Naval Air Station Alameda

Naval Air Station Alameda
Aerial view of NAS Alameda in the mid-1940s
IATA: NGZ ICAO: KNGZ
Summary
Airport type	Military: Naval Air Station
Operator	United States Navy
Location	Alameda, California
In use	1940 – 1997
Coordinates	37°47′10″N 122°19′07″W / 37.78611°N 122.31861°W / 37.78611; -122.31861Coordinates: 37°47′10″N 122°19′07″W / 37.78611°N 122.31861°W / 37.78611; -122.31861
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 07/25 8,000 2,438 Asphalt 13/31 7,200 2,195 Asphalt

Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.

NAS Alameda had two runways: 07-25 (8,000×200 ft) (2,438×61 m) and 13–31 (7,200×200 ft) (2,195×61 m). Two helicopter pads and a control tower were also part of the facilities.

In 1927, wetlands at the west end of Alameda Island on the east shore of San Francisco Bay were filled to form an airport (Alameda Airport) with an east/west runway, three hangars, an administration building, and a yacht harbor. The airport site included the Alameda Terminal of the First Transcontinental Railroad (California Historical Landmark #440). By 1930, United States Army Air Corps operations referred to the site as Benton Field. Pan American World Airways used the yacht harbor as the California terminal for China Clipper trans-Pacific flights beginning in 1935. The China Clipper terminal is designated California Historical Landmark #968.

On 1 June 1936, the city of Alameda, California ceded the airport to the United States government a few months before the Army discontinued operations from the field. Pan American World Airways shifted its terminal to Treasure Island in 1939 for the Golden Gate International Exposition. Congressional appropriations passed in 1938 for construction of naval air station facilities for two carrier air wings, five seaplane squadrons and two utility squadrons. Appropriations were increased in 1940 for construction of two seaplane hangars and an aircraft carrier berthing pier, and naval operations began on 1 November 1940. Fleet Air Wing 8 began patrol and scouting missions following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In April 1942, the USS Hornet loaded at Alameda the 16 B-25 aircraft that would take part in the Doolittle Raid on Japan.