INTRODUCTION - AMDO



DRAFT MANUSCRIPT

ON THE

HISTORY OF THE

NAVAL AIR STATION

&

NAVAL AVIATION DEPOT

AT ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA

PREPARED BY:

LCDR B.L. ALLBRANDT

NR NADEP 0187

May 1996

BEGINNINGS

Naval Air Station Alameda and her tenant commands have proudly served their country for more than 56 years, since the station was commissioned on November 1, 1940. Her men and women, military and civilian, have played key roles in some of the most dramatic events of the 20th century. This huge, complex command we know as NADEP began as just one piece of an air-station-in-progress, and was known originally as Assembly and Repair, or ”A&R.“ Its mission was simple - to provide “...service to the fleet.”

There is really no separating the beginnings of the Depot from those of the air station. It is sometimes hard to imagine that this workhorse installation hasn't always been here, supporting and supplying the ships and squadrons of the Pacific Fleet. But the entire facility, on land that began as a peaceful tidal swamp, was planned, built and shoved into action almost overnight - just in time to fight the biggest war the world has ever seen.

EARLY HISTORY

Before there was a Naval Air Station Alameda, the land, which it now occupies, saw many other uses. In its early history, the site was a part of a Spanish land grant to Don Luis Maria Peralta, and was known as “Rancho de San Antonio”. Inherited by his son Antonio, much of the land was sold to early settlers. The island had also been used as an American Indian fishing ground, and a Spanish hunting site. It would one day provide refuge for homeless gold miners who struck out in ‘49, and later, for victims of the 1906 earthquake. Chinese laborers were used to construct roads on the island, and made Alameda their “Tong “ headquarters.

In 1864, the “San Francisco and Alameda Railroad” was built, running from High Street in Oakland to a ferry landing near what is now Pier 2. This would eventually become the western end of the trans-continental railroad. The railroad brought industry, and in 1879 the “Pacific Coast Oil Company” built an oil refinery here, which Standard Oil later bought and operated until 1903. The Borax Soap Company also built a factory here, and used its famed "20 mule teams" to haul in raw materials. The plant was located on the site of the old aircraft engine overhaul building, and supplied the area with a distinctive odor....

THE NAVY SHOWS INTEREST

Alameda did get a glimpse of its future, though, when Eugene Ely made the first airplane landing on a naval vessel in 1911 in the San Francisco Bay. He set his bi-plane down on a special platform built on the USS Pennsylvania, which was anchored there. A hook dangling beneath his Curtiss pusher caught a series of ropes stretched across the deck between 50 pound sand bags, a hint of things to come. In 1917, a local businessman named John J. Mulvany proposed this site as a naval base. His efforts resulted in an investigation by a congressional fact-finding committee that same year, headed by Admiral James Helm. The Helm Report recommended that a naval operating and supply station be built here. The harbor, local industry, and infrastructure made the site compare favorably with the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, where a Naval air station was already operating in Norfolk. There was only one other major Naval facility on the west coast, at San Diego. (NAS San Diego began in 1917). Building a base in Alameda fit in well with the Navy’s plans to have a west coast chain of facilities from San Diego to Seattle.

Congress proceeded to study the idea. And study it, and study it. The city of Alameda approved turning over the land to the Navy, and several other investigations were made - but no action. In the meantime, the city built an airfield on the site in the late 1920s. This attracted the Curtis Wright Corporation and Pan American Airways, who operated from here through much of the 1930s. (The 1935 movie “China Clipper,” with Humphrey Bogart, featured Alameda in a supporting role...). The U.S. Army Air Corps also got into the act, building a 100-acre facility called Benton Field. This may have been what got the Navy moving on the idea again, because in 1935 Navy officials met with the mayor of Alameda regarding the acquisition of 1,000 acres for a Navy base. In June of 1936, Congress passed Public Resolution 19, approving the establishment of a Naval Air Station at Alameda.

The Navy bought the land from the city for the grand total of $1.

AN AIR STATION TAKES SHAPE

In 1937, Congress appropriated $15,000,000 to begin work. The original peacetime plan called for a 1,000-man facility supporting up to 200 airplanes, and home porting capability for two ships. Plans included an "Assembly and Repair" (A&R) Department, to repair and modify airplanes. (This was the birth of NADEP Alameda). Construction was delayed because of the earlier leasing of land to Curtis Wright as an airport, and the presence of the Army Air Corps’ Benton Field. It was February of 1938 before these tenants were moved and construction of NAS Alameda began.

Cdr. E. C. Seibert, (CEC), USN, was assigned as Resident Officer-in-charge of Construction. He and his staff worked out of an 8 x 10 wooden shack with no electricity, heat, or floor. One of his first tasks was to dredge and deepen the bay, and use the material to fill in the marsh. (This dredging has continued into the present day, as one million cubic yards of silt must be removed from the channel each year). People frequently sank into the mud, had to be pulled out, and often needed to set out planks to walk on - these early arrivals were literally “plank owners!” The first employee on the NAS payroll, Mr. Howard Randall, said, “That mud looked like heaven to me, because any place is heaven as long as its in California.” He had arrived here from Virginia.

While pumping and dredging, work was delayed when they encountered submerged pieces of the early trans-continental railway, among other things. Ultimately, more than 15 million cubic yards of fill would be required to build the huge air station.

As work was underway here on a modest "peace time" air station, Hitler's war machine was on the march. Britain ultimately declared war on Germany in September 1939. By June of 1940, the Nazis had invaded France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Japan was getting more and more active, too, importing increasing quantities of scrap iron to build a more powerful force. Congress responded, approving a $17,000,000 emergency contract in July 1940, to expand and speed completion of the station.

COMMISSIONING

On November 1, 1940, Naval Air Station Alameda was commissioned. The flag was raised on a flagpole that had been erected just three days before. (A special messenger had had to go get a flag at Mare Island). Capt. Frank R. McCrary, U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1901, read his orders and became the first commanding officer. His executive officer was Cdr. John G. Farrell, and they led a force of approximately 390 sailors and Marines. They set about preparing for the job of fighting a war. Construction of the air station continued at a break-neck pace.

The furious activity at the air station gave the local newspapers a lot to write about. A special edition of the Alameda Times-Star came out on February 27, 1941, devoted to the new base. It 'breathlessly' recounted plans for two squadrons of 18 seaplanes at the station, and reported "Two airplane carriers will use the activity as their main base,” and "...eight hundred civilians will work in the assembly and repair department." (Little did they know - by the end of W.W.II, this figure would be more than 9,000 civilians employed at A & R.) Statistics were not yet classified, so they included the fact that there were 550 officers and enlisted men at the station.

The Oakland Tribune also reported on station activities throughout 1941. They heralded the arrival of the first seven of a projected 200 aircraft at the field. These were to be housed in what were believed the largest hangars in the world. The paper also devoted space to a special school at the station, which trained enlisted men in airplane mechanics, airplane instruments, fabrication, and drafting. They called Alameda the "...best equipped station of its kind in the world." The Tribune stated that station growth was closely related to the American strategy of building a "...carrier striking force that would carry out sudden surprise raids on enemy concentrations."

Meanwhile, the fledgling A&R department was making Building 5 its home, and got its first work order - to overhaul one dual-winged, single propeller SOC “Scouter” airplane. It took more than four months to complete, being inducted on January 8, 1941, and finished on May 14, 1941. A picture was taken to commemorate the event. It shows the airplane and about 200 military and civilian personnel surrounding it. The caption includes the fact that "L.M. Grant, USN” was the A&R Officer.

At the end of 1940, there had been 175 personnel - 124 military and 51 civilians - in the department. By the end of 1941, A&R would employ 2,000, and repair 14 aircraft in the month of December alone. But they were just warming up, compared to what they would eventually accomplish during the war.

JAPAN ATTACKS

On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The urgent message flashed to ships at sea read:

“AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

NAS Alameda was about to step into the pages of history.

*********************************************************************************************

NOTES: 1.) The 10th anniversary issue of "The Carrier" (1940 - 1950) has several good photos of the air station under construction.

2.) The photo of the first SOC repaired, (as well as all aircraft ever overhauled here) is in the CO's ladder well, mezzanine level.

THE WAR YEARS, 1941-1945

For most of 1941, station activity and growth had continued at a steady pace. But this changed overnight, literally, with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Two entries, copied verbatim from the rough log of the day, December 7, 1941, read as follows:

11:50 relieved the watch.

11:55 Executed WPL 46 against Japan.

These two notations capture the moment that the nation went to war. At 12:20, all station liberty was canceled. The Oakland Police were asked to pass the word of an immediate recall at local theaters. Radios broadcast that all servicemen were to report to their commands immediately. There was genuine fear that an attack on the mainland was imminent.

Everything about the base changed. Vulnerable points were sandbagged, access roads were closed, and anti-aircraft stations were set up and manned. Security became so tight that a local newspaper reported, “The new $15,000,000 naval air station” was “...particularly favored with a cordon of secret service men, Marines, patrolmen, and steam roller road blocks...”

And, of course, all station operations exploded. The war was on.

KEEP ‘EM FLYING!

NAS Alameda’s primary mission was to supply the ships and stations of the Pacific Fleet, and to “Keep ‘em flying!” from airfields and carriers. The base became homeport for numerous ships, including several aircraft carriers. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Pacific Island bases were activated and bolstered at Midway, Wake, Guam, Johnston, and Palmyra Islands. These outposts needed to be kept supplied. Locally, auxiliary airfields were added at Crows Landing, Santa Rosa, Hollister, Monterey, Watsonville, Eureka, and the Coast Guard air station at San Francisco, with Alameda as their hub.

