Hamilton Field (Hamilton AFB)

Hamilton Field was a United States Air Force base, which was inactivated in 1973, decommissioned in 1974, and put into a caretaker status with the Air Force Reserve until 1976. It was transferred to the United States Army in 1983 and was designated an Army Airfield until its BRAC closure in 1988. It is located along the western shore of San Pablo Bay in the southern portion of Novato, in Marin County, California.

History

Hamilton Field was named after First Lieutenant Lloyd Andrews Hamilton of the 17th Aero Squadron. Hamilton was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism in action" in Varsenare, Belgium, where he led a low level bombing attack on a German airdrome behind enemy lines on 13 August 1918. Thirteen days later, Hamilton died in action near Lagnicourt, France.

Origins

What would eventually become Hamilton Air Force Base has its origins in the late 1920s, when the airfield was first established. It was first unofficially named; the Marin County Air Field, Marin Airfield, Marin Meadows Air Field, and the Army Air Base at Marin Meadows. It was officially termed from 1929 until 1932 the "Air Corps Station, San Rafael." With formal development beginning, it was named Hamilton Field on 12 July 1932.
Construction of the airfield began about 1 July 1932, with the airfield being originally designed to accommodate four bomb squadrons and their personnel. Captain Don L. Hutchins, later Colonel Don L. Hutchins in WWII, of the US Army Air Corps reported on duty as the first commanding officer of the new field on 25 June 1933, and Captain John M. Davies' 70th Service Squadron arrived that December as the first squadron assigned to the base.
The Hamilton Field Station Complement replaced the 70th Service Squadron on 1 March 1935. The original construction program was completed on 12 May 1935, at which time the field was ceremonially handed over to Brigadier General Henry 'Hap' Arnold, commanding the 1st Wing, by Governor Frank Merriam of California.
The U.S. Weather Bureau had an official cooperative weather station on the base from 1934 to 1964.

Bomber mission

Hamilton Field was originally a bomber installation. On 5 May 1934, the first planes assigned to Hamilton were Martin B-10 and B-12 bombers of the 7th Bombardment Group, having been transferred from March Airfield. Shortly thereafter, amphibious reconnaissance aircraft of the 88th Observation Squadron were assigned to Hamilton.
The B-12 bombers housed at Hamilton Field were phased out in 1937, and the 7th Bomb Group was re-equipped with the Douglas B-18 Bolo. The B-18 was a standard two-engine short-range bomber, and was capable of airlifting combat-equipped troops en masse, an important advance in combat techniques at the time.
The next step forward in bomber technology was the development of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a four-engine airplane that was bigger, faster, and heavier than any previous bomber and required a longer and stronger runway to operate. Because the runway at Hamilton Field was not adequate for the B-17, the larger planes had to go elsewhere. In 1939, the 7th Bombardment Group was designated a "heavy" bomb group and was moved to Fort Douglas, Utah on 7 September 1940, to train with B-17s.

Fighter mission

Hamilton became a fighter base under the USAAC Air Force Combat Command in December 1940, becoming the home of the 9th, 10th and 11th Pursuit Wings. The 9th PW was reassigned from March Field, bringing the 14th and 51st squadrons equipped with the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. Two other pursuit wings, the 10th, with the 20th and 35th Pursuit Groups, and the 11th, with the 51st, 54th and 55th Pursuit Groups, were activated at Hamilton in December 1940, all equipped with P-40s, the Republic P-43 Lancer, and a scattering of older Curtis P-36 Mohawks.
The arrival of the pursuit wings and their crews caused crowding at the base and initiated the first of many housing problems. Hamilton was assigned to the USAAC 4th Air Force, on 7 December 1941, and the airfield was designated an air defense base for the West Coast as part of the Western Defense Command on 5 January 1942.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

In response to the growing crisis in the Pacific, on 6 December 1941, the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron with four B-17Cs and two new B-17Es left Hamilton Field bound for Hickam Field, Hawaii on their way to Clark Field in the Philippines to reinforce the American Far East Air Force there. None were armed. After leaving Hamilton, and flying all through the night, the bombers arrived over Oahu on the morning of 7 December 1941, and faced an unusual welcome. The B-17s had arrived over Oahu during the Japanese air attack on Hawaii which triggered American entry into World War II. They arrived at Pearl Harbor at the height of the attack. Two of the planes managed to land at a short fighter strip at Haliewa, one made a belly-landing at Bellows, one set down on the Kahuku Golf Course, and the remainder landed at Hickam under the strafing of Japanese planes.
The B-17Es of the 7th Bombardment Group were moved back to Hamilton from Utah for deployment to the Far East. Six of them arrived in Hawaii just after the Pearl Harbor attack, but the rest of them were ordered to remain in California and were sent south to Muroc AAF near Rosamond.

