Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
Naval Auxiliary
Air Facilities (Lighter Than Air and Seaplane) and Section Base,
Eureka
(Murray Field,
Eureka Auxiliary Field)
by M.L. Shettle,
Jr.
Naval
Auxiliary Air Facility (Lighter Than Air)
Eureka is located 280 miles north of San
Francisco. The local North Peninsula is ten miles long and one
mile wide between the Pacific Ocean and Humboldt Bay. The community
of Samoa is located on the peninsula and in 1878, a U.S. Life
Saving Station was built nearby. The U.S. Coast Guard took over
the station in 1915. Eugene Ely conducted
the first landing on a warship, the USS Pennsylvania, in San Francisco
Bay on January 18, 1911. In May, Ely and his aircraft arrived
in Humboldt Bay on a steam boat and held
a flying exhibition with a Curtiss pusher aircraft on the peninsula.
Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, a Japanese
submarine torpedoed the tanker Emidio
just south of the Bay. This act abruptly brought the distant war
to the area. In a few weeks, an activated Mississippi National
Guard cavalry unit arrived with caissons and horse drawn equipment.
The Guard set up camp in the buildings of an old lumber mill and
later received motorized equipment. Before the Guard departed,
it had been joined on the peninsula by an increased Coast Guard
complement of 80 men that patrolled the beaches. The Humboldt
Bay area became a strategically important area with the only harbor
and airfield along the mountainous coast of Northern California.
The Army began operating antisubmarine patrols out of Murray Field,
a grass field northeast of Eureka. The Navy built a section base
near the Coast Guard station and a small seaplane facilty at the
Samoa boat basin with a wooden seaplane ramp. Fleet Air Wing 8
Headquarters Squadron 3 operated three Vought OS2U Kingfishers
from here during the winter of 1942-1943. The seaplane facility
never commissioned. The Navy then built a blimp base nearby commissioning
NAAF Eureka on August 6, 1943, as an auxiliary of Moffett Field.
Moffett's ZP-32 then maintained a detachment
of one to two K-ships at the facility except in the dead of winter.
Operations were further complicated by the fact that Humboldt
Bay had some of the foggiest weather in the U.S. Meanwhile, NAAS Arcata, a heavier-than-air station,
was built 10 miles north of Eureka and commissioned in July 1943.
In March 1944, Eureka had a complement of 19 officers and 72 enlisted
men with barracks for 50 officers and 441 men. The base's 429
acres had a 700 x 1400-ft. paved blimp operating mat with two
mooring circles and a 2400 x 200-ft. asphalt runway over the mat.
Kingfisher scouting aircraft continued to operate from the seaplane
base throughout the war and a taxiway was eventually built to
the airfield for use by amphibian aircraft.
The Navy closed the facility on October
15, 1945. Following the war, the airfield became the Eureka Municipal
Airport and remains so to this day. In 1995, the former BOQ had
been converted to a bed and breakfast establishment.
Note: Army records from World War II suggest
that this facility may have also served as an auxiliary field
for Hamilton Field in San Rafael.
Section Base (former
Coast Guard Station), NAAF (Seaplane) and NAAF (LTA), Eureka
, 24 June 1943
NAAF Eureka
by Justin M. Ruhge
Eureka is located 280 miles north of San
Francisco. The local North Peninsula is ten miles long and one
mile wide between the Pacific Ocean and Humboldt Bay. The community
of Samoa is located on the peninsula and in 1878 a U.S. Life
Saving Station was built nearby. The U.S. Coast Guard took over
the station in 1915. Eugene Ely conducted the first landing on
a warship, the USS Pennsylvania, in San Francisco Bay on January
18, 1911. In May, Ely and his aircraft arrived at Humboldt Bay
on a steamboat and held a flying exhibition with a Curtiss pusher
aircraft on the peninsula.
Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, a Japanese
submarine torpedoed the tanker Emidio just south of the Bay.
This act abruptly brought the distant war to the area. In a few
weeks, an activated Mississippi National Guard cavalry unit arrived
with caissons and horse-drawn equipment. The Guard set up camp
in the buildings of an old lumber mill and later received motorized
equipment. Before the Guard departed, it had been joined on the
peninsula by an increased Coast Guard complement of 80 men that
patrolled the beaches. The Humboldt Bay area became a strategically
important area with the only harbor and airfield along the mountainous
coast of Northern California. The Army began operating antisubmarine
patrols out of Murray Field, a grass field northeast of Eureka.
The Navy built a section base near the Coast Guard station and
a small seaplane facility at the Samoa boat basin with a wooden
seaplane ramp. Fleet Air Wing 8 Headquarters Squadron 3 operated
three Vought OS2U Kingfishers from here during the winter of
1942-1943. The seaplane facility was never commissioned.
The Navy then built a blimp base nearby
commissioning NAAF Eureka on August 6, 1943 as an auxiliary of
Moffett Field. Moffett's ZP-32 then maintained a detachment of
one to two
K-ships at the facility, except in the dead of winter. Operations
were further complicated by the fact that Humboldt Bay had some
of the foggiest weather in the U.S.
Meanwhile, NAAS, Arcata heavier-than-air
station, was built 10 miles north of Eureka and commissioned
in July 1943.
In March 1944, NAAF, Eureka had a complement
of 19 officers and 72 enlisted men with barracks for 50 officers
and 441 men. The base's 429 acres had a 700 x 1400-ft. paved
blimp operating mat with two mooring circles and a 2,400 x 200-ft.
asphalt runway over the mat.
Kingfisher scouting aircraft continued
to operate from the seaplane base throughout the war and a taxiway
was eventually built to the airfield for use by amphibian aircraft.
The Navy closed the facility on October
15, 1945. In 1995, the former BOQ had been converted to a bed-and-breakfast
establishment.
References: When Blimps Once
Dotted The North Coast by Glen Nash, 1994, The Humboldt Historian
pgs. 32 to 39; Humboldt County's Participation in WWII by C.
Andrew McGuffin, 1996; Naval Auxiliary Air Facility, Eureka by
M. L. Shettle, Jr., Historic California Posts.
US Army Corps of Engineers
History
A total of 508.24 acres were acquired
for the Lighter Than Air Base (LTA), Section Base, and the Seaplane
Base. 478.24 acres were acquired in fee, after a Declaration
of Taking CA Civil Case #4513 was filed on 18 July 1942. Thirty
acres were acquired by a negotiated lease after Condemnation
Civil Case #4597 was dismissed 1 February 1946. There had been
a withdrawal of land for transfer to the U.S. Coast Guard dated
24 March 1941, but acreage is unknown.
These bases were used as an airship landing
and mooring area, a seaplane base, and a U.S. Coast Guard Station/Naval
Section Base. Two buildings were identified at the LTA Bases.
Building 7 was identified as one of these and as being used as
a garage and for storage. Buildings for the Section Base were
a garage, fire equipment, storage, paint locker, gasoline pump
house with two 10,000 gallon storage tanks, diesel oil storage,
fresh water auxiliary tank, and a magazine area. Seaplane Base
facilities included three gasoline storage tanks; two of which
have 10,000 gallon capacity and one which has 22,000 gallon capacity.
On 22 March 1946, these three facilities
were declared surplus to the Navy's needs. Use of the Coast Guard
Station ended 11 April 1946. The Coast Guard was put under the
command of the Navy on 1 November 1941 for World War II and returned
to the Treasury Department in 1 January 1946. The total facility
was declared surplus to the War Assets Administration (WAA) by
Bureau of Docks letter dated 12 June 1946. The 478.24 acres were
deeded to the City in two actions dated 9 December 1947 and 6
June 1949. The deeds contain recapture rights.
Extracts, US Army Air Forces
Airfield Directory, 1 January 1945
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