Twentynine Palms Strategic Expeditionary Landing Field or Twentynine Palms SELF is a military use

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

located nine nautical miles (17 km) northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " cit ...

Twentynine Palms Twentynine Palms (also known as 29 Palms) is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Twentynine Palms serves as one of the entry points to Joshua Tree National Park. History Twentynine Palms was named for the palm trees found there in ...

, a city in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,18 ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The SELF is the largest expeditionary airfield (EAF) operated by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

. It is also known as the Twentynine Palms EAF and is located at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) Twentynine Palms.

History

History of the EAF

The history of the Expeditionary Airfield (EAF) and its supporting units is closely interwoven. In March 1977, General

Louis H. Wilson Louis Hugh Wilson Jr. (February 11, 1920 – June 21, 2005) was United States Marine Corps four-star general and a World War II recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Guam. He served as the 26th commandant of the Mar ...

, the 26th

Commandant of the Marine Corps The commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) is normally the highest-ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Joint Chiefs of Staff: composition; functions. The CMC reports directly to the sec ...

, activated the EAF. The initial unit placed in charge of the EAF was designated Detachment MABS-11. Two years later, in July 1979, Detachment MABS-11 became operationally attached to

Marine Wing Support Group 37 Marine Wing Support Group 37 (MWSG-37) was a United States Marine Corps aviation combat service support unit based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar that was composed of 4 squadrons, that provided the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and I Marine Expedi ...

(MWSG-37) and was redesignated MWSG-37, Detachment Bravo in 1982. Originally, only a cadre of Marines provided caretaker support for the EAF between exercises. However, during October 1988 MWSS-173 was transferred from

MCAS Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay or MCAS Kaneohe Bay is a United States Marine Corps (USMC) airfield located within the Marine Corps Base Hawaii complex, formerly known as Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF) Kaneohe Bay or Naval Air Station (NAS) ...

to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms in support of the EAF. On 4 March 1993, MWSS-173 was deactivated and Aviation Ground Support Element (AGSE) was activated to continue operating and maintaining the EAF. On 1 April 1999, AGSE deactivated and was redesignated as

Marine Wing Support Squadron 374(- reinforced) Marine Wing Support Squadron 374 (MWSS 374) was an aviation ground support unit of the United States Marine Corps. They were based out of Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California. The squadron was part of Marine Wing ...

(MWSS-374). Currently the squadron is over 700 strong, and possesses the ability to operate a tactical airfield including air traffic control services and maintaining ground and weapons support equipment for aircraft.

EAF 29 Palms

The 29 Palms EAF is under operational control of the Commanding General,

Third Marine Aircraft Wing The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (abbreviated as 3rd MAW) is the major west coast aviation unit of the United States Marine Corps. It is headquartered at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in San Diego, California and provides the aviation combat el ...

. Day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the Marines of MWSS-374. The EAF was built in 1976 to test the Naval services aluminum expeditionary runway concept. The austere EAF is an example of what Naval aviation would use in a tactical situation where no prior airfield exists. It is a cornerstone of the Marine Corps'

Combined Arms Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects (for example by using infantry and armour in an urban environment in which each supports the other) ...

Exercise (CAX) Program. Today's EAF has changed very little since the original construction. Over three million square feet of aluminum AM-2 matting make up the primary runway,

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with aprons, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller general aviation airports sometimes use gravel ...

s, and parking areas. The EAF operates as a "host nation" airfield to which deployed units bring their own organic support. Support functions provided at the EAF include the following: Airfield Operations,

Air Traffic Control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

, Airfield Construction, Maintenance and Repair,

Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) is a type of firefighting that involves the emergency response, mitigation, evacuation, and rescue of passengers and crew of aircraft involved in aviation accidents and incidents. Airports with schedule ...

, Common Aviation Support Equipment, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Weather Services, Communications, Aircraft Refueling, Fuel Storage, Engineer Support, and Motor Transport.

Facilities

Strategic Expeditionary Landing Field (SELF) is a military airfield with an

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

matted surface that is designed for sustained operations in an

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

objective area. The runway, taxiways, and aircraft parking areas are constructed entirely of AM-2 aluminum matting. The AM-2 surface matting is a fabricated aluminum panel 1.5" thick, which consists of a hollow, extruded, one-piece main section with extruded end connectors welded to each end. The top surface of the AM-2 matting is coated with a non-skid material. The runway is and can accommodate the largest aircraft in the military inventory: the

C-5 Galaxy The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-ran ...

and

C-17 Globemaster The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...

. In a normal year, Marine Wing Support Squadron 374 operates the SELF 300 days, conducts 3,600 hours of flight operations, supports 16,647 aircraft, and pumps over five million gallons of jet fuel.

References

External links

Aerial photo as of 22 May 1994
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...

'' via

MSR Maps Microsoft Research Maps (MSR Maps) was a free online repository of public domain aerial imagery and topographic maps provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The site was a collaboration between Microsoft Research (MSR), Bing Maps ...

* * {{US-airport-mil, NXP, - Airports in San Bernardino County, California Military in San Bernardino County, California Military facilities in the Mojave Desert Twentynine Palms, California