NAS Alameda

[A4sForever]

Friday nights at Alameda's O Club were on par with Wednesday night at then NAS Miramar....

You're right.



And actually ... NAS Alameda 'O Club set the standard for 60's-70's 'O Clubs, whether it was go crazy @ the bar or have a "dress up and sit down" dinner. Miramar did a worthy job of emulating Alameda --- which was truly the template for "old-shool" Navy Officer's Clubs in the jet age.

NAS Alameda (left) and Treasure Island (center) in this 60's vintage postcard.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Actually as I remember it, it was a NARF (Rework Facility) in the last years of operations. I remember going there once to pick up some spares for our cripled P-3 which was down at NAS Moffet Field.

NARFs became NADEPs (Naval Aviation Depot)

 

[Brett327]

NARFs became NADEPs (Naval Aviation Depot)

Furthermore, the NADEP was a tennant command of the NAS, not the whole shebang.

Brett

 

[plc67]

Okay, Alex, I'll take NAS Alameda for 800 dollars. Here's the question: why was Oakland the site of a one time Naval Air Station with Alameda within spitting distance? I have a couple of guesses but certainly don't know.

 

[HooverPilot]

why were NAS Jax and Cecil Field 9 miles apart? It just is... Need more space and the base couldn't grow? Airspace? Different mission profiles for the a/c at each base? Just guesses, but I'll look to A4s for the true answer.

 

[Brett327]

why were NAS Jax and Cecil Field 9 miles apart? It just is... Need more space and the base couldn't grow? Airspace? Different mission profiles for the a/c at each base? Just guesses, but I'll look to A4s for the true answer.

May have something to do w/ JAX's history as a seaplane base, proximity to the river being required. I know both bases were started up in the early days of WWII.

Brett

 

[mules83]

Some good info:

http://members.tripod.com/airfields_freeman/CA/Airfields_CA_Oakland.htm#alameda

 

[SoCalSooner]

While stationed at LeMoore in 62-63 I was attached to NAS LeMoore Avionics Division, AT2 worked the ASQ-17 bench (A4D, F8U)

We sent Avionics test equipment to Alameda for calibration and repair. A couple of times I was assigned to accompany the test equipment.

I remember seeing a P2V Neptune on a wash rack completely stripped except for the tires. So there must have been an overhaul/repair facility
for the P2Vs back then.

 

[A4sForever]

Okay, Alex, I'll take NAS Alameda for 800 dollars. Here's the question: why was Oakland the site of a one time Naval Air Station with Alameda within spitting distance? I have a couple of guesses but certainly don't know.

I suspect that NAS Oakland (also known at various times as NRAB and NAAS Oakland) just got overshadowed by the larger and more satisfactory Alameda and eventually all activities were transferred to the larger field. NAS Oakland was always a joint-use facility with the Army. Overcrowding there was the prime reason NAS Livermore was founded. It just got surplused and disappeared as an NAS in military base consolidations over the years.

During the Vietnam years, NAS Oakland was a big terminus point for "Magic Carpet" MAC charters, especially those flown by World Airways and TransAmerica Airlines. Today, the former NAS is a bustling airport (OAK) with low cost carriers and freight making up most of the traffic.

 

[A4sForever]

why were NAS Jax and Cecil Field 9 miles apart? ...

Long, rambling answer to an easy question follows ....

One word: NOISE.

It was once thought that Cecil would handle all the noisy "hot-rods" while JAX kept the quieter, better behaved VP and HS.

Then ..... BRAC happened. And happened again. And again. Somewhere in there, light and medium attack died with the advent of the F/A-18 and Cecil became "surplus". But the local politicians and developers in both Oceana and Jacksonville just couldn't bring themselves to say "NO" to encroachment and development around the remaining air stations. Development brings in a lot of money, you know .... takes money to run things.

The catch was the -18 is noisier than the A-4, A-7, A-6, and F-14 ever thought of being. Plus, with the emphasis on night operations in today's military planning .... guess when an increase in bounce hops are going to take place ???

So both of the large NAS aviation facilities on the east coast NOW have high-end $$$$ development in the AICUZ and APZ footprints. And it ain't gonna get any better --- unless the Navy buys back some of the surrounding land. Takes a lot of money ....

Now JAX is huge with accumulations of units and activities and it is now being encroached upon to a far greater extent than before. Oceana is so bad that the last round of BRAC recommended its closure if something wasn't done to protect the Navy's position there.

So where to go, where to go ??? ..... (imagine politicians talking here) .... HEY!!! Maybe we should "reopen" CECIL !!! Sooooooo .... even if we lose our carrier and Mayport and VP @ JAX gets smaller .... we'll still get some jobs back if Cecil reopens and we can have some of our cake and eat it too. It's incredible how tax dollars can be spent, wasted, and spent again on military basing questions. Hey !!! It's just money .... yours and mine.

It's really confusing, but it is easier to understand the basing and BRAC ramifications of the military in Florida (and Virginia?) when both the Prez and Gov of Florida have the same last name.

 

[MasterBates]

I say bring VFA back to Cecil. That way, when my Rhino transition gets approved, I don't have to move, and lose Masters Massive BBQ.

 

[BigIron]

I say bring VFA back to Cecil. That way, when my Rhino transition gets approved, I don't have to move, and lose Masters Massive BBQ.

I see some infighting going on in Jax right now..here and here for links.

 

[nocal80]

Departure was great, right at the Bay Bridge, but the earthquake in 91 had put some serious dips in the runway and as you approached rotation (about 145 IIRC) it was getting to be some serious “wave” effects.+ QUOTE]

do you mean the '89 quake during the bay bridge world series? that did a lot of damage over in the east bay, remember the nimitz freeway? But yeah, that would have been a sweet place to be stationed, in spite of the local politics.

 

[Pugs]

do you mean the '89 quake during the bay bridge world series? that did a lot of damage over in the east bay, remember the nimitz freeway? But yeah, that would have been a sweet place to be stationed, in spite of the local politics.

My bad, correct on the date. Time slips away. I was in Fallon in 89 for that quake picking up TACTs pods to go to Red Flag the next week. We were in the club having lunch when it hit, the light fixtures were swinging around and the ground was going by in waves. Someone yelled from the bar that it was in SF as the world series was on. We were more concerned about the jets and how we'd tell "Mad Jack" the 141 Skipper how his jets ended up in a big hole on the ramp if it came to that. First earthquake for this midwestener. Seemed like I was in Miramar for every good sized one they had after that though!

 

[beau]

Paps was stationed there....flying the whale in the early 70's. Same place my parents met.....thank god for Alemeda!!!!