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Posted 1 year ago
potrero
(155 items)
Alameda Naval Air station was closed in the '90s and is a military historians wonderland, frozen in time (for the most part in the 1940s at the close of WW2, but with a dash of '60s nd '70s thrown in for good measure). I go there to the monthly Alameda Antiques fair, one of the best in the country.
Yesterday I brought my bike and a friend and I spent several hours biking the whole base, around old barracks and community buildings, fuel depots, train tracks, officer housing and of course the rows of massive now abandoned hangars which at their peak housed a mighty air force. Standing empty these huge hulks look like a movie set.
One hanger door was open and we went in. There were two guys working on the shell of an airplane, the A7 Corsair which used to be on the pedestal at the western entrance of the base until a couple of years ago. They're part of a group trying to restore it, and told us a little about it. It was built in 1968, and flew until it had a hard landing on the Alameda runway in the late '80s, and was too structurally damaged to fly. It also flew off the USS Carl Vinson.
The most interesting thing was being inside this gigantic hangar, the 2nd oldest on the base, and trying to imagine the scene there at the peak of WW2, with thousands of workers and hundreds of prop planes moving in and out on their way across the Pacific.
The cool sign in the foreground, NARF, says "metal and process div" behind the stop sign. NARF stands for Naval Air Rework Facility. Too bad they couldnt have called it Special Naval Air Rework Facility, or SNARF. Thats a sign I'd love to own.
Military and WartimeMilitary and wartime antiques and memorabilia includes an enormously wide v…
VERY COOL :)
I use to live on Pacific ave and yes, I remember when the officers arrive it was non
stop of them coming down on Webster street and o boy they could they PARTY, well I meant drink, it was great seeing them having a good time.I had a neighbor who I watch her kids so she could go out and have fun. Back then Webster street had live bands so it was great. I had the opportunity to go in the base back then were my husband at that time sister-in-law work for the base as a Secretary she had a pass to go in and buy food in commissary it was always busy non stop moving around in the base.My ex husband Dad was in The Navy a High Rank officer as i was told His name is Thomas Presley Long never got to meet him since he abandon his children for another women. The reason I'm telling you the story is because that sometimes it happens when man are so focus on their career he forgot he had five kids and for got about them completely, anyway back to happy times. Love seeing them and be station in Alameda Ca an had the opportunity to see that with my own eyes, Thanks for reading this and stopping by. I sure miss My mother in Law a Great women who fought her on war with hardly any support.
i've been exploring the base for a few years. i have lots of photos of interesting spots around and know where there's some cool things to explore. email me if you'd like to get together sometime to do some exploring. pete@eastbaywilds.com
Potrero; thanks for posting, and ho2cultcha...you lucky chaps...having a place like this to explore!!!