In the mid-1930s, Trans-Sierra Airlines applied for a route between Fresno, California and Phoenix, Arizona. The CAA granted the request with the provision that an emergency landing field be built in the Mojave Desert. This resulted in Kern County purchasing land and the CAA/WPA building a paved runway one mile northwest of the small town of Inyokern (1940 population 55). The airport was inaugurated in 1935 with General Hap Arnold in attendance. In September 1942, the airfield was taken over by the Army's Fourth Air Force and assigned to the Muroc Bombing Range Air Base (now Edwards AFB), 50 miles to the south. Although the Army intended to use the airfield for dispersal and glider training, this plan was never augmented; however, Army primary training Stearmans from Lancaster regularly used the airfield for cross country flights.
The airfield at Inyokern was dedicated as Harvey Field on May 10, 1944, in honor of LCdr. Warren Harvey for his contribution to the development of aviation ordnance and fighter tactics. The next month, CASU 53 moved to Holtville as rocket training began at other bases. Meanwhile, the facilities at Harvey Field became inadequate and a larger airfield was needed. In June 1944, work began on a new air station east of Inyokern near the main base.
During the summer of 1944, a series of tragic accidents left the station in a state of shock. On June 20, Lt. Donald Innes was killed over the Salton Sea when a rocket under his wing prematurely exploded. Twenty days later, a similar accident claimed the life of Lt. Douglas Walhall and his crewman, Wilson Keller. On August 21, Lt. John Armitage flew into the ground from 1500 ft. in an SB2C and was killed after the launching of a Tiny Tim. Accident investigators discovered that the shock wave from the rocket's blast caused a jam in the SB2C's flight controls. The carnage continued just eight days later, when a rocket ricocheted off the ground tearing the wing off Lt. Robert Dibbs aircraft, who was killed in the subsequent crash. In spite of these grievous losses, work continued unabated.
Beginning in early 1945, Inyokern supported three Army B-29s of the atomic bomb development unit. On June 1, 1945, the Navy opened the new airfield dedicating it as Armitage Field. Harvey Field remained in use by drone utility and fleet units. At that time station complement numbered 60 officers and 732 men with 73 aircraft of 27 types. During the war, the station flew 12,000 flights and accumu lated 11,000 flight hours. Rocket firings totaled 1300 Tiny Tims, 5,000 5" Holy Moses, plus 6,500 5" and 3.5" rockets. Rockets were adapted to and test fired from the TBF, PBY, PV, SBD, OS2U, FM, F6F, F4U, SB2C, and PBJ, as well as the Army's P 38, P-47, P-51, A-20, and A-26.
Following the war, Inyokern continued in the development and production of missiles. The Navy closed Harvey Field in April 1946, returning it to the County a year later. In May 1948, the Michelson Laboratory reached completion. The most famous product of the laboratory was the heat-seeking Sidewinder, named for the desert horned rattlesnake. In 1967, the complex became the Naval Weapons Center, China Lake. During the Vietnam War, 75% of the air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles in use were developed by the Navy at the Center. In 1979, the joint service National Parachute Test Range moved to China Lake from El Centro, California. Today, the Center encompasses over 1,000-sq.-mi.
After the War, the Quonset huts and other buildings were moved to the new China Lake facility, although a few were sold to the townspeople and a few were demolished. The flight control tower, the Kodiak hanger, fuel pits, ammunition bunkers, and the runways remained. The County regained control of the airport and again named it Kern County Airport #8 but the transfer was not recorded until 1952.
The control tower was removed in 1959. The remaining Navy-built building became the airport terminal.
connection with guided missiles; aircraft weapons delivery systems, aircraft rockets, rocket launchers, underwater ordnance, and aviation fire control and target drone operations.
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