The station was like a giant valve, attached to a huge pipeline, through which flowed the massive quantities of men, machinery and supplies needed to wage war across the Pacific. One telling statistic about the kind of effort this took - in the month of December 1941, station personnel logged about 230,000 man-hours worked. In the month of July 1945, at peak production, this figure would exceed 2,000,000 man-hours in around-the-clock operations.

A&R GROWS UP QUICKLY

The A&R Department experienced rapid, heavy growth throughout the war. From its modest beginnings, this repair activity became a behemoth. In the four years of the war, more than 24,000 aircraft were overhauled or modified, processed and shipped. (That is a pace of about 17 a day!) Employment grew from around 2,000 to more than 9,000, and square footage occupied increased from 204,000 to more than 1,000,000 square feet. There was always construction in progress. Similar statistics can be cited for every department and activity onboard the station - no one got off easily. The phenomenal pace of growth put such great demands on the station’s physical plant that in early 1945, two obsolete 1901 model steam locomotives were pressed into service, placed on a platform, and used to provide power until the power plant could catch up!

Among the many functions performed by Assembly and Repair were aircraft repair, engine repair, propeller and instrument repair, life raft and parachute repair, and custom manufacture of parts not available through regular supply channels. New aircraft were often modified with special equipment, before being sent to the fleet. New processes and materials were developed and tested, such as welding of plexiglas. Millions of dollars of scrap parts and materials were salvaged and reclaimed. Used aircraft lubricating oil became automotive oil. Aircraft preservation procedures were begun and improved upon here. And a “beneficial suggestions” program was implemented, to award cash prizes to workers who came up with better ideas.

Because “Loose lips sank ships,” not much information was made available to the public about A&R repair capabilities, etc. But a post-war magazine article published in Western Machinery and Steel World, September 1946, gave this insight into what had been accomplished at the facility:

“There is in actuality an aircraft manufacturing plant at Alameda that for size, equipment, personnel and results could well step to the front rank in competition with the great aircraft companies of America. In administrative procedures, productive techniques and supervision, it parallels the best of similar groups in private industry.”

It was that impressive. There were nine separate divisions, including Aircraft Overhaul, Engine Overhaul, Accessories, Metal and Machines, Radio-Radar, Engineering, Planning, Maintenance, and Personnel. This ultimately became the overhaul site for 53 types of aircraft and 21 types of engines. At its peak, in Fiscal year 1945, A&R completely overhauled 842 aircraft and 2027 reciprocating engines. In a span of less than five years, this had become a huge, highly sophisticated, professionally managed industrial activity. It was the backbone of the station.

NOT ENOUGH “MAN”POWER...

Of course, keeping up with all this work took human labor, and there were constant labor shortages during the war. The city of Alameda more than doubled in population during those years, but still not enough manpower was available. There was a “Recruit For Victory” campaign, and the base newspaper, The Carrier (begun in December, 1943) frequently carried sidebars with headlines like “Why A&R Needs Workers” or, “Why Supply Needs Workers.” Retirees were hired, and even some as old as 80 went back to work. A major part of the solution arrived in the form of “Rosie The Riveter” - women made up a significant segment of the labor force during the war. A special feature of The Carrier was “Paging The Women at NAS,” a full page by Margaret Woodall featuring news items and a “Woman of the Week.” The first group of female sailors, “WAVES,” or Women Accepted For Voluntary Emergency Service, arrived from boot camp at NAS Alameda in 1943. They had their own barracks, and initial duties included chauffeuring, mess hall duties, and clerical work. The Carrier soon began a column called “WAVE Length.” Later, WAVES would participate in such combat critical activities as training aerial gunners.

Another wartime innovation, begun by A&R, was a “personnel rehabilitation program” for patients at the Naval Hospital in Oakland. Selected overhaul jobs were taken to the hospital to be done by the patients, “...thus benefiting themselves and their country during their convalescence period.”

OTHER FACETS OF LIFE @ NAS

Along with long hours and hard work, supporting the war effort included things like Red Cross blood drives, buying War Bonds, and much shared sacrifice. Kay Kyser and his “Musical College” appeared here at a war bond rally in October 1944, and the station went all-out to support the War Bond campaign. Getting to and from work also posed a major challenge, then as now. There were traffic problems, parking problems, and carpools - if you could afford to drive a car. Gasoline and cigarettes were rationed, and in February of 1944 Capt. McCrary issued a station order that “...supplemental gasoline will only be approved for those persons having four or more passengers in a coupe. Those persons not having a full load of passengers will use public transportation.” This supplemental gasoline would only be for the purpose of going “... to and from work.” The transportation pool would be used for work related duties.

Occasionally, there was danger and excitement here on the home front. In January 1944, fourteen A&R workers were injured when an Army pilot on a training mission bailed out of his P-39 and it crashed on the station. The plane crashed within 15 feet of a building, showering people inside with flames and flying glass. The pilot, 2nd Lt. Harry Pape (of Sacramento), had bailed out after his plane went into a spin. He parachuted safely to the ground, uninjured.

DOOLITTLE’S RAID

One of the most daring events of the war, and in all of aviation history, was launched right here at NAS in 1942. For the first several months of the war, The Japanese capitalized on the momentum gained from their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and dominated the Pacific. But in April of 1942, a surprise bombing of the Japanese mainland was carried out by Colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle and his “Doolittle’s Raiders,” which gave Americans a symbolic and psychological victory, if not a military one. They carried out the bombing on April 18, 1942, with Army Air Corps’ B-25 Mitchells launched from the deck of the USS Hornet. Those 16 planes were loaded aboard, and the ship was launched, from the piers of Alameda. The ship sailed to within 688 miles of the Japanese mainland, and the bombers took off. They hit Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe, and headed for the Chinese mainland. Only one plane landed safely, in Russia. The rest crashed in China. Several crewmembers were killed in the crashes, the Japanese took some prisoners, and many made it back to the American forces. While they did little strategic damage, they sent a signal that the Japanese island was vulnerable to attack, and that the United States had the will to do so.

James H. Doolittle was actually an Alameda native, who was born here in 1896. He saw the value of air power in combat early on, and continued to press the cause in the 1930s before the war, even though the Army and Navy were slow to come around. Pearl Harbor and W.W.II changed all of that, though, demonstrating what airplanes could do. Aircraft carriers replaced battleships as the centerpiece of the arsenal, and Col. Doolittle helped to speed this change along. He was awarded the Medal of Honor after the attack, went on to command the Army Air Corps in North Africa, and was promoted to General. In November of 1945, Alameda honored their hometown hero with a huge parade. President Bush awarded him the Medal of Freedom in 1989. He died in 1993, at the age of 96.

SOME ALAMEDA FIRSTS (if you’re interested...)

In an attempt to satisfy the fleet’s insatiable appetite for supplies, the prototype of a Martin JRM “Mars” seaplane was based here in January 1944. Attached to Air Transport Squadron Two (VR-2), it was the largest transport seaplane in the world, and was affectionately called “The Old Lady.” (A photo in the 10-year anniversary issue of The Carrier shows a Mars with about 100 sailors standing along the top of the wings. The caption says “...If stood on one wing tip, she would be as high as a 20-story building.” It was huge!) Flying between Alameda and Honolulu, this Mars eventually carried three million pounds of cargo in 78 round trips. More Mars planes were delivered to the squadron after the war, and they served there through 1956.

Change of Command

Capt. Frank McCrary, NAS Alameda’s first Commanding Officer, was relieved on April 29, 1944, by Capt. Walter F. Boone. Capt. Boone, a Naval Aviator, was a 1921 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He was shortly elevated to the rank of Commodore. Capt. McCrary was given orders to assume command of the Naval Air Station at Monterey.

Commodore Boone was relieved in February 1945, by Capt. S.J. Michael.

Tenant Commands

At the end of the war, NAS Alameda was home to the following activities:

- Headquarters, Commander Fleet Air Alameda

- Headquarters, Commander Naval Air Bases, Twelfth Naval District

- Alameda Group, PacResFlt

- Aeronautical Outfitting Assembly point

- Naval Overseas Air Cargo Terminal

- Air Transport Squadron 2

- Material Division Training School

- Twelfth Naval District Board of Civil Service Examiners

- BuAer Maintenance Resident Representative

THE WAR WINDS DOWN

In 1944, Admiral William Halsey Jr. said “We must win the battle of supply lines before we can smash the enemy on the firing lines.” And that is precisely what happened. Never before had America tried to wage war across such vast distances as those in the Pacific theater, and Alameda shouldered a heavy burden in making it happen. As time wore on and the tide began to turn, more and more facts and figures were released and published in the papers in 1944 and 1945. Numbers like the more than 24,000 aircraft processed and shipped by A&R in less than four years. Or the departure of 498 ships from the piers, carrying more than 370,000 tons of explosives and 206,828,248 pounds of other cargo. More than 30,000 badges issued to civilian workers. Training given to thousands of pilots, gunners, airplane mechanics and technicians. And a total investment in the air station of more than $70,000,000.

In March of 1945, Joe Rosenthal, the AP photographer, visited the station on his way back from covering the war. (He took the now-legendary pictures of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima). He praised station workers for their hard work in keeping Navy planes flying, which had served to “soften up” Japanese defenses before the invasion. Victory was near - but there was concern here that people thought we could just “coast to victory.” So, workers were asked to sign “stay on the job” pledges, and the draft board warned, “Stay on the job, or fight!”

