Before it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the 4,682-acre (19 km2) home ofMarine Corps Aviation on the West Coast. Designated as aMaster Jet Base, its four runways (two of 8,000 feet (2,400 m) and two of 10,000 feet (3,000 m)) could handle the largest aircraft in the U.S. military inventory. While it was active, all U.S. Presidents in the post-World War II era landed inAir Force One at this airfield. The El Toro "Flying Bull" patch was designed byWalt Disney Studios in 1944.[2] It survived virtually unchanged until the close of the Air Station.
Following its decommissioning the site was used as a filming location, including the test track for the United States version of the BBC'sTop Gear franchise.[3] About 1,300 acres (530 ha) of land originally taken by the air station was converted into a large recreational center, theOrange County Great Park, while the rest was re-zoned for residential and commercial development.
Air Station El Toro stood on land originally part ofRancho Cañada de los Alisos, granted in 1842 to José Antonio Serrano.
In May 1942, Lieutenant Colonel William Fox was directed to select the sites for all of the Marine Corps' West Coast air stations. Fox sought the most expeditious and low cost option and thus chose the already existing airports ofEl Centro,Mojave andSanta Barbara. For the fourth station, he chose land that had previously been looked at by theU.S. Navy for a blimp base.[4] The Marine Corps gave the owner of the land, a farmer namedJames Irvine Sr., $100,000 for 4,000 acres (20 km2) including 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) designated for a blimp base.[5] Construction of MCAS El Toro began on 3 August 1942 on land previously owned by theIrvine Company.[6] The company greatly resisted the station's construction at this site, which at the time contained the largestlima bean field in North America, which was the company's prime source of revenue.[2] The name "El Toro" came from the nearby small community of El Toro, now incorporated asLake Forest, which in 1940 only had a population of 130 people.[4]
The base headquarters was established on 4 November 1942, and the first landing occurred in late November when Major Michael Carmichael, flying fromCamp Kearny, was forced to make an emergency landing among the construction equipment.[4] The runways and taxiways were completed by 1 December 1942, and all squadron hangars were complete by 15 January 1943. Barracks and officer's quarters were ready by 20 January. January 1943 also saw the first operational units arriving at MCAS El Toro. First aboard wereMarine Aircraft Group 41 andVMF-113. They were followed later in the month byVMSB-142,VMF-224,VMSB-231 andVMSB-232, who were returning from fighting during theBattle of Guadalcanal in order to re-organize, re-equip and train.[4] The station was formally commissioned on 17 March 1943, with Colonel Theodore B. Millard as the first commanding officer. Soon after its opening, MCAS El Toro was handling the largest tacticalaerodrome traffic on the Pacific Coast.[7]
Already the largest Marine Corps air station on the West Coast, in 1944, funds were approved to double its size and operations. By the end of 1944, the base was home to 1,248 officers and 6,831 enlisted personnel.[8]
In 1950, El Toro was selected as a permanent Master Jet Base for theFleet Marine Force, Pacific.To support this new role, the aviation infrastructure at El Toro was expanded significantly. For most of the ensuing years, El Toro served as the primary base for Marine Corps west coast fighter squadrons. During the 1960s, many US Marines left for and returned from theVietnam War at El Toro MCAS.[9] In 1958,Marine Corps Air Station Miami was closed which brought the3rd Marine Aircraft Wing to El Toro.[10]
The land originally surrounding the base was mostly used for agricultural purposes when it first opened, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, residential development began in the area; most of it was directly in the path of the base's runways, which proved to be a major problem as the constant loud noise produced by jets and helicopters passing overhead was very irritating to those living in the area. Few desired to move there because of this, causing the new neighborhoods to struggle.
Before the site could be developed for civilian use, theDepartment of the Navy (which oversees the Marine Corps) was required to performenvironmental remediation to clean upcontaminated soil on the site. The contamination was caused byvolatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily industrial solvents that had been used over the years for purposes such as degreasing, paint stripping, and the cleaning of aircraft.
Over the years, the VOCs had seeped into thegroundwater, resulting in a plume of contaminated groundwater extending for three miles (5 km) to the west of the station. In July 2005, the Department of the Navy'sBase Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Program Management Office (PMO) issued a public notice stating that the cleanup of the contaminated soil was complete.[11]The cleanup of the groundwater is being handled by the Irvine Desalter Project,[12] a project of two local water authorities that has financial backing from the Navy and theState of California.
The closing of MCAS El Toro ignited a political firestorm over the eventual fate of the facility. With the existing infrastructure, some favored converting the base into aninternational airport. Those favoring the new airport tended to come from northernOrange County (desiring the convenience of a closer airport), and from areas inNewport Beach that are within the arrival and departure noise zones surroundingJohn Wayne Airport (hoping to close that airport in favor of the new one at El Toro).