World War II

During World War II, Hamilton was an important West Coast air training facility. Its mission was that of an initial training base for newly formed fighter groups. The airfield was rapidly expanded to a wartime status, with construction of additional barracks, mess halls, administration buildings, warehouses, Link Trainer buildings, schools, hospital and other structures.
The following units trained at Hamilton:

Group	Assigned dates	Aircraft type
78th Fighter Group	May 1942 – November 1942	P-38 "Lightning"
329th Fighter Group	10 July 1942 – 13 July 1942	P-38 "Lightning"
354th Fighter Group	10 November 1942 – 18 January 1943	P-39 "Airacobra"
357th Fighter Group	1 December 1942 – 4 March 1943	P-51 "Mustang"
363rd Fighter Group	1 March 1943 – August 1943	P-39 "Airacobra"
367th Fighter Group	15 July 1943 – 11 October 1943	P-38 "Lightning"
369th Fighter Group	1 August 1943 – 5 November 1943	P-40 "Warhawk"
372nd Fighter Group	28 October 1943 – 7 December 1943	P-40 "Warhawk"
478rd Fighter Group	1 December 1943 – 12 December 1943	P-39 "Airacobra"

Auxiliary training fields used by Hamilton Field during World War II were:

In addition, the Air Transport Command used Hamilton as a major aerial port and transshipment facility for troops and cargo heading to the Pacific and CBI Theaters. The ATC West Coast Wing was headquartered at the airfield, with the 64th Transport Group being assigned early in 1942.
The 1503rd AAF Base Unit was also stationed here.

Postwar use

In 1946, the Fairfax, California B-17 crash took place as a B-17 bomber attempted to land at Hamilton Field.
In the initial postwar years, Hamilton remained Air Transport Command's primary West Coast facility until 1948 when Military Air Transport Service moved most activities to nearby Travis AFB. During this time Hamilton functioned also as a major separation center for returning troops. MATS, and later Military Airlift Command, retained a presence at Hamilton through the Air Force Reserve, which based several Air Transport, and later Military Airlift wings at the base until it closed in 1976. Strategic Air Command also assigned several reserve reconnaissance groups to Hamilton in the late 1940s, flying photographic missions with RB-29 Superfortresses. Tactical Air Command assigned the F-84 Thunderjet-equipped 349th Fighter-Bomber Wing in the mid-1950s to Hamilton also as part of its reserve forces.
However, the new Air Defense Command, was the major presence at Hamilton after World War II, using the base as headquarters for the air defense of the Pacific Coast. The base went through a series of command redesignations during this period. In the United States Army Air Forces reorganization of 1946 it was assigned to Air Defense Command. Later, in 1948 the base was assigned to Continental Air Command, then back to Air Defense Command in 1951, then, as its usefulness waned, to the Air Force Reserve in 1973.

325th Fighter Group/Wing

The initial Air Defense Command major unit at Hamilton was the 325th Fighter Group which was reassigned from Mitchel AAF, New York on 9 April 1947. Squadrons of the 325th FG were the 317th and 318th Fighter Squadrons, both being initially equipped with the Northrop P-61 Black Widow. The units mission was air defense training missions along the West Coast.
In the immediate postwar years, the Black Widow was pressed into service as an air defense interceptor in response to the USAAF's problems in developing a useful jet-powered night/all-weather fighter. The war-weary P-61s were soon replaced in May 1948 by the North American F-82F Twin Mustang, and on 10 May the Wing and component groups and squadrons were redesignated as All Weather. The 325th was the first Air Defense Command group to receive the F-82.
The 325th Fighter Wing also was established on 10 May 1948, as part of the "one base, one wing" concept, with the 325th Fighter Group becoming a subordinate unit of the wing. The unit was transferred on 27 June 1948, to Moses Lake AFB, Washington for the purpose of defending the Hanford Nuclear site.