranges included a total of 13 Confined Area Landing Sites,at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level.

Due to Tustin's proximity to Hollywood & the unique imagery of the blimp hangars, it has been used for location shooting for numerous movies & TV programs, including JAG, The X-Files, etc.

Following Tustin's closure by the Marine Corps in 1999, one of the blimp hangars has been designated a national historic landmark, and is to be preserved (the second one presumably will be torn down). Overall, plans were approved by the local government to reuse the property for a mixture of purposes, including parkland & commercial development.

When I drove by Tustin, the two huge hangars could be seen from miles away. Inside one, they were building something (not sure what it was), the other I believe is slated to be destroyed. The runways is just mounds of dirt. Much of the base complex still seems to be around (but abandoned).

Photos I shot of Tustin


East hangar (one with something being built) Base Chapel Looks like old barracksFrom HMM166 (The Seaelks) area About MCAS El Toro http://www.militarymuseum.org/MCASElToro.html#1b

The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro was officially closed in 1999. MCAS El Toro was a master jet air station supporting the operations and combat readiness of Pacific Fleet Maine Forces. MCAS El Toro provided materials and support for aviation activities of the United States marine Corps (USMC).

During World War II combat pilots received their training at MCAS El Toro. The construction of MCAS El Toro began in July 1942 on a parcel of land purchased from The Irvine Company. The facility was initially built as a wartime expedient air station for the purpose of aircraft squadron formation and unit training prior to overseas combat deployment. It was commissioned on 17 March 1943.

In 1945, Congress made it the permanent West Coast Marine Corps Air Station. In 1950 MCAS El Toro was selected for development as a Master Jet Air Station and the permanent center of Marine aviation on the west coast of the United States. Its mission was to support the operations and combat readiness of Fleet Marine Forces. In 1955 the Third Marine Aircraft Wing Headquarters relocated to El Toro from Miami Florida to become the primary tenant. After 1971 the Marine Air Reserve under the command of the 4th Marine Air Wing conducted reserve training operations at El Toro.

The closure of MCAS El Toro as a military facility is a result of the federal 1993 Base Realignment and Closure [BRAC] process. MCAS El Toro is one of 30 California military bases placed on the closure list during or after 1988. The 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Committee (BRAC) slotted MCAS El Toro for closure. The base was revisited with the 1995 BRAC and slotted for closure in 1999. Operational closure of MCAS El Toro was implemented in July 1999.The former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro facility is under consideration for reuse as a commercial airport.

From Wikipedia:

The Legacy Project

In 2002, six photographers started The Legacy Project a non-profit group dedicated to documenting the transformation of the shuttered and abandoned MCAS El Toro into Orange County Great Park. According to published news reports, they have already taken over 80,000 photographs.

As an important part of the project, on June 14, 2006, the six photographers along with many volunteer workers, transformed a hangar (Building #115) into a gigantic pinhole camera in order to record a picture of the base on to a huge photographic print. It is expected that the Guinness World Record book will categorize and certify that the hangar is the world's largest camera.The hangar/camera will eventually be torn down, so the photographers jokingly state that they also made the world's largest disposable camera.

El Toro was completely gated off. The main gate area is now occupied by a college. The runway is full of RV's and trailers (for storage). There are still plenty of hangars left. I could make out the squadron logos on the doors (saw Evil Eyes specifically). Most of the other buildings are being torn down or have been already. Here are some photos I shot of El Toro . A hangar on the south side of the runway Gate on east side of the runway A q-hut near the main gate (next to the college building)