Naval Auxiliary Air Station Vernalis

[3] The air base also supported the nearby Hammond General Hospital.

On the 4000-foot runway, Seabees installed a catapult and arresting gear for aircraft carrier training.

[citation needed] The site came to life again in the 1950s; the US Air Force used it as the Vernalis Geophysics Annex, operated with the Cambridge Research Laboratory.

It was used with other Annex bases in the Air Force's Project Moby Dick, to test high altitude wind patterns.

From the Annex, stratospheric balloons were launched and tracked by a network of radio receiving stations across the US.

Naval Auxiliary Air Station Vernalis looking south, showing 7000-foot and 4000-foot runways. Koster and Gaffery Roads intersect near the upper-right corner.