But it was only a matter of time before victory was declared in Europe (in May), and Japan surrendered August 14,1945. Headlines screamed, “WAR IS OVER!” while ships returned to heroes’ welcomes. Some 60,000 people attended a giant open-house ceremony at the station in August. The 40-hour workweek returned for the first time in years, and rationing ended. The Carrier reported, “It’s a FACT! Butter, Sugar and Candy Bars Return Here!” People made plans to return to school, get married, and to get on with their lives.

NAS Alameda, which had grown so large so fast and was now one of the major Naval facilities in the world, was designated to remain open with operations to utilize at least half of its capacity. It was expected to be one of three permanent naval air activities in the Twelfth Naval District. Its primary mission was to “...provide facilities and support for the staging and training of Fleet aviation activities, and for a Class “A” Aircraft Assembly and Repair establishment.”

THE POST-WAR YEARS, 1946-1950

DRAWDOWN

The years immediately following W.W. II were years of transition. Shortly after the victory over Japan, Admiral Nimitz sent a personal message to the Pacific Fleet, which said, “The Navy is still faced with the task of transportation and supply in connection with the occupation of the empire and it possessions, the return to the United States of hospital patients and repatriated prisoners of war.” Still a big job to be done - but it would have to be done with less. A few months later, the Secretary of the Navy released the service’s demobilization plans. Wartime manning levels would be cut in half by April of 1946, cut to one third by June. Two of every three sailors were to be released from active duty within nine months. The Navy intended to have the “...fastest demobilization schedule of any armed service and expects to be the first service to reach peace-time strength!” One year after the war, there were only 187 officers and 1,792 enlisted personnel assigned to NAS. By June 30, 1949, there were just 40 WAVES left on station.

Ships were decommissioned. Planes were mothballed, engines “canned.” Equipment, which was no longer useable, was melted down into ingots. (Supply received over 124,000,000 pounds of combat salvage material). Civilian workers were subject to Reductions In Force, or “RIFs,” and their ranks diminished by the thousands. Seventeen ships were kept here as part of the “Pacific Reserve Fleet,” including the once proud carriers Hancock, Ranger and Enterprise. The giant Mars seaplanes captured headlines for missions like “Operation Elephant,” where they ferried hay bales and worms to starving zoo animals trapped on a freighter in the Pacific. The Carrier said that by 1948, “...NAS rested on its oars.”

There was, however, something happening during these years, which was almost as significant to the future of aviation as what the Wright brothers had done. The Ryan FR-1 Fireball, reported to be the first airplane in the world to combine jet propulsion with a gasoline engine, had been introduced to the fleet in October 1945. Soon to follow would be the North American FJ-1 Fury, a 600 M.P.H. marvel and in 1948 the fastest carrier -based jet in the world. The Navy had entered the jet age, and Alameda would play its part in supporting and developing this exciting new technology.

BUSY TIMES AT A&R...

Assembly and Repair still had much work to do. There were many war-damaged aircraft and engines to be repaired and salvaged. There were aircraft to be preserved and stored for possible future use. And there was a new generation of planes and engines to be worked on and adapted to - jets. All with reduced manning. The problems of “...increasing workloads and decreasing number of personnel...” were to be met by “...organizational changes; training of personnel; better manpower utilization; and adaptation of proven techniques to improve employee morale.” They had their work cut out for them.

In early 1946, A&R Alameda was designated to be an overhaul point for the I-16 Gas Turbo Engine. This was due to the department’s “...efficiency and progressiveness.” It may also have had something to do with the new A&R Officer, Capt. Selden B. Spangler. Capt. Spangler had proposed and reported on the possibilities of jet propulsion for aircraft before 1940, and was highly regarded in this field.

In 1946, only 13 jet engines would be overhauled here. By the end of the 1940s, the facility would have processed hundreds of jets engines and aircraft. Millions would be spent on new overhaul buildings and test cell facilities to support jet engine programs. Plans were studied to lengthen and expand the runways, to accommodate the faster and heavier aircraft. A&R would also train hundreds of military and civilians in jet theory and shop practices, including Air Force personnel. The Naval Air Station would, “...gain recognition as the West Coast Training Center for reaction engines...” as they were sometimes called then. Engineers and workers here would be instrumental in developing tooling, methods and procedures for engine programs. For example, this was the first station to apply a pigmented phenolic resin coating process to steel aircraft engine parts, to prevent surface corrosion. Technicians would manufacture air start units and engine stands. The A&R Aeronautical Engineering Group authored and edited technical manuals, such as “...Preparation of Naval Aircraft for Shipment and Storage,” which was published in 1947.

A&R BECOMES O&R

In July of 1948, the Bureau of Aeronautics, BuAer, re-designated all Assembly and Repair activities as “Overhaul and Repair.” The concept for the original name “Assembly and Repair” dated back to 1919, when manufacturers actually shipped the Navy boxes of wood and fabric to assemble airplanes out of. This practice had long since ended, however. The Carrier, in reporting on the change, said, “Today the concentration is on overhaul and repair rather than on modification, as it was during the war years.” Some other organizational changes were made, in accordance with the Bureau’s letter regarding “Organization of Naval and Marine Corps Air Stations; standardization and modernization of.”

In November of 1949, BuAer directed that the R-3350 engine overhaul program be transferred from NAS San Diego to NAS Alameda. The engine was a large, 18-cylinder, twin row radial manufactured by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation. It was the power plant for the P2V Neptune patrol bomber, the AD1 Skyraider attack plane, the AJ-1 bomber, and the JRM Mars. This was a “prize” program, and required close coordination to transfer the tools, jigs, fixtures, technical and support data, and to train technicians to perform the work. The first engine would be completed six months later, on May 18,1950, with no significant discrepancies. This achievement was testimony to the high quality of planning and workmanship attained by O&R in just its tenth year of operation.

O&R closed out the decade with approximately 5,400 civilian workers, down from a wartime high over 9,000. Its mission remained the same - to provide service to the fleet.

The 1950’s

CALM BEGINNINGS

The 1950’s started calmly at NAS Alameda. The air station was now in its tenth year of operation, W.W.II was over, and the “Baby Boom” was in high gear. The official command history for the first six months of 1950 said:

“The period of 1 January to 30 June 1950 was one of relative stability for the station, while fulfilling its stated mission of housekeeping for fleet and aeronautical units.”

The Station held an esteemed position in the community. Every effort was made to acquaint the public with Naval Aviation. In addition to the general public, special groups and organizations were given guided tours. When Armed Forces Day was celebrated with an open house on May 21, 1950, 30,000 people visited and inspected the facilities of the station.

The "Korean Conflict" would soon shatter the calm, though, before the end of summer. Much more would happen in a decade full of changes. To those of us looking back from the 1990’s, the 1950’s appear as a decade of great stability and certainty in American life. But in Naval Aviation it was a time of rapid and dramatic change, as the pace of technology continued to accelerate.

THE KOREAN “CONFLICT”

On June 25, 1950, fighting broke out along the “38th parallel” as North Korean soldiers invaded the South. “All hell broke loose,” as The Carrier would later say. On June 27, President Truman ordered U.S. air and sea forces to give the Korean government troops cover and support. On the 30th, Truman authorized the use of U.S. ground troops in the fighting. Planes controlled by Commander, Carrier Division Three, based at Alameda, launched the first air strikes against the North on July 3. Marines from the base were among the first to see combat, and suffered heavy casualties.

The station responded quickly. NAS went to a 48-hour workweek, and O&R ran 10-hour shifts. Within a month, more than 1,000 new civilian employees had been hired. Reservists were recalled, and a September headline in The Carrier blared -

“748 STATION EMPLOYEES FACE ACTIVE DUTY RECALL.”

Ships were recommissioned, and World War II planes depreserved. A $24,000,000 expansion program was soon begun, including lengthening two runways from 5,200 to 7,200 feet for the jets. By November of 1951, NAS Alameda was in high gear and was the largest Naval Air Station in the country. There were 15,000 military and civilians stationed here, with an annual payroll of $46,000,000. The air station was again showing it could be called upon in times of crisis.

O&R GEARS UP

Captain J.F. Mullen Jr., an authority on airborne radio and radar, became the station’s seventh O & R officer in July 1950. Captain Mullen was a graduate of the Naval Academy class of 1928. His varied military career included eight months service with VP-12 at Seattle, the first patrol plane squadron in the Northwest.

In the early months of 1950, O&R was repairing fewer aircraft, and instead concentrating on reconditioning and modernizing airplanes in long term storage. When hostilities began in Korea, O&R’s focus changed immediately. Of the 1,000 new station employees, 900 came to work here. A total of 269 aircraft were withdrawn from “canned” and desert storage, were modernized, and placed back into service within six months.

The department’s operations greatly accelerated in 1951, in keeping with aircraft operating requirements. This came without a corresponding increase in manning, and with the reality that “Fiscal limitations required judicious control of overtime work....” Many station personnel were also leaving civilian positions to enter military service during this period. By September, a total of 145 civilian employees would have entered the armed forces since the shooting began.

Many of the aircraft received from Pacific operating units for overhaul required extensive structural repair, due to combat and crash damage. This often meant special procurement of material from the manufacturer, since the supply system did not stock such components. Both new production and fleet operating aircraft were modified in increasingly greater numbers, with the installation of electronic, photographic and armament equipment, as well as changes required to improve aircraft performance. Most of the 130 aircraft modified during the first half of 1951 were used in direct support of military operations in Korea.

