Naval Air Station Point Mugu

Naval Air Station Point Mugu
Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC)
Summary
Airport type Military
Operator United States Navy
Location Point Mugu, Ventura County, near Oxnard, California
Elevation AMSL 13 ft / 4 m
Coordinates 34°07′13″N 119°07′16″W / 34.12028°N 119.12111°W / 34.12028; -119.12111Coordinates: 34°07′13″N 119°07′16″W / 34.12028°N 119.12111°W / 34.12028; -119.12111
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
3/21 11,102 3,384 Asphalt
9/27 5,502 1,677 Asphalt

Naval Air Station Point Mugu is a former United States Navy air station that operated from 1942 to 2000 in California. In 2000, it merged with nearby Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme to form Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC).

At Point Mugu, NBVC operates two runways and encompasses a 36,000 square mile sea test range, anchored by San Nicolas Island. The range allows the military to test and track weapons systems in restricted air- and sea-space without encroaching on civilian air traffic or shipping lanes. The range can be expanded through interagency coordination between the U.S. Navy and the Federal Aviation Administration. Telemetry data can be tracked and recorded using technology housed at San Nicolas Island, Point Mugu and Laguna Peak, a Tier 1 facility also controlled by NBVC.

Major tenants

In addition, Coast Guard Air Station Los Angeles is expected to relocate to Naval Air Station Point Mugu from its current location at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) when the lease on the existing facility ends in 2016.[1][2]

History

The facility in Point Mugu, California, started as a United States Navy anti-aircraft training center during World War II[3] and was developed in the late 1940s as the Navy's major missile development and test facility. This facility was the site where most of the Navy's missiles were developed and tested during the 1950/1960 era, including the AIM-7 Sparrow family and the AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air, Bullpup air-to-surface, and Regulus surface-to-surface missiles.

Pt. Mugu has dominated the area since the 1940s, and is one of the few places in the area that is not agricultural. The base has been home to many ordnance testing programs, and the test range extends offshore to the Navy-owned San Nicolas Island in the Channel Islands.

In 1963 the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program was established on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean. The facility was relocated in 1967 to Point Loma in San Diego, California.

Point Mugu was the airfield used by former President Ronald Reagan during his presidency on visits to his Santa Barbara ranch. The airfield was used during the state funeral in 2004, as the place where the former President's body was flown to Washington, D.C. to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The body was flown to Point Mugu aboard presidential aircraft SAM 28000 two days later. Until the late 1990s, the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX (VXE-6), the squadron of LC-130s equipped to land on ice in Antarctica, to supply the science stations there. Now, the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility.

Accidents and incidents

NAS Point Mugu was the setting for the 1950 film, The Flying Missile. The film tells the story of the first firing of a guided missile from the deck of a submarine.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Coast Guard to Move Air Station from Los Angeles, SeaPower Magazine (Feb. 2, 2015)
  2. ↑ Coast Guard Air Station at LAX moving to Oxnard in 2016, which may bring some noise relief to South Bay, Daily Breeze (Los Angeles, CA) (Jan. 22, 2015)
  3. ↑ "U.S. Naval Activities World War II by State". Patrick Clancey. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  4. ↑ "N31538 Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  5. ↑ "QF-4S+ Crash at Pt Mugu - April 20, 2002". Goleta Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  6. ↑ "Report: Pilot error caused crash - Pt. Mugu Air Show 4/20/2002". Ventura County Star. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "3 Passengers Escape Uninjured After Plane Crashes After Takeoff". Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  8. ↑ Blankstein, Andrew; Hennigan, W.J. (19 May 2011). "3 hurt as refueling plane bursts into flames at Point Mugu". Los Angeles Times.
  9. ↑ http://abc7.com/news/hundreds-report-mystery-light-flying-through-sky/1073739/
  10. ↑ http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/nov/07/mystery-light-sky-military-navy-drill/
  11. ↑ Ford, Peter (2011). Glenn Ford a life. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 111. ISBN 0299281531.
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