The Army Era: 1935 to 1942
With the loss
of the Macon also
went the Navy's
need for Sunnyvale
Naval Air Station
and Moffett Field.
On Oct. 25, 1935,
just months after
the demise of
the Macon, the
base was turned
over to the War
Department. Secretary
of the War Department,
George H. Dern
announced that
the Navy was trading
Moffett Field
to the U.S. Army
in exchange for
the Army's North
Island field in
San Diego.
Although Peninsula
residents were
saddened by the
Navy's departure,
the chambers of
commerce along
with the Peninsula
welcomed the Army
with open arms.
For the next
three years the
airfield became
home for the 82nd
Army Observation
and the 9th Airbase
Material squadrons.
During this time,
just one training
blimp remained
on the base, dwarfed
within the cavernous
Hangar 1 along
with the Army's
training aircraft.
In 1938, elements
of the Army's
18th and 20th
pursuit squadrons
came to Moffett
Field, and the
base's population
ballooned to 5,000
enlisted men and
300 officers.
Two years later,
Moffett Field
became the West
Coast training
center for the
Army Air Corps,
the predecessor
to the U.S. Air
Force. The purpose
for Moffett Field
now was to train
Air Corps cadets.
In March 1941,
probably the most
famous of these
cadets arrived
at the airfield
- actor James
Stewart. He left
less than a year
later after being
commissioned a
second lieutenant.
The actor eventually
rose in rank to
Major General
in the Air Force
Reserves.
During this
period of greater
use, a housing
shortage grew
so critical some
enlisted men had
to live in tents
set up on the
base. This situation
necessitated the
hasty construction
of a series of
wood buildings
on the east side
which became known
affectionately
as "Splinter
City."
But all was to
change by the
events that occurred
on Dec. 7, 1941.
After the attack
on Pearl Harbor,
U.S. military
leaders became
concerned that
the West Coast
lacked the kind
of aircraft needed
to patrol for
submarines and
mines. This duty
was to fall to
the U.S. Navy.
Even as the
base remained
under the jurisdiction
of the Army, the
Navy got to work
rounding up some
of the key personnel
behind the old
lighter-than-air
aircraft program.
Gradually they
began to return
to Moffett.
 In January
1942, the first
of many blimps
to be based at
Sunnyvale Air
Station, Moffett
Field arrived
unassembled by
train. Eleven
days later the
LTA (lighter-than-air)
squadron, ZP-32,
was commissioned
and had the distinction
of launching the
first LTA patrol
off the Pacific
Coast in World
War II.
Six of these
blimps were on
hand on April
16, 1942, when
the home of the
Macon was officially
recommissioned
as U.S. Naval
Air Station Sunnyvale.
Four days later
it was renamed
Naval Air Station,
Moffett Field.
Presiding over
the ceremonies
was the station's
new commanding
officer, Capt.,
D.M. Mackey, the
man who had taken
the first official
order at the original
1933 commissioning
of Moffett Field,
logging in the
now-famous command
that concluded,
"set the
watches and pipe
down."
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