by Gordon Chappell, Regional Historian,
Pacific West Region, National Park
Service
With the exception of relatively recent
construction such as World War II "temporary" barracks
and a few permanent buildings, Crissy Army Airfield at the Presidio
of San Francisco is one of the best-preserved complexes of Army
Aviation buildings of the early 1920s in the United States. As
an army air base, Crissy Field had a brief but important place
in history.
Following World War I, Major Henry H. "Hap"
Arnold arrived at the Presidio of San Francisco as the Air Service
Officer of the Western Military Department. In July of 1919 he
selected the area which had been the race track of the Panama-Pacific
International Exposition in 1915, located on flat, filled and
reclaimed land north of the main garrison complex of the Presidio,
as the site of a new army air field.
Meanwhile, the army was involved in a rather
elaborate publicity demonstration of its relatively new air arm
featuring two teams of DeHavilands flying cross-country, one from
each seaboard. The team from San Francisco was headed by Major
Dana H. Crissy, commander of Mather Field near Sacramento. The
teams took off in October, but Major Crissy made it no farther
than Salt Lake City where he died in a crash landing. At the Presidio,
Major Arnold decided to n the new air field after the young officer
who had so tragically met an early death.
In 1920, the War Department announced that it had
authorized a million dollar expenditure for improvements at Crissy
Field. Before the construction even began, the 91st Aero Squadron
(Observation) arrived in September 1920 for temporary duty there
to observe coast artillery practice fire and communicate the results
via wireless back to the battery commanders. The squadron would
become the regular complement of the new airfield, and would serve
other missions, such as forest fire patrols, public relations
flights, and aerial photographic assignments with the 15th Photo
Section.
Meanwhile, construction had begun on a complex
of now-historic buildings which, with few exceptions, still stand.
These include Hangars 926 and 937, Gas Pump House 929, Hose Reel
House 930, Armorer's Building 931, Aircraft Shop 933, Motor Test
Building 934, Aero Storehouse 935, Grease Rack 945, and Signal
Cable Hut 946.
On the hill to the west of Crissy Field,
south of the old Battery East of the 1870s and north of the 1910-1912
Mission-revival complex of Fort Winfield Scott buildings, the
army built a Bachelor Officers' Quarters known as Scott Hall (Building
951) and family housing 952 through 964 and 966 which at times
were used by enlisted personnel and at other times housed Crissy
pilots.
East of the hangar and shop complex and
south of the airstrip itself, the army erected an enlisted barracks
and mess hall for the airmen known today as Stillwell Hall (Building
650), an administration building for the airfield (651), and a
Guardhouse (Building 654).
All of these buildings, which still stand,
were products of the million dollar initial construction program.
They were completed and turned over to the Air Service on June
24, 1921. The San Francisco Examiner of September 28 proudly proclaimed
the new Crissy complex as the "strongest air base in the
nation" where "scores of DeHavilands" were based
to protect the West Coast. That year, too, Crissy Field was honored
by two distinguished visitors, Marshals Foch and Joffre of France,
interested in the latest developments in military air power.
The original landing field at Crissy was
clay over sand, and it was enlarged in 1925 by the addition of
1,300 feet. But the field also suffered from budget restrictions
and reduced complements. Brigadier General Billy Mitchell told
a San Francisco newspaper that despite an authorized strength
of 75 officers and 250 men, at one time in the late 1920s the
complement numbered instead only five commissioned pilots and
75 men.
Meanwhile, the field kept in the public
eye through record-breaking long distance flights which, from
time to time, used its runways. Aircraft were still in a pioneering
era, and army pilots were among the pioneers. For example, Lieutenant
Russell L. Maughan brought fresh attention to Crissy when at 9:47
p.m. on June 23, 1924, he touched down at the completion of the
first "dawn-to-dusk" transcontinental flight.
