Eagle Field (airport)


Eagle Field is a privately owned, private use airport in Fresno County, California, United States. It is located seven nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Dos Palos, a city in neighboring Merced County.
WWW eaglefield.net

History

It was first activated on June 24, 1943, as United States Army Air Forces primary pilot training airfield known as Dos Palos Airport. It was assigned to the USAAF West Coast Training Center, operated under contract by Coast Aviation Corp. The airport had three turf runways, aligned 00/18 ; 09/27, and 13/31. It had several satellite airfields in the local area for emergency and overflow landings.
  • Hammond Auxiliary Field
  • Vail Auxiliary Field
  • Dos Palos Emergency Field
  • Canal Field Auxiliary Field
  • Mason Auxiliary Field
Flying training was performed with Ryan PT-22s as the primary trainer. Also had several PT-17 Stearmans and a few P-40 Warhawks assigned. It was inactivated on December 28, 1944, with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program and was declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers.
The base was then used as an aircraft storage depot for excess USAAF training aircraft, having UC-78s, PT-17s, Vultee BT-13/15, and AT-6 Texans. Eventually it was discharged to the War Assets Administration and is now from time to time used as a crop dusting airfield. After the war, the City of Dos Palos briefly operated a golf course on the site before the property reverted to the federal government. In 1980 it was put up for auction.

In popular culture

Eagle Field was in a short scene of the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Heritage of Eagles Air Museum

It is the home of the . Many wartime buildings remain at the airfield.

Facilities and aircraft

Eagle Field covers an area of 127 acres at an elevation of 153 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 12/30 with an asphalt surface measuring 2,300 by 60 feet. There are 8 aircraft based at this airport: 6 single-engine, 1 multi-engine, and 1 jet.