Google Earth Community: Swastika on US military property in San Diego

Visit the Naval Air Station North Island andNaval Amphibious Base Coronado Website ; http://www.nasni.navy.mil/

Meanwhile maybe this will give you guys some of the data that you r looking for;

Naval Air Station, North Island (NASNI) is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the Navy, the 57,000-acre Naval Base Coronado. The commanding officer of North Island is also the Commanding Officer, Naval Base Coronado. Additionally, he commands or administers Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Outlying Field Imperial Beach, Navy Radio Receiving Facility, Mountain Training Facility LaPosta, Warner Springs Training Area and Naval Air Landing Facility, San Clemente Island. NASNI, with only its commands in the metropolitan San Diego Area, brackets the city of Coronado from the entrance to San Diego Bay to the Mexican border. North Island itself is host to 23 squadrons and 80 additional tenant commands and activities, one of which, the Naval Aviation Depot, is the largest aerospace employer in San Diego. North Island was commissioned a naval air station in 1917, 82 years ago. On August 15, 1963, the station, which was originally called the Naval Air Station, San Diego until 1955, was granted official recognition as the "Birthplace of Naval Aviation" by resolution of the House Armed Services Committee.

The 59-year-old Naval Amphibious Base was renamed in 1946, although it had been in operation as the Amphibious Training Base since 1943. It is host to thirty commands including the headquarters for the Naval Special Warfare Command, a second echelon command that is headquarters for America's elite maritime special operations forces - the U.S. Navy SEALs and Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen.

The Navy's first aviator, Lieutenant Ellyson, and many of his colleagues were trained at North Island starting as early as 1911. This was just eight years after Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first manned aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At that time, North Island was an uninhabited sand flat. It had been used in the late 19th century for horseback riding and hunting by guests of J. D. Spreckles' resort hotel the now famous Del Coronado.

North Island derived its name from the original geography. In the nineteenth century, it was referred to as North Coronado Island. In 1886, North and South Coronado Islands were purchased by a developer to become a residential resort. South Coronado became famous as the city of Coronado, but fortunately for the Navy, North Coronado was never developed. Instead, Glen Curtiss opened a flying school and held a lease to the property until the beginning of World War I. In 1917, Congress appropriated the land and two airfields were commissioned on its sandy flats. The Navy started with a tent-covered city known as "Camp Trouble". As you can tell by its name, things did not always go well in the early days. The Navy shared the island with the Army Signal Corps' Rockwell Field until 1937, when the Army left and the Navy expanded its operations to cover the whole island. In 1914, then unknown aircraft builder, Glenn Martin, took off and demonstrated his pusher aircraft over the island with a flight that included the first parachute jump in the San Diego area. The jump was made by a ninety-pound civilian woman named Tiny Broadwick. Other aviation milestones originating at North Island included the first seaplane flight in 1911, the first mid-air refueling and the first non-stop transcontinental flight, both in 1923. One of history's most famous aviation feats was the flight of Charles A. Lindbergh from New York to Paris in May 1927. That flight originated at North Island on May 9, 1927, when Lindbergh began the first leg of his journey. Forefathers of today's "Blue Angels", the three plane "Sea Hawks" from VF-6B, the "Felix the Cat" squadron, were thrilling audiences with flight demonstrations as early as 1928. They demonstrated the training skills of Navy fighter and bomber pilots and on many occasions, flew their aircraft in formation with the wings tethered together.

The list of American military pilots trained at North Island reads like the Who's Who of aviation; however, America was not the only country interested in aviation early in the twentieth century. Six years before the Naval Air Station was commissioned, Glenn Curtiss, the famed aviation pioneer and later aircraft manufacturer, trained the first group of Japanese aviators at his flying school on the Island. Among them was a LT C. Yamada would later become infamous as the head of Japan's Naval aviation in World War II.

Even the base's first commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Earl W. Spencer Jr., USN, added a degree of celebrity to North Island. His wife was Wallis Warfield, a prominent socialite who was to remarry twice and finally become Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor, the late Duchess of Windsor, for whom King Edward of England gave up his throne in 1936.

During the Second World War, the land between North and South Coronado, called the Spanish Bight, was filled a part of the base where most of the administrative and recreational buildings now stand. When approaching Flag Circle from the front gate, the last tiled roof building on the left was the original gate guard building as evidenced by the Army Air Corps insignia, a pair of flight wings bisected by a single blade propeller, carved in the window shutters. During World War II North Island was the major continental U.S. base supporting the operating forces in the Pacific. Those forces included over a dozen aircraft carriers, the Coast Guard, Army, Marines and Seabees. The city of Coronado became home to most of the aircraft factory workers and dependents of the mammoth base which was operating around the clock. Major USO entertainment shows and bond drives were held weekly at the Ship's Service auditorium which was later replaced by the 2,100 seat Lowry Theater. Big band singers and movie stars were stationed here or on ships home ported here during the war years including Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Future television cowboy star of the 50s and 60s, Guy Madison, who starred as Wild Bill Hickok, was still Seaman Bob Mosely, a lifeguard at the NAS crews' pool. Stars like the Marx Bros and Bob Hope appeared regularly at USO shows at the auditorium.

NAS North Island also operates two other airfields in the Southern California region. One is Naval Auxiliary Landing Facility (NALF) San Clemente Island, located 70 miles northwest of San Diego in the California Channel Islands. The other is Outlying Field (OLF) Imperial Beach, located 10 miles south of the base on the U.S.-Mexican border.

The air station resembles a small city in its operations. It has its own police and fire departments. It has large factories such as the Naval Aviation Depot, employing 3,300 civilians and its own parks, beaches, housing and recreation areas.

Its airfield has over 230 aircraft and its quay wall is homeport to three major aircraft carriers, USS Constellation (CV 64) and USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), and the USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Additionally, the base is home to the Navy's only Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles, Mystic (DSRV 1) and Avalon (DSRV 2). The DSRV motor vessel support ships is also home ported here.

North Island is headquarters for four major military flag staffs including: «««Commander Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, responsible for maintenance and training of all naval aircraft and aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet, ««Commanders Carrier Group One and Seven and ««Commander Cruiser Destroyer Group One. With all the ships in port, the population of the station is nearly 35,000 active duty, selected reserve military and civilian personnel.

The amphibious base houses two major military flag staffs including: «««Commander Naval Surface Force, U. S. Pacific Fleet, responsible for the training, maintenance and crews of the approximately 85 ships of the Pacific Fleet and «Commander Naval Special Warfare Command, U. S. Pacific Fleet. Also located there are most of the Naval Expeditionary and Naval Special Warfare units of the Pacific Fleet as well as the famed Navy Parachute Team, the Leap Frogs

Post Extras