Those against the airport proposal were largely residents of the cities in the immediate vicinity of El Toro, such asIrvine,Lake Forest,Laguna Niguel,Laguna Woods,Dana Point, andMission Viejo, where residents were alarmed at the idea of the aircraft noise. The cities opposed to the airport created a joint powers authority, the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA), to oppose the project. They were joined in the effort by grassroots organizations that collected record numbers of signatures on petitions to place anti-airport initiatives on the ballot and raised funds for the election campaigns. This faction lobbied strongly in favor of other uses for the property. The city of Irvine sought to annex the property for park and related uses.
In November 1994, voters passed Measure A, designating the property's land use to commercial aviation in the Orange CountyGeneral Plan. A March 1996 ballot measure attempted to overturn Measure A, but failed. Since that time, the county released reports recommending conversion of El Toro into a commercial airport.[13][14]
Air station insignia. An earlier cartoon version was designed by Walt Disney Studios.
The battle between pro-airport and anti-airport groups dominatedOrange County politics for much of the late 1990s and early 2000s. From 1994 to 2001, $80 million in county and city funds was spent on campaigning for both sides.[15] Airport proposals were defeated in two hotly contestedballot initiatives, and further challenges took place in the courts. A series of demonstration commercial flights from the airport in June 1999 generated less noise than the former military flights, but resulted in much public outcry due to the use of different flight paths from the military, and incessant circling over nearby cities to line up for another approach. Eventually the airport opponents prevailed, and in March 2002, theDepartment of Defense announced that it would sell the land to private interests to be developed intoOrange County Great Park.
While many county residents were not persuaded of the need for a larger airport, regional transportation planners insisted that the county must share in handling a greater portion of the millions of passengers traveling by air in Southern California.[16]
The Department of the Navy hired theGeneral Services Administration and Los Angeles-basedColliers International to assist in the sale of MCAS El Toro. Colliers branded the project as Heritage Fields combining the long-standing history of the base and what the future of the base will be to the community and the generations to come. An online auction was conducted and in February 2005, the final bid of $650 million was accepted for the four parcels of land comprising the former MCAS El Toro. The auction winner was Heritage Fields LLC, ajoint venture betweenLennar and several other firms. Development plans for the 3,724 acres (15 km2) site include residential,golf, commercial,R&D, andschools. 1,375 acres (5.6 km2) of the site will be dedicated to the Great Park. A ceremony to formally transfer ownership of the property to Heritage Fields LLC was held on 29 August 2005.[17]
On 19 November 1958, anF4D Skyray fighter jet overshot the runway and was struck by a southbound passenger train, theSan Diegan. Train No. 74 hit the F4D at 75 miles (121 km)-per-hour. All three locomotive units and cars #3430, #3165, #3144, #1399, #3100, #3094, #3082 derailed after hitting the F4D. No fatalities and only a few injuries resulted.[18]
On 25 June 1965, a U.S. Air ForceBoeing C-135A bound forOkinawa crashed just after takeoff at MCAS El Toro, killing all eighty-four on board.[19]
On 23 January 1967, twoDouglas A-4 Skyhawk jets were wing-tipping on approach. Pilot Frank Gambelli had lost his radio in a rainstorm, and he was wing-tipping with Pilot James Powell over Leisure World on approach. Visibility was practically zero. The two jets collided and both pilots ejected. Pilot Powell ejected safely, but was thrown into the side of a building when his parachute caught on the top of the building and was slammed into it and died. Pilot Gambelli landed next to St. Nicholas Catholic Church just at the end of service. GSgt H.W. Oviatt raced out of the church and took pilot Gambelli back to the base.[20] The wreckage of the jets crashed onto two buildings in Leisure World, killing four people on the ground.[21]
On 30 July 1970, aLockheed Martin KC-130F ofVMGR-352 crashed and burned during a maximum effort landing, killing 4 of 5 crewmen on board.
On 6 June 1971, a midair collision occurred betweenHughes Airwest Flight 706, aDouglas DC-9 jetliner, and a Marine Corps F-4B Phantom being flown to MCAS El Toro, claiming 50 lives. The DC-9, with 44 passengers and 5 crew members aboard, impacted into a remote canyon approximately three miles north ofDuarte, California along with one of the crew members of the fighter whose wreckage was found in another canyon approximately .75 miles southeast of the DC-9's crash site. One of the Marines in the fighter survived the accident.[22]
On 4 July 1986, 21-year-old Marine Lance Corporal,Howard Foote Jr., an aviation mechanic at El Toro, took an A-4 Skyhawk on an unauthorized 90-minute joyride over southern California. Foote, an accomplished glider pilot, was despondent after learning that due to a medical condition, he would never be able to fly in the Marines. He landed the aircraft safely and was subsequently discharged under less than honorable conditions after serving4+1⁄2 months in confinement.[23][24]
On 12 Feb 1987, aCH-46E helicopter fromHMM-764,MAG-46 crashed, shortly after takeoff, into a steep, brush-covered ridge between Bell and Trabuco canyons. All three crewmembers on board, Major Dudley Urban, Major William Anderson, and Staff Sergeant Bradley Baird, died in the crash.
On 24 April 1988, Marine Corps Colonel Jerry Cadick, then commanding officer ofMAG-11, was performing a tactical aerial demonstration at the MCAS El Toro Air Show before a crowd of 300,000 when he crashed hisF/A-18 Hornet at the bottom of a loop that was too close to the ground.[25] The aircraft was in a nose-high attitude, but still carrying too much energy toward the ground when it impacted at more than 300 mph (480 km/h). Col. Cadick was subjected to extremely highG-forces that resulted in his face making contact with the control stick and sustaining serious injury. He broke his arm, elbow and ribs, exploded avertebra and collapsed a lung. Col. Cadick survived and retired from the Marine Corps. The crashed F/A-18 remained largely intact but was beyond repair.
On 22 January 1991, Marine Corps Colonel James Sabow apparently committed suicide amid allegations of base corruption, specifically using military aircraft for personal use. His family and friends denied he committed suicide and pointed out that Col. Sabow had pledged to fight the charges against him just minutes before his death in phone conversations with other officers.[26] According to a 1996 lawsuit by his family, Sabow was murdered because he threatened to expose an authorizedcovert operation at El Toro involving some of his fellow officers,CIA-sponsored airlifts to Central and South America, running arms and drugs.[27]
On 2 May 1993, during the 1993 MCAS El Toro airshow, anF-86 Sabre crashed on the runway after failing to pull out of a vertical loop. The F-86 pilot, James A. Gregory, died on impact. No one was hurt on the ground. The airshow continued. Normally the F-86 performed with aMiG-15, but the pilot of the MiG-15 was ill that day and the F-86 was doing a solo run.[28]
The MCAS El Toro Air Show took place annually from the 1950s until 1997. It featured the U.S. NavyBlue Angels, as well as theUSAFThunderbirds. The Air Show also featured new aircraft that were coming into active service, such as theB-2stealthbomber. Other displays featured military vehicles. The show also had a large gathering of vendors of military items and memorabilia. The final Air Show in 1997 drew an estimated two million visitors.[citation needed]
MCAS El Toro was regularly used for flight operations bySpecial Air Missions duringPresidentRichard Nixon's term in office, in support of the "Western White House," Nixon's home atSan Clemente. The final Nixon flights were, first, when he landed there upon resigning the White House in 1974,[29] and again, after his death in 1994, when his body was flown to California for burial.[30] He flew both times in hisAir Force One,SAM 27000.
In 2006, an abandoned F/A-18 hangar in Irvine was sealed to create, in effect, a giant pinhole camera, and a panoramic print of the El Toro Air Station was formed on a light-sensitive muslin cloth measuring 111 feet wide, 32 feet high. Under the direction of Laguna Beach photographer Jacques Garnier, the image, known as "The Great Picture," was originally produced as part of the Legacy Project - a photographic and historical record of the base before being transformed into what is now the Orange County Great Park. This is believed to be the largest photographic image ever taken by a camera.
From 2005 to 2012, depending on the year, there were small air shows, fireworks, family New Year's Eve (the balloon dropped at 9 pm) and other events related toGrowing the Park, at the Great Park, the new name for the site.[31][32]
De Chant, John A. (1947).Devilbirds: The Story of United States Marine Corps Aviation in World War II. Harper and Brothers Publishers.
O'Hara, Thomas (1999).Images of America - Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia.ISBN0-7385-0186-7.
Rottman, Gordon L. (2002).U.S. Marine Corps World War II Order of Battle - Ground and Air Units in the Pacific War, 1939 - 1945. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.ISBN0-313-31906-5.
Shettle Jr., M. L. (2001).United States Marine Corps Air Stations of World War II. Bowersville, Georgia: Schaertel Publishing Co.ISBN0-9643388-2-3.
Kranser, Leonard (2002).Internet for Activists - A hands-on guide to Internet tactics field-tested in the fight against building El Toro Airport. Dana Point, CA: iUniverse.ISBN0-595-23857-2.
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