[1] Commissioned on 4 December 1942, the air station consisted of an airfield that had been built into the Goleta Slough and served as a training base for numerous squadrons before they deployed to support combat operations in the Pacific Theater.

In 1940, the Civil Aeronautics Authority recommended expanding the airfield in the interest of national defense which led to the city purchasing another 568 acres (2.30 km2) and building another terminal and filling in the Goleta Slough to make way for three runways.

After the outbreak of war, the United States Army Air Corps began to build revetments and station Curtiss P-40 interceptors at the airfield.

[3] In early 1944, after the Battle of Tarawa, where many felt that close air support left much to be desired, General Holland Smith recommended that Marine aviators be trained to operate from aircraft carriers.

The Marine Corps Air Station went into caretaker status on 1 March 1946, and it was released to the War Assets Administration for disposal two months later.