Historic California Posts, Camps,
Stations and Airfields
March Air Force Base Instrument
Landing System (ILS) Outer Marker
US Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles
District History (1991)
The former March ILS Outer Marker
was located in Riverside County, California approximately 20
miles southeast of Riverside, California. The site originally
consisted of 3.03 acres and was leased from Mr. Floyd C. Bonge,
under Lease No. DA-04-353-ENG-3202, in the early 1950's. In 1956,
Mr. Bonge decided that he would no longer lease the land because
of his increased operatingcosts due to government occupancy of
his land. On 9 November 1956, the government purchased the .45
acres of the land where the essential facilities were located.
The land was purchased by fee acquisition through a Condemnation
Assembly and Declaration of Taking.
The March AFB ILS outer Marker was used as part of the aircraft
landing system at March AFB. The basic facilities at the outer
Marker consisted of a small building with a transmitter on top.
The transmitter sent signals to approaching aircraft to assist
the aircraft in aligning itself with the March AFB runway.
The exact date of excess is unknown, however, on 1 May 1980,
acting by and through the Administrator of General Services,
the .45 acres of March AFB ILS Outer Marker were sold to Mr.
George Hill and Orville J. Montgomery. Currently, the site is
owned by Parkwest Associates of New York. The site is located
in an agricultural area with flat relief. Most of the site is
covered by weathered asphalt and DOD improvements at the site
are still in place, although in deteriorating condition. The
boundaries of the site are marked by a barbed wire fence which
is falling apart. There are two structures on the site, one structure
is a small (12ft x 12ft) one room building in fair to poor condition.
There is a metal frame around the outside of the building which
was apparently used to support the transmitter. The other structure
is a corrugated metal building (3ft wide x 6ft long x 5ft high)
with an above ground fuel tank inside. No signs of leakage from
the tank were observed during the site visit. Riverside County
Fire and Environmental Health Departments records indicate no
hazards associated with the site.
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