El Toro Military Base - Marine Corps Air Station El Toro (ICAO: KNZJ, FAA LID: NZJ) is a United States Marine Corps air base located adjacent to the community of El Toro near Irvine, California.
) home of Marine Corps Aviation on the West Coast. Designated a master aircraft base, its four runways (two at 8,000 ft (2,400 m) and two at 10,000 ft (3,000 m)) can handle the largest aircraft in the US military inventory. While active, all US presidents in the post-World War II era landed at this airfield on Air Force One. El Toro's "Flying Grass" patch was designed by Walt Disney Studios in 1944.
El Toro Military Base
After its decommissioning, the site was used as a filming location, including a test track for the US version of the BBC's Top Gear franchise.
Vmfa(aw) 121 Green Knights Marine Fighter Attack Squadron
About 1,300 acres (530 ha) of land originally occupied by the airport was converted to a large recreational center as Greater Orange County Park, while the remainder was rezoned for residential and commercial development.
El Toro Airport was part of the Rancho Cañada de Los Alisos, which was granted to José Antonio Serrano in 1842.
In May 1942, Lieutenant Colonel William Fox tasked all Marine Corps forces with selecting sites for West Coast airfields. Fox looked for a faster, lower-cost option and therefore chose the existing airports of El Citro, Mojave, and Santa Barbara. For the fourth station, he chose land previously visited by the US Navy for the airship base.
The Marine Corps paid $100,000 for 4,000 acres (20 km) to James Irwin Sr., a farmer who owned the land.
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Construction of MCAS El Toro began on August 3, 1942, on land owned by the Irvine Company.
The company strongly opposed the construction of the station on the site, which at the time had the largest lima bean field in North America and was the company's main source of revenue.
The name "El Toro" comes from the nearby small community of only 130 people in 1940.
The base headquarters was established on November 4, 1942, with the first landing taking place in late November, when Commander Michael Carmichael, flying from Camp Kearney, was forced to make an emergency landing in a crew of building.
Th Ecg Elephant Walk
Runways and taxiways were completed by 1 December 1942 and all squadron hangars were completed by 15 January 1943. Troop and officer quarters were ready by 20 January. The first operational units arrived at MCAS El Toro in January 1943. Originally on board were Marine Aircraft Group 41 and VMF-113. They were followed later that month by VMSB-142, VMF-224, VMSB-231, and VMSB-232, which had returned from combat to reorganize, refit, and train during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
The station was formally commissioned on March 17, 1943, Colonel Theodore B. Millard was the first commanding officer. Since its inception, MCAS El Toro has handled the largest tactical airfield traffic on the Pacific coast.
Already the largest Marine airfield on the West Coast, funds were authorized in 1944 to double its size and operations. By 1944, the base had 1,248 officers and 6,831 enlisted personnel.
In 1950, El Toro was selected as the permanent master aircraft base for the Marine Corps Pacific Fleet. To support this new role, the aviation infrastructure at El Toro was significantly expanded. During the years leading up to the lawsuit, El Toro served as the primary base for the Marine Corps West Coast Fighting Forces. In the 1960s, many US Marines returned from Vietnam on MCAS El Toro.
Mcas El Toro Air Show 1990 Poster
In 1958, Marine Corps Air Station Miami closed, bringing the 3rd Marine Aviation Division to El Toro.
During Richard Nixon's presidency, MCAS El Toro was used for flights to his "West White House" in San Clemente, California. On August 9, 1974, after resigning from the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Richard and Pat Nixon flew a VC-137C SAM 27000 from Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, to El Toro.
Originally, the land around the base was used primarily for agricultural purposes when it began, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, residential development began in the area; Much of it was directly in the path of the site's airstrips, which was a major problem because the constant loud noise from overhead planes and helicopters was highly irritating to area residents. Because of this, few people wanted to move there, causing new neighborhoods to struggle.
In 1993, MCAS El Toro was designated for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission and all of its operations were transferred to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The station officially closed on July 2, 1999.
El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Archives
Before the site can be developed for civilian use, the Department of the Navy (which oversees both the Navy and the Marine Corps) must perform a viral remediation to clean up contaminated soil at the site. The contamination was caused by volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily industrial solvents used for many years for purposes such as degreasing, paint stripping, and aircraft cleaning.
Over the years, VOCs seeped into the groundwater, spreading contaminated groundwater three miles (5 km) west of the station. In July 2005, the Navy's Base Remediation and Closure (BRAC) Program Management Office (PMO) issued a public announcement that cleanup of the contaminated soil had been completed.
A project of two local water authorities with financial support from the Navy and the State of California.
The closure of MCAS El Toro ignited a political firestorm over the fate of the facility. With the existing infrastructure, some wanted to turn the site into an international airport. Advocates for the new airport will come from northern Orange County (which prefers a nearby airport) and areas within the arrival and departure noise zones around John Wayne Airport in Newport Beach (hoping to close that airport and the new in El Toro).
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Opponents of the airport proposal are mostly residents of towns near El Toro, such as Irvine, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Dana Point and Mission Viejo, where residents panic at the thought of the noise of the airports. planes. . Cities opposing the airport formed a joint authority called the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (EDRPA) to oppose the project. They also joined grassroots efforts to raise money for election campaigns by collecting signatures on petitions to put anti-airport initiatives on the ballot. This section lobbied hard for other uses for the property. The City of Irvine sought to annex the property for parks and related uses.
The battle between pro-airport and anti-airport groups dominated Orange County politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s. From 1994 to 2001, $80 million in county and city funds were allocated to campaigns for both parties.
The airport proposals were defeated in two hotly contested ballot initiatives, and further challenges in the courts followed. A series of commercial demonstration flights from the airport in June 1999 produced less noise than previous military aircraft, but provoked public opposition because they used non-military flight paths. Getting closer. Opponents of the airport eventually prevailed, and in March 2002, the Department of Defense announced that it would sell the land that would become Orange County Greater Park to private interests.
The Navy contracted with the General Services Administration and Los Angeles-based Colliers International to assist in the sale of MCAS El Toro. Colliers called the Heritage Fields project a tribute to the foundation's long history and what the future of the site holds for the community and generations to come. An online auction was held, and in February 2005, a final offer of $650 million was accepted for the four parcels of land that make up the former MCAS El Toro. The winning bid was Heritage Fields LLC, a joint venture between Elnar and several other companies. Development of plans for 3,724 acres (15 km).
California's Old Marine Corps Air Station El Toro Will Get A Second Chance At Life As A Cultural Terrace
) will be dedicated to the large park on the site. A ceremony was held on August 29, 2005 to formally transfer ownership of the property to Heritage Fields LLC.
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