Funds were approved in late 1950 for a brand new 4-acre concrete engine overhaul plant. It was completed on June 1, 1953, at a total cost of over $3.2 million . Many features of the structure were planned, designed and engineered by NAS Alameda personnel. Alameda was the first, and remained the largest, jet overhaul plant on the West coast. By the close of the Korean War, the major portion of it’s workload would consist of J-33, J-35, J-47, J-48 and J-57 jet engines, as well as R-3350 and R-4360 reciprocating engines.

REORGANIZATION

The remainder of the Korean War years brought new and increasing workloads to O&R. Jet fighters, like the North American FJ and the Grumman F9F, were now being modified and overhauled here in greater numbers. This period also brought increases in efficiency, and experimentation with “task force committees,” as employees were solicited for more input. An assembly line conveyor belt system was installed in the Preservation and Packaging Shop, to improve worker efficiency. People were looking for ways to “work smarter, not harder...”

In 1952, working on the theory that the organization established in 1948 had become obsolete, O&R Alameda hosted a conference to study various programs in effect at Navy O&R activities. The conference was attended by both Naval and civilian representatives from Navy repair facilities all over the U.S. Attendees reviewed management improvement, engineering standards performance systems, and cost control systems. Conferees recommended a streamlined organization designed to eliminate duplication and to group related functions together.

The two major recommendations were to “...employ electrical accounting machines in the Production Planning and Control System, and to revise the O&R departments in order to develop a modernized organization.” To achieve this, they recommended establishing a “Cost Control and Review Office” and a new group, the Production Engineering Group. A prototype for a new organization plan was put forth in June of 1953, and in September 1954, the Bureau of Aeronautics used this plan to issue a new standard guide for all O&R Departments.

KOREAN WAR OVER

The conflict in Korea was declared over on July 27, 1953. Once again, ships sailors and soldiers returned to the piers of NAS. There would be the inevitable slowdown in operations, and cutbacks in ranks, but they were not as severe as those seen after WW II. As technology improved, the threat of nuclear war loomed larger. So defenses were kept up, as the “Cold War” went on throughout the decade.

OTHER SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE EARLY 1950s

CHANGES OF COMMAND

On February 28, 1951 CDR J.D. Lamade, Executive Officer, relieved Capt. John B. Moss as Commanding Officer. On June 23, 1951, Capt. R. R. Waller assumed Command of NAS Alameda, relieving CDR John D. Lamade. Capt. Waller came to Alameda from duty as Chief of Staff to Commander, First Fleet. He was the eighth commanding officer for NAS Alameda. CDR Lamade commented that during his 13 months onboard, NAS grew from 6000 civilian and Navy personnel to more than 15,000.

Alameda becomes home to Navy Weather command

In February 1950, the Navy Weather Central San Francisco had moved from the Federal building in San Francisco to building 19 on Alameda Naval Air Station. They assumed all aerological duties for which the operations department had previously been responsible. On July 27, 1950, Fleet Logistics Air Wing Pacific was commissioned and based at Naval Air Station Alameda.

The mission of the Fleet Weather Central was to provide adequate weather information for air, surface and sub-surface operations to the U.S. Navy within its assigned area of responsibility. This included issuing timely and accurate warnings of tropical storms, high winds and other hazardous or destructive weather phenomena of interest and concern to the Navy. Dispatches for broadcast to ships at sea were made four times daily. The dispatches carried hurricane warnings; map analysis and ocean area weather forecasts. The Weather Central operated on a 24- hour basis, and was manned at all times.

STATION WINS SAFETY AWARD FOR THIRD TIME (Carrier, Vol X no.24)

In June 1950, the Naval Air Station earned the Secretary of the Navy’s Safety Award for the third consecutive year. It was awarded to NAS Commanding Officer, Captain Henry F. MacComsey on July 6, by Rear Admiral Bertram J. Rodgers, Commandant, 12th Naval District.

The award was won because of a continued low accident rate among industrial personnel and maintenance of an active and thorough accident prevention and safety program.

BUGLE RESTORED TO NAS ALAMEDA (Carrier, Vol XI no. 7)

At public ceremonies held during lunch hour at the O&R plaza, Capt. John B. Moss, Commanding Officer, accepted a gold-plated cornet used to sound taps and reveille in the early days of NAS Alameda. Capt. Moss accepted the gleaming bugle as a permanent trophy to be given a place of honor with the station’s collection in the main lobby of the administration building.

VR-2 has Tenth Anniversary (Carrier Apr. 4, 1952)

Air Transport Squadron Two, the senior Naval transport squadron in the Pacific, was commissioned in April 1942 at Alameda, California under the command of Commander Samuel LaHache, USN. VR-2 began her trans-Pacific operations on May 15, 1942 with a newly received Sikorsky patrol airplane. The squadron was home to the prototype JRM “Mars,” and received four more Mars after WW II. Squadron personnel undertook the task of maintaining the four airplanes, in addition to training future pilots, navigators, flight crewmen and mechanics.

During her record month of August 1945, VR-2 airplanes flew a total of 1,813,892 plane miles.

Waves Observe Tenth Anniversary (Carrier )

On July 30, 1952, Waves celebrated a decade of service in the Navy. More than 9000 officers and enlisted personnel participated in ceremonies at various Naval establishments. WAVES, Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, first entered the Navy July 20, 1942 when Congress authorized the commissioning and enlistment of women in the U.S. Naval Reserve. With passage of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act in 1948, women became a part of the Navy on a permanent basis. At this time, 36 of the Navy’s 62 enlisted ratings were open to WAVES in the U.S. including Hawaii, Guam and Alaska. Their duty was limited only by restrictions on serving in aircraft on combat missions, on ships other than hospital ships and transports and in billets classified as “heavy duty.”

CHINESE VIP’s VISIT ALAMEDA (Carrier, Vol 13, no. 14; picture on page 1)

VADM Ma Chi-chuang, CNO, China and Major General Chou Yu-huan, Commandant of the Chinese Marine Corps, arrived for a visit at NAS Alameda on February 2, 1953. The two officers came as guest of the Secretary of the Navy for the first of a series of visits to naval installations in this country.

NAS ALAMEDA ON RADIO (Carrier, Vol 14, no. 45)

NAS Alameda’s own radio station, KNAS came on air in October 1953. The 55-watt station, operating on 640 kilocycles, featured uninterrupted request disc jockey programming, interspersed with newscasts. The signal was restricted to receivers located on the station.

THE REST OF THE 1950s

Full speed ahead

The Korean War was fought with mixed technology - much of it left over from WW II, along with new innovations that had not been completely integrated into the arsenal. Now was the time to develop and adapt to these latest weapons systems. It was a time of the “Cold War,” of nuclear powered submarines, guided missile cruisers, and “rocket missiles.” Faster and more capable airplanes were constantly being produced, and speed and altitude records were under continuous assault. Planes like the A-3 and A-4, F-4 and F-8 were coming on line. For Naval Aviation, a large part of the task was to incorporate these high performance, super-sonic jets into the carrier fleet, and build ships that could handle them.

The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke, spoke in front of the House Armed Services Committee in early 1956. He had this to say, regarding the need for modernization of the carrier fleet:

“First, worldwide “cold war” commitments...dictate that certain forces be continuously deployed...to act as deterrents against aggression...and be ready to conduct offensive operations against the aggressor. The backbone of these forces is the attack carriers and their embarked air groups.

Failure to pursue vigorously aircraft developments...would quickly place us in a dangerously inferior position. Many of these developments... tend to make our aircraft larger, heavier, faster and more complicated to operate. ... Even as of this date our unconverted World War II Essex Class carriers...are incapable of operating many of our latest model aircraft.”

Flying machines had simply outpaced floating ones. So, the shipbuilders set out to catch up. Older ships were modernized, and a whole new class of “super carriers” was designed, to handle the demands of jet aircraft - the new FORRESTAL class.

The primary modification to older ships was the addition of an angled flight deck. The USS MIDWAY (CVA-41) had been fitted with a “simulated” angle deck in 1952, to test this concept. An angled deck provided a free and clear landing area for fast moving jets, and allowed a ship to launch and recover aircraft at the same time. Other modifications included steam catapults, and improved arresting gear. Plans were made for modernizing many of the older W.W. II era ships. But their capability was still limited, and a new generation of ships was needed to meet current demands.

The USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59) was commissioned on October 1, 1955. She would be followed by three more of her class, SARATOGA, RANGER, and INDEPENDENCE. These were truly the first of their kind. They were over 1,000 feet long, weighed 76,000 tons, had four acres of flight deck, and this class of ships “...has a capability of operating all present and planned high performance aircraft.” These were the ships for the future, designed exclusively for the jet age.

Alameda got its first FORRESTAL class carrier when the USS RANGER (CVA-61) berthed here on August 20, 1958. The Carrier newspaper reported that, “Alameda gained the largest ship afloat Wednesday, when the Ranger ... berthed at Pier 3.” The mayors of Alameda, Oakland and San Francisco were all on hand to present the Captain the keys to their cities. A new era had arrived.

THE MAINTAINERS KEEP THE PACE...

The rapid pace of technological advancement in this post-Korea period required the aviation maintenance establishment to come up with innovations of their own. Weapons systems were getting increasingly costly and sophisticated. In 1947, less than one percent of Naval aircraft were jet powered. By 1952, this figure was up to 19 percent. And by the end of 1957, fully 55 percent of the Navy’s planes were powered by either turboprop or turbojet engines. The Navy had nearly 10,000 operating aircraft, making it the third largest military air power in the world behind the U.S. Air Force and the Soviet Union’s air forces. These engines and aircraft were vastly more capable and complex than their forerunners - and much more demanding to maintain.

