Rockwell Field

Rockwell Field
North Island, San Diego, California
Rockwell Field, California in 1924, looking north. Rockwell Field is in the foreground. On the other side of the island is the Naval Air Station San Diego.
Rockwell Field
Coordinates	32°41′51″N 117°11′51″W / 32.69750°N 117.19750°W / 32.69750; -117.19750 (Rockwell Field)Coordinates: 32°41′51″N 117°11′51″W / 32.69750°N 117.19750°W / 32.69750; -117.19750 (Rockwell Field)
Type	Pilot training airfield (1912-1921) Rockwell Air Depot (1922-1939)
Site information
Controlled by	Air Service, United States Army United States Army Air Service United States Army Air Corps
Condition	Incorporated into Naval Air Station, North Island (1939)
Site history
Built	1911
In use	1912–1939
Battles/wars	World War I

Rockwell Field is a former United States Army Air Corps military airfield, located 1.1 miles (1.8 km) northwest of the city of Coronado, California on the northern part of the Coronado Peninsula across the bay from San Diego, California.

This airfield played a fundamental role in the development of United States military aviation in the period before and during World War I. Originally it was The Curtiss School of Aviation, founded by Glenn Curtiss. In November 1912, the Army established a permanent flying school on the island. It served as a major flying school during World War I, and remained active as an Army Air Corps facility after the war. The facility was transferred to the United States Navy on 31 January 1939.

Today, Rockwell Field forms the southeastern quadrant of what is today the Naval Air Station, North Island (NAS North Island). The facility was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

The field was originally called the Signal Corps Aviation School. It was the first U.S. Army school to provide flying training for military pilots, and North Island was the school's first permanent location. The Aviation School was officially established on North Island in 1912.

In 1910, climatic conditions, flat terrain, good beaches and protected stretches of water attracted Glenn H. Curtiss, aviation pioneer and Wright Brothers' competitor, to North Island, where he founded an aviation school. At that time North Island really was an island, separated from South Coronado on the Silver Strand peninsula by a narrow bight of water. Both North Island and South Coronado were privately owned, but North Island had not been developed. In January 1911, Curtiss signed a contract with the owner of North Island to use the land for three years for a flying school, which was established in February 1911. Curtiss invited the Army and the Navy to send officers to his new school for flying training. The Army sent three airmen to the Curtiss school in early 1911, but they were ordered to Texas before completion of their training. During the winter of 1911 to 1912, the Navy sent three pilots to the Curtiss school for flying training.