The airfield was located at 13th Street & Flagship Drive on the naval base, just west of the Marine Barracks (Building M37).

[1] The first aviation activity at Mare Island took place as early as 1919, when three Mather field Army Air Corps planes landed on and took off from the Marine Parade Ground.

The first Naval aviation at Mare Island took place in August 1923, when several Navy planes arrived at the airfield while the aircraft tender Aroostook had set up some temporary hanger-sheds.

The collier USS Jupiter, the first turbo-electric-powered ship of the US Navy, was built at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1912 and was later converted into the first US aircraft carrier, USS Langley, at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia during 1920-1922.

Langley's last visit to Mare Island Naval Shipyard was between October 1936 and February 1937, when she was converted again, this time to a seaplane tender.