One change, which came about in 1954, was a concept called “Base Loading.” Up until this time, Naval Air Stations had been home to entire carrier air groups, and all the different types of aircraft in an air group were based there. This meant that an air station was responsible for upkeep and maintenance on a wide variety of equipment. But in 1954, bases were designated to be home to specific types of aircraft only. Alameda was initially assigned as the primary Pacific fleet home to the light attack community, Miramar home to the fighters, and North Island home to antisubmarine and patrol planes. This allowed each air station to concentrate on a narrower range of aircraft types, which improved readiness.

At O&R, new programs were being developed and implemented throughout this period. Among these were: Examination and Evaluation; Engineered Performance Standards; Mechanized Production Control System; and the Cost Control Program. The “Examination and Evaluation” program, begun here at O&R Alameda, was a method of reviewing the amount of disassembly and rework required to return an aircraft to full combat efficiency, to avoid stripping it down needlessly. This was a forerunner of the rework approach the entire Navy would soon adopt.

Other programs adopted included a Customer Service Office, which provided a “front door” for fleet activities, “...to help eliminate the large number of aircraft out of commission for parts...” and a Quality Control Program. In October of 1956, BuAer published the “Management Control System Manual” for O&R departments. This manual was designed to “...integrate the use of all business techniques for controlling ...performance and cost of work, and embrace all Management Improvement Programs.” Later that year, the Bureau established a “Standard Organization for Overhaul and Repair Departments.” Naval aviation maintenance was getting more formal, more organized, and more professional.

By the end of 1958, Overhaul and Repair had undergone significant physical changes, too. A new Electric and Electronics Building was built, as were an Engine Accessories Shop, Turbo Jet Test Cell, and Air Turbine Overhaul and Compressor buildings. O&R occupied 43 buildings on 150 acres, with more than two million square feet of floor space.

More big changes would occur in 1959. For one thing, the Bureau of Aeronautics and the Bureau of Ordnance were done away with, replaced by the Bureau of Naval Weapons, BUWEPS. Also by this time, the Navy had determined that complete overhaul of every aircraft at the end of its service tour was no longer cost effective or practical, and that responsibilities and levels of maintenance at each activity had to be better defined. So, the “three-level maintenance program” was adopted navy wide, and O&R departments began doing “Progressive Aircraft Rework,” or “PAR.” The “PAR” concept was the forerunner of the current “SDLM” program. The basic idea was to induct an aircraft for rework to be done in intervals, rather than all at once. Maintenance performed was based more on statistical analysis and engineering investigations of the need for the work. Prior to this, everything on the aircraft was reworked, whether it needed it or not. The goals of PAR were to improve readiness and material condition of aircraft, while lowering “down time” and costs.

Other changes were made in the way Naval aviation maintenance was organized. In the earlier days of carrier aviation, Carrier Aircraft Maintenance Units (CASUs) had been established to support the air wing. These were replaced, in 1947, by Fleet Aircraft Service Squadrons, or “FASRONs.” In 1959, FASRONs went the way of CASUs, replaced by Aircraft Maintenance Departments, or “AMDs.” (This was the beginning of the maintenance structure we have today - AMDs would become “AIMDS”). The AMDs took over the job of the FASRONs, plus some of the tasks previously done by squadrons and O&R departments. The operating squadron (the FIRST LEVEL) would now perform routine removal, installation, and field repairs. The Aircraft Maintenance Department (the SECOND, or INTERMEDIATE LEVEL) would do limited engine repair and overhaul of designated components. (The AMD at NAS Alameda was established on July 1, 1959). The Overhaul and Repair Department (the THIRD LEVEL) would provide industrial, “depot” level maintenance service. O&R could now concentrate on doing “Progressive Aircraft Rework.”

The events of the 1950s set the stage for developing new equipment, programs and procedures, many of which are still with us today. NAS Alameda had again played a key role in world events, and O&R had pioneered developments, which paved the way for the modern facility that was to become NADEP.

Other significant events of late 1950s

* In February, 1956, NAS Air Operations began using the first known closed circuit TV system to provide “...positive control of aircraft traffic.” It consisted of three 16-mm cameras relaying live shots of the runway to the control tower, half a mile away. The system was manufactured in San Diego, at a cost of $47,780. Its introduction brought much press and media coverage.

* The end of the “Mars” seaplane era ended on August 22, 1956, with the last operational Navy flight of the “Marianas Mars.” These planes had been in service with VR-2 for more than ten years, and set numerous flight records. Among these were the seaplane non-stop distance record of 4,728 miles between Honolulu and Chicago in 1948, and ferrying 68,327 pounds of cargo in a single flight. The Mars planes flew total mileage equal to 23 round trips to the moon. The “names” of the four planes were Hawaii, Philippines, Marianas, and Caroline Mars. The turboprop “R3Y Tradewind” replaced them.

* As of the end of 1958, NAS Alameda occupied 2,679 acres, of which 60% was above water and 40% below. There were an average of 10,000 takeoffs and landings per month on the landing fields and seadrome. There were 96 officers, 1359 enlisted, and 7452 civilians attached to the air station. (Does not include fleet personnel).

* In January, 1959, the U.S. Navy Disease Vector Control Center was established onboard, “...to provide technical and specialized service in the field of vector prevention and control.”

* The rework of Sparrow III guided missiles was assigned to O&R Alameda in September 1959.

early 1960s

The 1960s began much as the 50s had ended. The Korean conflict was over, and the world seemed to be at peace. But there were forces brewing in the background - the “Cold War,” the space race, the civil rights movement and American involvement in Vietnam - which would make this one of the most fascinating and turbulent decades in American and U.S. Naval history. Yet there was hardly a hint of the events to come as the decade dawned, and the station and her tenants went about business as usual.

NAS TURNS 20

NAS Alameda started the 1960s out with a bang, as more than 40,000 people turned out to celebrate the station’s 20th birthday. A commemorative plaque was unveiled, which was inscribed with the names of the station’s plank owners. (It is still on display today, outside of the Air Terminal building). It was sometimes hard to believe what the air station had gone through, and grown to, in such a short time. It was now home to Commander, Fleet Air Alameda; four aircraft carriers - USS HANCOCK, MIDWAY, CORAL SEA, & RANGER- and one support ship; two carrier air groups (CVG-2 & CVG-9) and ten associated squadrons; two patrol squadrons; the Pacific Fleet Air Intelligence Training Center, and several other activities. Permanent military and civilian personnel assigned to NAS (excluding ships and squadrons) numbered just under 8,000.

There would be many more gains, and losses, in the coming years. In August of 1960, VP-47, flying P-5M Marlins, was transferred to NAS Whidbey Island. This marked the end of an era at Alameda. The station now found itself without a permanently based seaplane squadron for the first time since 1944, when the Mars prototype arrived. Seaplanes would be phased out of the Navy completely by 1968, to be replaced by the P-3 Orion. Another page of Naval history was being turned.

In July of 1961, NAS Lemoore opened near Fresno, Ca. and Alameda soon lost most of its carrier based jet squadrons to Lemoore and to NAS Miramar. The Carrier reported, “The opening will emphasize the Navy’s effort to remove from the high-population center of the Bay Area the jet engine noise and air traffic congestion contributed by its high powered jets.”

Alameda made a significant gain in 1961, however, when the Oakland Naval Air Station “crossed over the bridge” in a caravan of 20 trucks and with a police escort, and became the Naval Air Reserve Training Unit (NARTU) Alameda. NAS Oakland, near the Oakland Airport, was officially decommissioned on June 30, 1961. NAS Alameda, with the second largest Naval Air Reserve Training Unit (NARTU), became the largest in the nation. By 1966 there would be some 2,700 Naval Reservists drilling here once a month.

Other significant additions to the Alameda family included the carriers USS ENTERPRISE and USS ORISKANY. The ENTERPRISE, the world’s largest warship at the time and the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, arrived in 1966. She created quite a stir - The Carrier headlined declared “THOUSANDS GREET ENTERPRISE’S ARRIVAL HERE.” With the addition of ORISKANY the following year, there would be six carriers home ported here during the late 1960s. Given the increasing tempo of operations in Southeast Asia, however, they would not see much of each other, or of their homeport.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN EMPLOYMENT ORDERED

With the signing of Executive Order 10925, in 1961, President Kennedy said:

“I have dedicated my Administration to the cause of equal opportunity in employment by the government. ...I have no doubt that the vigorous enforcement of this order will mean the end of such discrimination.”

The Secretary of Defense soon followed with:

“The Department of Defense, as the largest employer of civilians, must conform fully with the letter and spirit of the non-discrimination policy. I am counting on all of you - officials, supervisors, and employees - to give full support to the President’s program.”

Capt. McCabe appointed the first Commanding Officer’s Advisory Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity at the Naval Air Station on January 28, 1964. The committee was “...established as an advisory body to investigate informal complaints of discrimination for the Commanding Officer, to help establish communications between employees and their supervisors, and to assist the Commanding Officer in developing sound equal employment policies...” Hiring and promotion policies were reviewed in all departments to ensure open access and equal treatment. In 1965 NAS also started a Summer Youth Opportunity Program, employing 137 local youths. This program sought out disadvantaged young people throughout the East Bay Area, and was commended two years later by Vice President Hubert Humphrey on a visit to the station.

While much progress was made in the area of equal opportunity, it remained a constant theme and an area of concern at all levels of government throughout the decade, and for many years to come. With all its ensuing successes or failures, however, equal opportunity in government employment was no longer being left to chance.

