First aboard were Marine Aircraft Group 41 and VMF-113. January 1943 also saw the first operational units arriving at MCAS El Toro. Barracks and officer's quarters were ready by 20 January. The runways and taxiways were completed by 1 December 1942 and all squadron hangars were complete by 15 January 1943. The base headquarters was established on Novemand the first landing occurred in late November when a Major Michael Carmichael, flying from Camp Kearny, was forced to make an emergency landing among the construction equipment. The name "El Toro" came from the nearby small community which in 1940 only had a population of 130 people. The company greatly resisted the station's construction at this site, which at the time contained the largest lima bean field in North America, which was the company's prime source of revenue. Construction of MCAS El Toro began on Augon land previously owned by the Irvine Company. The Marine Corps gave the owner of the land, a farmer named James Irvine Sr., $100,000 for 4,000 acres (20 km 2) including 1,600 acres (6.5 km 2) designated for a blimp base. For the fourth station, he chose land that had previously been looked at by the U.S. Fox sought the most expeditious and low cost option and thus chose the already existing airports of El Centro, Mojave and Santa Barbara. In May 1942, Lieutenant Colonel William Fox was directed to select the sites for all of the Marine Corps' West Coast air stations. About 1,300 acres (530 ha) of land originally taken by the air station was converted into a large recreational center, the Orange County Great Park, while the rest was re-zoned for residential and commercial development.Īir Station El Toro stood on land originally part of Rancho Cañada de los Alisos, granted in 1842 to José Antonio Serrano. It survived virtually unchanged until the close of the Air Station.įollowing its decommissioning the site was used as a filming location, including the test track for the United States version of the BBC's Top Gear franchise. The El Toro "Flying Bull" patch was designed by Walt Disney Studios in 1944. Presidents in the post- World War II era landed in Air Force One at this airfield. Designated as a Master Jet Base, its four runways (two of 8,000 feet (2,400 m) and two of 10,000 feet (3,000 m)) could handle the largest aircraft in the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station El Toro ( ICAO: KNZJ, FAA LID: NZJ) was a United States Marine Corps Air Station located next to the community of El Toro, near Irvine, California.īefore it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the 4,682-acre (19 km 2) home of Marine Corps Aviation on the West Coast.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |