Air base reunion April 30

Elia Powers

When hundreds of former cadets, officers and civilians return to

Costa Mesa on April 30 for the 30th annual Santa Ana Army Air Base

Wing reunion, conversations will likely begin and end with memories

of the 1,336-acre military base.

In the late 1930s, as training facilities increasingly became a

priority for the United States Army Air Corps, Southern California

became a potential site.

U.S. military officials gave approval for the base early in 1941.

But a week after the initial decision, their rhetoric changed and

Orange County politicians were told the proposed site would be too

close to a nearby Naval Reserve base, according to Edrick J. Miller’s

historical text, “The SAAAB Story.”

Local politicians fought hard to reverse the decision, and they

eventually won.

The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 accelerated the need

for construction, Miller wrote. So in 1942, the Santa Ana Air Corps

Replacement Training Center opened. It was later renamed Santa Ana

Army Air Base.

There were approximately 800 buildings, 28 convalescent hospital

wards, 18 school buildings, four chapels and four theaters on the

base, according to Costa Mesa Historical Society data.

“We thought it was a great facility,” said Art Lambert, chairman

of the Santa Ana Army Air Base Wing of the Costa Mesa Historical

Society.

The Air Base was under the jurisdiction of the West Coast Army Air

Corps Training Command Center Headquarters.

The city of Santa Ana leased the site for $6,386 per year for 25

years from a private owner, according to Miller. The base was located

between Newport Boulevard and Harbor Boulevard, with Wilson Street

forming the southern border. Institutions such as Orange Coast

College and the Orange County Fairgrounds currently sit on that plot

of land.

The Santa Ana Army Air Base was a place where military personnel

received their classification and then received pre-flight training

as pilots, navigators or bombardiers before attending aviation

school.

“They took in young boys and tested their skills,” said Lambert,

who became an Army Air Cadet in 1943. “They made sure you were ready

to go into action. Either you fit in as a pilot, navigator or

bombardier, or you didn’t.”

It was the first base in the country to offer pre-flight training

to navigators, pilots and bombardiers, and it was the largest of the

three “classification centers.”

About 147,000 military personnel entered the training facility and

about 123,000 graduated, according to Costa Mesa Historical Society

information.

The base was deactivated in 1946.

If you go:

* WHAT: 30th annual reunion of the Santa Ana Army Air Base Wing

* WHEN: April 30, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

* WHERE: Orange Coast College

* COST: $10 reservations, $15 lunch

* CONTACT: (949) 631-5918 for more information; reservations due

by April 24

* THE GOOD OLD DAYS runs Sundays. Do you know of a person, place

or event that deserves a look back? Let us know. Contact us by fax at

(714) 966-4679; by e-mail at dailypilot@latimes.com; or by mail at

Daily Pilot, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.