O & R - OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW...

In the NAS command history for October 1960 - March 1961, the entry for the Overhaul and Repair Department states simply:

“The last Douglas AD Skyraider carrier-based attack bombers completed overhaul. The first prototype of the AD started in 1949. Approximately 1,300 AD’s of 28 different configurations have been completed by the department.

The first of 30 Sparrow III missiles was produced in October.”

These few words speak volumes about what was happening at O&R, and in naval aviation in general. The AD was a single (reciprocating) engine, propeller driven plane which would still see service well into the 60s, but eventually be replaced by the A-6 and A-7. The Sparrow is an air-to-air missile, a rocket weapon only dreamed of by science fiction writers just a few years before. The rework program for the Sparrow would be officially assigned here in June 1961. On the front of an O&R welcome pamphlet from that time is a Sparrow III in flight, and the first paragraph reads “The future of the Overhaul and Repair Department has been firmly allied with the destiny of its new missile program -- a program which received a big boost when the Sparrow III missile installation was transferred from the Raytheon Corporation at Point Hueneme to the control of O&R...”

The Sidewinder air-to-air missile rework program would follow in July 1961, and O&R would be reworking Bullpup air-to-ground missiles by mid-1962. And in January of 1963, O&R would begin using a Sperry Reflectoscope, an “ultrasonic” device for detecting sub-surface corrosion. Technicians could now “see” corrosion under the skin of an aircraft. The space age had arrived.

Also in 1963, O&R developed an automated material handling and storage system that saved almost 9,000 square feet of material storage floor space. Using an automated hydraulic lift on tracks, a single operator could stack or retrieve any pallet of parts anywhere in vertical storage racks, which went from floor to ceiling. Annual savings from this system alone were estimated at $33,000. For this and other innovations, O&R was named “Organization of the Year” by the Bay Area chapter of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers. The award, for “...making the most significant use of industrial engineering to increase its operating efficiency...” was presented in March 1964.

Overhaul and Repair would receive more new aircraft for rework over the next few years, including the P-3 Orion, the A-7 Corsair, and several new engine programs. But the command history for 1965 summed up what was on everyone’s mind:

“What with the Vietnam crisis, for the past six months the Overhaul and Repair Department shops have been loaded with work, with many shops operating on a ten hour schedule. A crash program was inaugurated on July 2 to provide 226 R-3350 cylinders to the Air Force for use in Southeast Asia.”

For the next ten years, the men, women, ships, squadrons, and support activities of NAS Alameda would be as tightly bound as anyone to this “Vietnam crisis.”

ALAMEDA’S INVOLVEMENT IN VIETNAM

On February 7, 1965, Viet Cong troops attacked American and South Vietnamese billeting areas in South Vietnam. In retaliation, planes from the carriers USS RANGER, USS HANCOCK, and USS CORAL SEA launched on strikes against North Vietnamese positions in Dong Hoi. All three carriers had NAS Alameda as their homeport. Once again, the station was at war.

Prior to this, in May of 1962, President Kennedy had sent a 5,000-man force to Thailand as the “U.S. Military Assistance Command, Thailand.” They were there because of recent Communist attacks in neighboring Laos. In August 1964, Navy ships USS MADDOX, USS TURNER JOY, USS TICONDEROGA and USS CONSTELLATION were involved in operations in the Gulf of Tonkin, the infamous “Gulf of Tonkin incident.” (NOTE - I DO NOT HAVE DETAILS ON THIS, ONLY THAT IT OCCURRED...) But the air strikes of 1965 were what got Alameda’s attention. More attention would be paid to Vietnam in the coming months.

In The Carrier, an article in April 1965 said “Vietnam Volunteers Sought by BUPERS.” But by August of 1965, The Carrier was announcing increases in the numbers of draftees, a four-month extension of Navy enlistments and an increase in the Navy’s role in Vietnam. In early January, 1966, Navy officials announced that carrier based pilots of the U.S. Seventh Fleet had “...flown more than 37,000 strike missions against Communist military targets in North and South Vietnam.” All of Alameda’s carriers and air wings were right in the thick of things.

In his “C.O.’s Column,” on the front page of The Carrier, February 10, 1966, Captain D.A. Campbell had this to say about Alameda’s importance to the effort in Vietnam:

An Urgent Mission

The accomplishments of the Seventh Fleet during the greater part of last year were reviewed in a recent news story from Washington, a review which should serve to remind all of us of the importance of the mission of Naval Air Station, Alameda.

The release said that 37,000 strike missions had been flown against Communist targets in North and South Vietnam...

Of the ten attack carriers named in the news story, five are home ported at Alameda: Midway, Ranger, Coral Sea, Hancock and Enterprise.

Among the aircraft listed for participation in these combat and support missions were the A3, A4, and A1, all repaired and Overhauled at our O&R facility. In the case of the A1E, used by the Air Force for flying over the jungles of Vietnam, all the R3350 engines for that plane are repaired and overhauled exclusively at O&R.

...Our continuing support of the effort in Vietnam is an all-important factor in the success of the Seventh Fleet’s mission. We cannot pass the responsibility on to another facility. We here at Alameda are directly connected with those units, which find themselves on the firing line.

There is no room in this sort of endeavor for the worker who feels his work isn’t really important, who feels that a slipshod method of operation is good enough if it gets by his boss.

Ours is an urgent mission. Others who face danger every day depend on us to produce a quality job. It has to be an “all hands” job, and it is.

America’s (and Alameda’s) involvement in Vietnam would continue halfway into the next decade. Ships, squadrons, men and material would come and go constantly from the NAS piers. The war effort would become unpopular with many here at home, sparking anti-war protests and demonstrations throughout the Bay Area. It was a difficult time to be a member of the Navy, or a Defense Department employee. But through it all, Alameda’s people continued to adapt to change, and to do their duty to the best of their ability.

SOME “HIGH VISIBILITY” EVENTS @ NAS

RAIDERS PRACTICE HERE: In September 1960, NAS became the site of an entirely different type of “secret mission,” as the new Oakland Raiders football team adopted the base as their practice headquarters. Coached by former Naval Academy head coach Eddie Erdalatz, the Oakland team relocated here from Santa Cruz. Playing in the new American Football league, The Carrier said about the team “The Raiders, last team to be organized in the new league, were given little chance to field a team this year. Collecting many leftovers and digging out unrecognized talent, coach Erdalatz has knitted by far the most “hustling” team in the league, as evidenced by NAS’ers watching their practice sessions. Nobody walks, the players are always on the run.”

KENNEDY VISITS: On March 23, 1962 Air Force One delivered President John F. Kennedy, to NAS Alameda. Over 25,000 were present to see the President step down from Air Force one and be greeted by a welcoming party representing senior military commanders in the Bay area, the Governor, the Mayor of Alameda and other State of California officials. Mr. Kennedy was on his way to the University of California Berkeley, to deliver a Charter Day address to a crowd of nearly 100,000. Thousands also lined the route from Alameda to Berkeley, hoping to catch a glimpse of their leader and Commander in Chief. He was the first President to visit NAS Alameda. Many would remember his visit fondly, after his untimely death in 1963.

NIMITZ FIELD DEDICATED: In January 1967, NAS named the airfield at Alameda “Nimitz Field,” in honor of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Born in Texas in 1885, Nimitz died in February of 1966, just shy of his 81st birthday. He was the “...man who mustered the two-million-man, 5,000-ship force that won America’s Pacific sea war.” His connection to the Bay Area went back to 1933, when he helped inaugurate an annual pistol competition between civilian and military teams, as a way of bettering community relations. ADM. Nimitz would later have a ship named in his honor, the USS NIMITZ (CVN-68), the first of its class.

DOOLITTLE REUNION: In April of 1967, the “Doolittle Raiders” held their 25th anniversary reunion in Alameda and Oakland. Of the 80 men involved in the original air raid on Japan in 1942, 55 were still alive in 1967. They had met every year since 1947, except 1951 and 1966, to celebrate the raid and remember fallen comrades. Their Silver Anniversary featured a half-day cruise on the USS ORISKANY, an air show by the Navy Blue Angels, a fly over by a Mitchell B-25, and a banquet featuring actor Jimmy Stewart as the M.C. Jimmy Doolittle himself gave the toast, “To those who gave their all in the success of our mission in 1942 and to those who have since joined them.” The remaining Raiders answered, “To those who have gone.”

HOLLYWOOD COMES TO NAS: In July of 1967, Hollywood came to NAS, as actors Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, and Van Johnson filmed “Yours, Mine And Ours” onboard. (The original title of the movie, during filming, was “His, Hers, and Theirs.”). Fonda plays a Navy CWO widower with ten children, and Lucy plays a Navy widow with eight children. They meet, marry, and have two more children of their own. (It is based on the true story of the Beardsley family...). Scenes were shot in the commissary, the XO’s house, and onboard “Big E,” USS ENTERPRISE. In an interview in The Carrier, Henry Fonda recounted his own Navy experience as a quartermaster onboard USS SATTERLEE, and as an officer onboard USS CURTIS, a seaplane tender. He seemed comfortable in a uniform. When the commissary scene was over “...and Fonda walked out of the big front door, a passing airman saluted him. CWO Beardsley returned the salute, with a twinkle in his eye.”