Then in 1925 the U.S. Navy based two PN-9s
at Crissy Field in an effort to reach the Hawaiian Islands by
air. The two flying boats set out at 2 p.m. on August 31, 1925,
but oil pressure problems brought one of them down after a more
300 miles, while the second was forced to land on the ocean a
mere 145 miles short of the Islands due to shortage of fuel. A
search ship eventually located the craft floating just 15 miles
east of Kauai on September 11; all aboard were safe. But it would
be another decade before Pan American Airlines' Sikorsky S-42
reached Hawaii on a nonstop flight from the mainland in April
1935. The Navy's pioneering attempt deserved a better fate.
Crissy Field unfortunately faced a number
of problems which left her obsolete after a brief existence of
a decade, although it would last for part of another. First, the
field had no room for expansion. Second, Crissy Field suffered
from high winds off the Pacific Ocean channeled through the Golden
Gate. Finally, the proposed Golden Gate Bridge if constructed
would place two tall bridge towers in a position dangerous to
Crissy pilots, and the bridge project seemed more and more certain
as time passed. Consequently in 1929 a Board of Officers was assembled
to survey the whole Bay Area for a more suitable location for
a major airfield, a location which did not have Crissy's drawbacks.
The Board found what it sought at Marin Meadows near Novato, roughly
20 miles north of the Golden Gate. There, in 1932 and 1933, the
Army Air Corps constructed Hamilton
Field, far enough inland to be beyond the range of the heavy
guns of enemy battleships, sheltered by the coastal hills from
the winds which scour the Golden Gate, and graced with ample room
for expansion.
Crissy Field continued to serve as an army
airfield for several years more. Although Hamilton received its
first station complement in 1933, it was not until the summer
of 1936 that Crissy Field closed as an Army Air Field. The San
Francisco Chronicle of June 19, 1936, noted that army flyers would
"dip their wings in a farewell" the next day as the
91st Aero Squadron transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington, and
Hamilton assumed Crissy Field's mission.
Still, in later years, fixed wing spotter
planes occasionally would use Crissy's airstrip, and new types
of aircraft called helicopters would find it accommodating. Crissy
retains a helipad today. But World War 11 brought other needs,
and a complex of temporary barracks and quarters was built between
Stilwell Hall and the Fort Point Coast Guard Station in what had
been open space in front of the Crissy hangars. Despite this "temporary"
intrusion which remains in place after 40 years, Crissy's historic
1921 complex of buildings remains mostly intact, the hangars and
aircraft shops serving the present-day Presidio of San Francisco
in adaptive use as automotive shops. The present Presidio Master
Plan calls for the ultimate demolition of the historic Crissy
hangars and shops and their replacement with new and modern automotive
shop facilities. Thus the days of Crissy Field's historic buildings
may be numbered.
Crissy Army Air Field
prior to National Park Service restoration (Map Courtesy of Mr.
Gordon Chappell)
Postscript
The above history was written
in 1981 for the annual meeting of the Council on Abandoned Military
Posts. SInce it was written several events have impacted Crissy
Army Air Field:
Contrary to the dire prediction
made in 1981, today Crissy Field thrives. The World War II baracks
have been removed and the air field returned to it original grass
strip. Long range plans include a museum commemorating the aviation
history of Crissy Field.
On May 6, 2001, the newly
restored Crissy Field was dedicated as part of the Golden Gate
National Recreation Area of the National Park Service.
The restored grass
runway and hangers. The former Fort Point Coast Guard Station
is on the right. (Photo Courtesy of the National Park Service)
Army Units
Assigned to Crissey Field
Data Source
Date(s)
Unit(s)
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1920
24th
Balloon Company
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1920-1921
14th
Balloon Squadron
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1921-1936
91st
Observation Squadron
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1922-1929
447th
Pursuit Squadron (Organized Reserves)
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1922-1930
381st
Service Squadron (Organized Reserves)
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1922-1936
316th
and 367th Observation Squadrons (Organized Reserves)
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1922-1933
342nd
Service Squadron (Organized Reserves)
US Army
Order of Battle 1919-1940
1919-1941
Units Performing
Annual Training at Fort Barry
316th, 329th,
365th, 366th and 372nd Observation Squadrons (Organized Reserves)
In 1920, the War Department announced that it had
authorized a million dollar expenditure for improvements at Crissy
Field. Before the construction even began, the 91st Aero Squadron
(Observation) arrived in September 1920 for temporary duty there
to observe coast artillery practice fire and communicate the results
via wireless back to the battery commanders. The squadron would
become the regular complement of the new airfield, and would serve
other missions, such as forest fire patrols, public relations
flights, and aerial photographic assignments with the 15th Photo
Section.
