Camp Kearny

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Coordinates: 32°51′58″N 117°06′11″W / 32.8659831°N 117.1030354°W / 32.8659831; -117.1030354
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the former Army and Navy base in San Diego. For other locations, see Fort Kearny (disambiguation).

32°51′58″N 117°06′11″W / 32.8659831°N 117.1030354°W / 32.8659831; -117.1030354

Camp Kearny
San Diego, Southern California
View of the flight line at Camp Kearny, 1945
TypeUnited States Army installation
Site history
Built1917 (1917)
In use1917–1946

Camp Kearny was a U.S. military base (first Army, later Navy) in San Diego County, California, on the site of the current Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. It operated from 1917 to 1946. The base was named in honor of Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny.

History

Panorama of Camp Kearny in 1918

Establishment and early years

Target at Camp Kearny after bombardment by shrapnel; World War I era

The camp was established by the Army in 1917 on 12,721 acres (51.48 km2) of land on a mesa north of San Diego.[1][2] The area included the 2,130-acre (8.6 km2) Miramar Ranch, which had originally been established by newspaperman E. W. Scripps and later sold to the Jessop family.[3] It was Scripps who named the area Miramar, meaning "view of the sea".[4]

The new base was named in honor of Brigadier General

military governor of California. Camp Kearny was one of 32 new camps created by the Army in 1917 as a mobilization and training facility for troops on their way to battlegrounds of World War I.[5] The first commander was Major James Stuart McKnight.[6]
Army aircraft occasionally landed on the parade ground, but an actual airfield was not established during World War I.

After the war, the camp was used as a demobilization center;

Charles A. Lindbergh. During 1929–1930 the facility was known as Airtech Field, operated by the San Diego Air Service Corp.[1]

United States Navy use

In 1932 the Navy installed a mooring mast for

Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, California, whose civic leaders had won a vigorous public relations battle with San Diego in the late 1920s to become the host of the Navy's airfield for dirigibles.[10]

In 1940 the Navy began a series of projects to improve and expand Camp Kearny. By 1941 the base contained more than 26,000 acres (110 km2).

Consolidated Aircraft Company
.

United States Marine Corps use

In 1934 part of the base was leased to the

Marine Air Warning Group 2
(MAWG-2) before they deployed to the Pacific.

Aerial view of some of the ruins of Camp Elliott, 2011

The Marines also developed a training base on the grounds of Camp Kearny called Camp Holcomb,[11] named for Major-General Thomas Holcomb who was then commandant of the Marine Corps. By 1940 the number of volunteer recruits was overwhelming the local training base, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, so the Marines replaced Camp Holcomb with a much larger training base directly east of Camp Kearny which was called Camp Elliott, named for George F. Elliott, a former commandant of the Marine Corps.[12]

After the end of the war, the Navy used Camp Kearny for demobilization. On 1 May 1946, the Navy departed Camp Kearny, handing it over to the Marines, and the station became MCAS Miramar. In 1947, the Marines moved to

1st Marine Expeditionary Force
.

Rosedale Naval Outlying Landing Field

Rosedale Naval Outlying Landing Field map

Rosedale Naval Outlying Landing Field was built as Rosedale Field in 1938 just south of Camp Kearny. Rosedale Field was used for

dive-bombing and strafing practice. Also for emergency landing activities. After the war in 1945, the Landing Field was abandoned and no trace remains.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Historic California Posts: Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar". Militarymuseum.org. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-932653-72-7
    .
  3. ^ a b "Powered by Google Docs". Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  4. ISBN 978-0-932653-73-4
  5. ^ "Historic California Posts: Camp Kearny (San Diego County)". Militarymuseum.org. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  6. ^ "McKnight for High State Guard Post," Los Angeles Times, 18 November 1919, page II-1
  7. ^ Barber, J. Frank (1922). History of the Seventy-Ninth Division, A. E. F. During the World War: 1917–1919. Lancaster, PA: Steinman & Steinman. pp. 7–8.
  8. ^ a b "Miramar History". Miramarairshow.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  9. ^ "This Day in History 1933: Dirigible crash kills 73". History.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  10. ^ "Moffett Field". History.sandiego.edu. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  11. ISBN 1-55750-531-4
    .
  12. ^ "Historic California Posts: A Brief History of the U.S. Marine Corps in San Diego". Militarymuseum.org. Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  13. ^ Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: California - Southern San Diego area
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