NARF COMMISSIONED

On 1 April 1967, the Overhaul and Repair Department of the Naval Air Station ceased to exist. In its place, a new command was commissioned - the Naval Air Rework Facility, or “NARF.” NARF Alameda’s first Commanding Officer was Capt. Rupert S. Miller. He was a Naval Academy graduate, a World War II veteran, a Naval Aviator, and a former test pilot. The mission of the new command was:

“To obtain and operate facilities for and perform a complete range of depot level rework operations on designated weapons systems, accessories, and equipments; manufacture parts and assemblies as required; provide engineering services in the development of changes of hardware design; furnish technical services on aircraft maintenance and logistic problems; and perform, upon special request or assignment, other levels of aircraft maintenance.”

In other words, continue performing the tasks and functions of the old O&R department, as a “tenant activity” onboard the NAS. Why, then, was NARF created?

Commissioning of the six Navy and one Marine Corps NARFs came about because of reorganizations within the Navy Department. Up until 1966, the O&Rs reported to the Commanding Officers of their respective Naval Air Stations, who reported through their chain of command to the Chief of the Bureau of Naval Weapons, or BUWEPS. In 1966 the “Bureau” structure was eliminated, replaced by “Systems Commands.” This created an organizational problem, because the O&R function belonged under the wing of the new Naval Air Systems Command, NAVAIRSYSCOM, and the air stations’ functions belonged under the Chief of Naval Operations, OPNAV. In order to have the Overhaul and Repair departments reporting directly to NAVAIRSYSCOM, the Naval Air Rework Facility concept was created, and they were commissioned as separate commands.

The 1970s

The 1970s were a time of defense reductions and budget cuts. The United States was involved in an unpopular war abroad, and support for the military was very low. ADM. Thomas H. Moorer, upon being relieved as CNO by ADM. Elmo Zumwalt in July 1970, spoke of “anti-militarism” and “new attitudes” in the United States, and said “So in dealing with these new attitudes, I believe that wisdom, cool heads and thick skins will serve us more often than not as we undertake what has started out as a rough voyage into the middle ‘70s.” ADM Zumwalt, at 49 the youngest CNO ever, said, “Our national priorities are changing...” but that “...if the challenges are great, the opportunity has never been greater.” He was determined to meet the challenges the Navy faced head-on, and one of his top priorities was improving the lives (and retention) of Navy personnel through various people programs. It would prove to be a challenging decade, indeed.

VIETNAM WINDS DOWN

The February 5, 1973 issue of the NAS Alameda Carrier carried the headline:

“Peace at last --- military personnel commended”

A cease-fire was about to be signed, halting hostilities in Vietnam. The front page also carried messages to the fleet from the Chief of Naval Operations, the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and the Commander, Naval Air Force Pacific Fleet. All three commanders thanked the fighting forces for their dedication and sacrifice. The CNO noted that “Our Commander in Chief has announced a cease fire in the longest war in the history of our nation....” VADM. Thomas J. Walker, COMNAVAIRPAC, said “...As the conflict diminishes we turn our attention to maintaining a peacetime Navy. We can expect cuts in manpower, aircraft, ships and funds, but we must expect no corresponding decrease in our responsibilities...” These words would ring true throughout the decade.

NARF TURNS TEN

In April 1977, NARF had its tenth birthday. A review of accomplishments since commissioning showed that in its first five years alone, NARF had overhauled 1,607 aircraft; 9,356 engines; 25,573 missiles; and 511,813 other items for a total value of $606,500,000. Command “Beneficial Suggestions” in five years were estimated to have saved a total of $7.5 million to NARF alone, and cash awards paid out totaled $261,897 to 2,458 awardees. In 1970, NARF Alameda was the first NAVAIRSYSCOM facility to receive the Navy Department Craftsmanship Award, the Navy’s highest “Zero Defects Program” honor. In August of 1971, NARF was presented the highest safety award the Navy could give, the Secretary of the Navy Activity Award for Achievement in Safety, 1970. Narf was clearly achieving mission success.

By 1977, many changes had taken place in what NARF did. The P-2 Neptune, A-4 Skyhawk, and A-7 Corsair programs were gone. In their place had come the A-6 Intruder and S-3 Viking programs. The S-3 program, along with the P-3, made NARF Alameda an acknowledged center of expertise for support of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platforms. The last reciprocating engine program, the R-3350, was also gone by now. The Standard Depot Level Maintenance concept, SDLM, had taken the place of PAR. Computers were becoming more and more prevalent, being used to test electronics components, jet engines, and to machine parts, among other tasks.

Employment, however, had dipped from 8,055 military and civilians in 1968 to 4,806 in 1977. (By 1979, there would be less than 4,400) In an NAS 50-year Anniversary special edition of the Alameda Times-Star, a NARF employee who was hired in 1969 to work 10 hours a day, seven days a week, simply said, “That went on for about eight months. Then everything came to a screeching halt.” In 1977, direct NARF hours charged in support of product and services stood at 4.5 million, down from 8.9 million in 1967 when operations in support of the Vietnam War effort were at their peak. The NARF newsletter published on the tenth anniversary said that,

“This reduction in direct work does not mean our role is any less vital but merely reflects the transition from Fleet support in a war-time environment to Fleet support in peace. ...Probably the greatest accomplishment of this facility has been its ability to respond to changing needs in a changing environment.”

NAS CONTINUES TO CHANGE

The Naval Air Station continued to evolve and change throughout the 1970s. In line with ADM Zumwalt’s priorities, the station became more concerned with “...goals that provide better service to the people who service the fleet.” Emphasis was placed on improved living and working conditions, and better recreation facilities. NAS opened a Counseling and Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) center in 1971, to assist members with drug and drug related problems. More emphasis was also placed on equal opportunity and race relations, in accordance with “Z-Gram” 66, which established the Navy’s basic Equal opportunity policy.

The Navy became more environmentally responsible in the 1970s, and NAS Alameda was a leader in environmental protection. An industrial waste treatment facility was begun in 1972, to eliminate the discharge of the station’s wastes into Bay waters. Oil spill cleanup capabilities were improved, and studies were undertaken to reduce jet engine pollution from test cells by using fuel additives. In 1975, NAS Alameda won the Secretary of the Navy Environmental Protection award for large naval shore facilities

The 1970s was a decade of many “firsts” for Navy women. In 1972, the Navy eliminated the practice of having female officers assigned as “Assistant for Women” or as “Women’s Representative.” This practice had created a separate communication and advisory channel for women in the Navy. Henceforth, women sailors would use the established chain of command for all matters, in an effort to ensure women were fully integrated into the service and were treated equally. In 1974, Alameda had several “firsts for women” take place here - the station named its first female as a “Sailor of the Quarter,” Airman Apprentice Kathy A. Turner of Air Operations. The Navy’s first woman to become a rated Aviation Boatswain Mate (Handling), ABH3 Pat Hawes, was also from NAS Air Operations. And Lt. Barbara Rainey, the first woman to qualify as a Naval Aviator, had as her first assignment the Alameda squadron VR-30, where she flew T-39 jets. She said her goal was to eventually be able to land on an aircraft carrier.

By the end of the decade, NAS had fewer sailors, and the piers had fewer aircraft carriers. The only remaining carriers were USS CORAL SEA and USS ENTERPRISE. Two ships had been decommissioned - ORISKANY, and HANCOCK. USS MIDWAY was forward deployed to Japan, and RANGER was home ported in San Diego. The days of watching six different flattops and their battle groups coming and going through the Golden Gate Bridge were gone forever.

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The 1980s

The early 1980s ushered in a time of rejuvenation and renewed pride in the Navy and the U.S. military in general. President Ronald Reagan pushed hard for a modernized, 600-ship fleet, to counter the growing Soviet threat around the world. Alameda received several new ships, and both NARF and NAS saw construction of new facilities, new equipment, and improvements in living and working conditions. NARF would change names again, to become the activity we know today as the Naval Aviation Depot, NADEP. As the decade wound down, however, and the military priorities of the “Cold War” disappeared, NARF/NADEP would have to learn how to compete as it fought for its survival in another era of tightened defense spending.

NARF FACES CHALLENGES, SETS GOALS

NARF began the decade facing numerous challenges. The diverse workload, including four aircraft rework programs (P-3, A-6, A-3, and S-3), overhaul and repair work on seven different engines, two missile programs, and more than 100,000 components repaired annually required a skilled, experienced work force. Chronic reductions-in-force (RIFs) had caused the loss of experienced personnel, as had large-scale retirements of World War II era workers through the late 1970s. Reduced funding in recent years had caused serious parts shortages, affecting product delivery performance. So NARF established a goals program, to “...make substantive improvements to productivity so we can better serve the fleet.” The thrust was to allow departments to determine goals for themselves, rather than “dictating” goals from above.

NARF began to involve workers in the process of goal setting and problem solving by implementing “Quality Circles.” The Quality Circles were designed to bring workers together to work on a common goal, to increase communication, promote teamwork, and enhance rewards to employees through visible change. NARF also set out to improve training, improve material support with better computer management information systems, and improve parts processing through an Automated Storage, Kitting and Retrieval System, or “ASKARS.” Another innovation was an aggressive program to reduce sick leave, and to reward employees who used a minimum amount of sick leave hours.

NARF GETS A “WAKE UP CALL...”

Despite making progress in productivity goals, NARF Alameda ranked sixth of six Naval Air Rework Facilities in 1985, on management effectiveness measures used by the parent command, the Naval Aviation Logistics Command. In the spring of 1985, NARF Alameda appeared on a list of 22 bases suggested for possible closure by the Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger. This was a jolt to all NARF employees, leaders and managers, and they responded to the challenge in remarkable fashion.

