Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Naval Outlying Field, Concord
A 1943 photo of an F6F Hellcat
at OLF Concord, by Bill Larkins. "This F6F (BuNo 40198)
was there one day in October 1943 when I was home on leave and
hung out in the weeds with my Graflex. Other planes there that
day were a Cessna JRC-1, North Amnerican SNJ-4, Beech SNB-1,
Beech SNB-2C, Douglas SBD-5 and a Grumman F4F-3."
History
This former military airfield was located
on the southern edge of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Bill
Larkins recalled, "Alameda operated the Outlying Field Concord
for practice takeoffs & landings."
The date of construction of the Concord
airfield is unknown.The earliest depiction of it which has been
located is the above photo from 1943.
A 1944 USN aerial
view looking southwest at OLF Concord (courtesy of Bill Larkins).
By the time of the 1946 Sectional Chart
the Concord Navy Airfield was still depicted, but its depiction
on the chart had been downgraded to that of an auxiliary airfield.
The date of closure of the Concord NWS
airfield is unknown. It was evidently closed at some point between
1946-49, as it was not depicted as an active airfield on aeronautical
charts from 1949, 1955, 1956, 1957, or 1966.
The airfield was depicted on the 1959
USGS topo map, but it was not labeled, which presumably means
it was no longer an active airfield at that point. The Concord
airfield was depicted as having two paved runways (the largest
was 3,300' long), taxiways, and a ramp.
The Concord Naval Weapons Station itself
was placed in a "reduced operation status" in 1999.
The station is presently surrounded by dense residential development.
Jonathan Westerling visited the Concord
NWS airfield in 2003. His report: "The trees at the ends
of the runways at the Concord Naval Weapons Station have grown
to well over 35' high. Even though it has been inactive for a
long time, the field itself is still very much in evidence, and
fresh yellow X's have been painted on the asphalt runways. The
east/west runway is in better condition than the north/south
runway which is mostly overgrown. Near the runway intersection,
a Naval housing complex 'Victory Village' was constructed, though
the buildings are almost completely empty. No other present day
reuse of the airfield is evident, though the property is completely
fenced off. The runways can be easily seen from East Olivera
Rd."
As seen in the February 2004
USGS aerial photo, the majority of the primary (east/west) runway
& parking ramp still existed, but a residential development
had been built over a northern portion of the north/south runway.
Copied from Abandoned &
Little-Known Airfields: California with the permission of Paul
Freeman
Extract,
US Army Air Forces Directory of Airfields (January 1945)
Douglas SBD-5 landing
at OLF Concord (Outlying Field) in 1944 showing the dive brakes.
(Bill Larkins)
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