The Mojave
Virtual Museum
The "Mojave Marines": Life at MCAAS Mojave
 The flight line is bustling in this undated USMC photo |
 MCAAS Mojave from high overhead in 1945. Many of the buildings and roads survive into the 21st Century, as can be seen by jumping over to this image on the Airport's web site. |
The Mojave Airport got its start in 1935 when Kern County opened a small dirt airstrip for general aviation that had only rudimentary support services.
On September 24,
1942, with the war well underway and the great need for combat pilots to be trained, the
airport was taken over by the federal government and rebuilt as the Mojave Marine Corps
Auxiliary Air Station (MCAAS). At least 32 different squadrons trained at Mojave, and they
became collectively known as the “Mojave Marines”.
From 1951 through 1959, it was operated as an extension of MCAS El Torro. When the USMC acquired its first jets, F9F Panthers and Cougars in the early 1950s, the facility was expanded, with an additional 1,000 feet added to each end of the 5,000 foot long runway 12-30.
From 1963 to 1965, joint USMC, USAF and US Army exercises dubbed “Desert Strike” were held in various locations across the vast Mojave Desert, with MCAAS Mojave serving as the Command Center.
Squadrons that trained at MCAAS Mojave