The Commanding Officer, Captain R.W. Lloyd, initiated quarterly “walk-around” strategy meetings with employees. Goals were set and achieved, sick leave decreased, productivity improved, morale went up and NARF Alameda moved into second place among the six NARFs. The command was also awarded a “Certificate for Significant Achievements” in Equal Employment Opportunity from COMNAVAIRSYSCOM. Finally, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Everett Pyatt, issued a statement saying, “...after careful consideration, the Department of Defense had decided not to recommend any base closures...”

Throughout 1986, it became increasingly apparent that NARF Alameda would have to compete not only with other NARFs, but also with private industry for the aircraft rework market. The Navy and the NARFs began to turn to the quality and process improvement principles of W. Edwards Deming, the quality expert who had done so much to help Japan’s economy become competitive after the devastation of W.W.II. NARF was going to have to reduce material consumption, cut overtime, meet and beat workload standards, and cut overhead.

NARF GETS A NAME CHANGE AND A “FACE LIFT”

On April 1, 1987, NARF turned 20 years old. One week later, April 8, 1987, the Naval Air Rework Facility became the Naval Aviation Depot, Alameda, or NADEP. This change of names was made to more accurately reflect the range of activities performed at the depot level. And it came with a renewed commitment to “... incorporate new ways of thinking, utilize new programs.... to work smarter, and hone skills to provide quality and quantity with economy.” NADEP’s mission statement in 1987 was:

Mission Statement

Naval Aviation Depot, Alameda is a National resource. We provide responsive maintenance, engineering, and logistics services in support of our national defense. Our mission is to support our customers by continually improving our products and services, while providing the highest quality at minimum cost.

NADEP also established values and guiding principles for the organization, which strongly emphasized people as the most important resource, and a commitment to quality and customer satisfaction as the keys to success. These basic principles would guide NADEP through the remainder of the command’s existence.

Major construction projects were underway during this time, as well. A 15,000 square-foot Materials Engineering Laboratory had been finished and dedicated the year before. Other projects in work in 1987 were a corrosion control facility; an aircraft stripping facility capable of stripping P-3 size planes; and a gun repair and test facility; and a plating facility was authorized for FY-88. In addition, bids were opened for a paint and finishing facility and an aircraft acoustical enclosure building. Total investment in all of these improvements was over $65 million. By the end of the 1980s, NADEP would occupy 92 buildings, covering an area of 138 acres and 2.3 million square feet of floor space.

NADEP GETS RESULTS

In 1988, NADEP Alameda and NADEP Jacksonville successfully competed with private industry for a $50 million P-3C Update III contract. Alameda’s share was $14 million worth of work. The quality and productivity improvements begun this decade were producing results. Process Action Teams (PATs) and Quality Management Boards (QMBs) were being established on special projects, and all employees were receiving awareness training. In 1989, NADEP Alameda was featured in a PBS television documentary film, called “Excellence in the Public Sector.” The documentary was done by Tom Peters, productivity expert and author of the book “In Search of Excellence.” Naval Aviation Depot Alameda appeared to be achieving the kinds of results necessary to ensure its future success and survival.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AT N.A.S.

The 1980s saw the departure of the USS CORAL SEA (CV-43) from the NAS piers, and the addition of the NIMITZ- class carrier USS CARL VINSON (CVN-70). Two nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers were also home ported here, USS CALIFORNIA and USS ARKANSAS. Improvements were made to the piers to provide better electrical support to the ships, a $4 million project, allowing them to go “cold iron” while in port and requiring fewer sailors onboard standing watch. Other improvements were made to the station including better recreation facilities, upgrades to the BEQ, and the construction of a McDonald’s Restaurant onboard.

On October 17, 1989, the San Francisco Bay Area was hit with a 7.1 scale earthquake. It caused major damage throughout the area, including shutting down the NAS runways to fixed-wing aircraft. One wing of the air traffic control tower was separated from the rest of the building, and was condemned. All public utilities were lost, including water, gas, electric and sewage services. But the people of NAS rose to the occasion. Three sailors from SIMA and two marines from NAS Security Force were on local highways when the earthquake hit, and rescued people who were trapped in their cars. Within hours, helicopters from HM-15 were flying supplies, equipment and emergency personnel to areas in need. They continued to fly emergency flights for two weeks following the quake. Water was restored to the base within two days, and all utilities were restored base-wide within three weeks. The response of the men and women of NAS Alameda to the earthquake emergency was truly an example of the United States Navy performing at its finest.

The 1990s

In 1990, the Naval Air Station and the Naval Aviation Depot would celebrate 50 years of operations in Alameda, California. To commemorate this anniversary, the Alameda Times-Star newspaper published a special “Progress 1990” section, subtitled “50 YEARS TOGETHER: ALAMEDA AND THE NAVY.” There were glowing articles about the base and its history, with titles like “City’s pride rose from bay,” and “Navy and the city boost each other.” The lead headline of the last section, however, was perhaps the most telling - “NAS grapples with closure threat.” With the Cold War over and the U.S. running enormous budget deficits, there was tremendous pressure to reduce military expenditures and close facilities. There had been rumors of closures for years, but this time the rumors would come true.

NADEP - CONTINUED FOCUS ON QUALITY

In 1990, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney suggested closing all San Francisco area Navy facilities. This greatly increased concern that Alameda would be high on the list of base closures. Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm soon diverted the Navy’s, and the nation’s, attention from military downsizing to the action in the Persian Gulf region. NADEP Alameda provided critical support for numerous engines and components, Army gun systems, and Air Force components during the conflict. The overwhelming victory gave the United States a sense of euphoria and pride in its military not seen since the Second World War. The euphoria was relatively short-lived, however, as the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission went about its business of recommending facilities for closure.

The BRAC list published in 1991 did not include NADEP Alameda. All hands breathed a sigh of relief, and kept working to improve the way they did business. Some even adopted the attitude, after narrowly escaping closure, that “It won’t happen to us. We’ll fight it and we’ll win again.” The command had received the T. Blair Evans Quality Enhancement Award in 1990, and in 1991 won the NAVAIR Aviation Safety Award for the second straight year. Total Quality Management (TQM) teams continued making significant progress, most notably in reduction of hazardous waste production. The future, while uncertain, still seemed to hold promise for the depot. The next round of closure recommendations was scheduled for 1993.

GOING OUT WITH DIGNITY, STYLE AND GRACE

On March 12, 1993, Defense Secretary Les Aspin recommended closing 31 major Navy installations, including nadep Alameda and five other bases in the Bay Area. In April, supporters had the chance to make their case for keeping the facilities when BRAC members held hearings in Oakland. But on September 21, the Senate voted 83-12 to accept the BRAC commission’s recommendations for closure. Two other NADEPs would also be targeted for closure, in Norfolk Virginia, and Pensacola, Florida. The decision was made. Naval Aviation Depot Alameda was given the mission of closing its doors for good.

The Executive Board was in full agreement - if NADEP was ordered to close, the best and most cost-effective approach for everyone concerned was to close as quickly and efficiently as possible. The Board turned the depot’s business plan into the Activity Closure Plan, and drafted a new vision and guiding principles. Four equally important aspects of the Command’s vision for closure are:

• NADEP Alameda will have effectively, efficiently transitioned workload, knowledge and experience to other activities, ensuring that our long history of quality Fleet support will continue to be met.

• NADEP Alameda will have kept faith with its employees, championing innovative human resource management initiatives, which helped them successfully transition to other career opportunities.

• NADEP Alameda will have converted its facilities to meet the community’s needs, while achieving a noteworthy level of environmental cleanup.

• NADEP Alameda’s closure process will have set a standard of excellence for other closing Department of Defense activities to follow.

Standing on the shoulders of the thousands who went before, and whose contributions and sacrifice made this facility what it has become in 56 years of operation, NADEP Alameda will execute its closure mission with dignity, style and grace.

The role of the Reserves

The Naval Reserve has had a long history of supporting the active duty Navy, and training for the day when reservists would be called upon to mobilize for war. Reservists have played significant roles in the life of the air station and NADEP. They have flown airplanes, repaired them, operated ships, and performed all the support functions their active duty counterparts perform. Many drilling reservists throughout the years have also served their country in civilian jobs at base activities, making them “Twice Citizens.”

When Naval Air Station Oakland closed in 1961, the reservists there moved to NAS Alameda and became part of the Naval Air Reserve Training Unit (NARTU) Alameda, making it the largest NARTU in the nation. By 1966 there were some 2,700 Naval Reservists drilling here once a month. As recently as 1990, there were still over 1,500 reservists drilling at NAS, making it the second largest Naval Air Reserve base in the country. By this time, the majority of the operating aircraft squadrons at the base were reserve squadrons, training members in anti-submarine warfare, troop and supply transport, combat attack missions, and searching and destroying underwater mines.

The NADEP has had its own supporting reserve unit, Naval Reserve Aviation Depot Alameda 0187, staffed entirely by aeronautical engineering and maintenance officers. Trained to support the depot in the event of mobilization, this unit has provided significant and often unique support for the depot during peacetime as well.

Through the years, unit officers have provided engineering and “hands on” support for such varied projects as construction of a KA-3B Emergency Procedures Trainer, P-3 Aircraft Service Period Adjustment (ASPA) studies, various aircraft modification studies, and aircraft battle damage repair program planning.

When NADEP was slated for closure, the reserve unit’s focus shifted to helping the depot execute its closure mission. Towards that end, unit officers have assisted in component workload transition planning, facility de-activation and transfer planning, helped transition NADEP employees by providing computer training, and made major contributions to the research and writing of this document. In short, the Reserves have remained ready to serve, and served when called upon!

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