California State Military
DepartmentOn February 5, 1927, the Oakland City Council purchased the 692-acre Bay Farm Island, five miles south of town, to develop an airport. On June 3, the Army informed the City that it wished to use the island as the takeoff point for an attempt to fly to Hawaii. Since a runway did not yet exist, the Army requested that one be graded by the end of the month. Working around the clock for 23 days, crews completed a 7,020-ft. runway -- at that time, the longest in the world. On June 28, 1Lts. Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger departed in a Fokker C-2. Twenty five hours and 49 minutes later, they landed on Oahu at the Army's Wheeler Field, completing the first non-stop flight between the Mainland and Hawaii.
On August 1, 1928, the Navy formed an NRAB at the airport with two aircraft and 1200 sq. ft. of leased hangar space. By 1935, the station began the Elimination Training Course with ten aircraft. Eleven days after Pearl Harbor, the C.O.s of all the NRABs held a conference in Pensacola -- the subject being the increase of primary training at their bases. Among the C.O.s with a problem, was Cdr. R.L. Johnson of Oakland. With the addition of Army interceptors at the airport, the expansion of primary training would be impossible without a new base. After returning to Oakland, Cdr. Johnson and his men selected a site 25 miles away, 3.5 miles east of Livermore. Nevertheless, full primary training began in January 1942. With the imminent departure of primary training, Oakland was chosen to be a Naval Air Transport Service Terminal. In September, VR-3 began scheduled service to the station. By November 1942, all primary flight activities transferred to Livermore; however, administrative control remained at Oakland.
On January 1, 1943, Oakland became an NAS along with most of the other NRABs in the Navy. On March 4, VR-4 commissioned with a complement of 13 R4Ds received from Alameda's VR-2 which then became an exclusive seaplane operation. When Livermore commissioned as an NAS on June 1, Oakland was, in turn, reduced to an NAAS under Alameda. VR-11 commissioned here on September 1. Although the headquarters of VR-11 moved to Honolulu three and a half months later, the squadron maintained a detachment and conducted training at Oakland. Meanwhile, United Airlines had an aircraft mechanics school for the Army at the airport. In 1943, United began training Navy mechanics and completed 1,281 during the war.