Victorville Army Airfield auxiliary fields

After the war the Victorville Army Airfield was renamed George Air Force Base on January 13, 1948.

The base, called Victorville Army Flying School, was ready to use before the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Aircraft based at the school for training were: Curtiss-Wright AT-9, North American T-6 Texan, and Cessna AT-17 Bobcat.

The 36th Flight Training Wing brought: Bell P-39 Airacobra, Consolidated B-24 Liberator and North American B-25 Mitchell.

The base was renamed George Air Force Base after Brigadier General Harold Huston George (1892-1942), a World War I ace pilot, killed during WW2 accident at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 29 April 1942.

During the Cold War, in 1965, to the south of the Hawes Auxiliary Airfield the US Air Force built a radio relay station for the Survivable Low Frequency Communications System made by Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

The Hawes Radio Relay Site came under the command of the nearby Edwards Air Force Base.

In 2008 the government removed much of the attractive nuisance, with only a few small ruins remaining, there is still a faint outline of the four runways.

In 1958 there were a number of near collisions around Helendale Airport and El Mirage Field, the FAA did a study to find the cause.

[9] On March 19, 1971, a Rockwell Aero Commander 560 coming from Van Nuys, California, on a test flight crashed approaching Helendale Airport, the speed of the plane was too slow.

The US Army acquired 1,292.72 acres (523.15 ha) for the airfield from the Department of the Interior which held title to the public land.

Mirage Auxiliary Airfield was built on a dry lake bed to train pilots in take off and landing.

In May 1979 Walt Disney studios shot part of the movie The Last Flight of Noah's Ark about a fictional B-29 plane called Fertile Myrtle at El Mirage Field.

In 1985 the El Mirage Field closed to public use and was leased by General Atomics and is now used for testing drones aircraft and airborne sensors.

Starting in 1944 Marine aircrews used Grey Butte for training with planes from Mojave Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) this was to prepare for Aircraft carrier landings in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II during 1944 and 1945.

Two pilots, Al Adolph and Harry Bernier, along with a plane mechanic were based in out Grey Butte Field.

To the south of Grey Butte Field is the San Bernardino Mountains and team had a water reservoir to support fire fighting.

[23][24] To support the training at the airfields the Army built the Victorville Precision Bombing Range No.

The 20 large targets were built from Apple Valley, California, out into the desert to support bomber training in precision bombing.

Victorville Precision Bombing Range Target 1 is located at 34°35′33″N 116°11′53″W / 34.59250°N 116.19806°W / 34.59250; -116.19806 in Apple Valley, California at the site of the current Walmat storage center.

Victorville Precision Bombing Range Target 4 is located at 34°27′26″N 117°07′15″W / 34.45722°N 117.12083°W / 34.45722; -117.12083 in Apple Valley at Del Or Road and Laguna Seca Drive.

Victorville Precision Bombing Range Target 6 is located at 34°30′08″N 116°52′18″W / 34.50222°N 116.87167°W / 34.50222; -116.87167 in Lucerne Valley, California.

[25][26][27][28][29][30] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency