Naval Auxiliary Landing Field (NALF) Santa Rosa, California, also known as Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Santa Rosa, was a military

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

, in

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

, USA.

History

NALF Santa Rosa was first commissioned in 1943, as a naval outlying landing field of

Naval Air Station Alameda Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a United States Navy Naval Air Station mostly in Alameda, California, with a slight portion of it within San Francisco proper, on San Francisco Bay. NAS Alameda had two runways: 13–31 measuring and ...

. There were two 7,000-foot concrete runways. One of these runways was oriented at 160-340 and the other was oriented at 060–240. Each runway had a parallel taxiway, and there was a concrete apron in the northwest quadrant of the runway crossing. Two other outlying landing fields,

Naval Outlying Landing Field Cotati Naval Outlying Landing Field Cotati was a naval airfield located near Cotati, in Sonoma County, California, US. It maintained active naval flight operations during the period 1941–1945. History The federal government purchased 142 acres of fa ...

and Naval Outlying Landing Field Little River, supported Santa Rosa flight operations training 21 squadrons of fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo planes during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Santa Rosa airfield was relinquished by the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

between 1946–48 and reactivated in 1951 for the Korean War. It was abandoned by the Navy between 1952 and 1954. It was reopened between 1966 and 1967 as a civilian airport named the Santa Rosa Air Center, and it permanently closed in 1991.

Film locations

*''

Die Hard 2 ''Die Hard 2'' (also known by its tagline ''Die Harder'' or ''Die Hard 2: Die Harder'')The film's onscreen title is ''Die Hard 2'', as also given at the initial home-video release'official website The film's original advertising used "Die Har ...

'' (1990) Scenes shot at Santa Rosa Air Center. *'' Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!'' (1992) Shot over a four-week period at Santa Rosa Air Center.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is a website detailing information and first hand memories about airports in the United States which are no longer in operation, or are rarely used. The website was started by Paul Freeman in 1999 as he had d ...

: Santa Rosa Air Center History of Santa Rosa, California Military in the San Francisco Bay Area

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

Closed installations of the United States Navy