Marine Corps Air Station Tustin

Marine Corps Air Station Tustin was a military installation in Orange County that covered more than sixteen hundred acres and housed two massive wooden hangars built for airship operations. One of the hangars stretches over a thousand feet long and remains standing as an engineering landmark today.

The station opened in 1942 as Naval Air Station Santa Ana for observation blimps patrolling the Southern California coast during World War II in search of submarines. After the war the site served helicopter and transport units until its closure in 1999.

The remaining South Hangar, measuring 1,072 feet in length and 192 feet in height, stands as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

The former military site has been transformed into a development project called Tustin Legacy that combines housing, shops and parks. Visitors can explore the area but access to the remaining hangar is restricted for safety reasons.

Before closure the station leased more than five hundred acres to local farmers for commercial crop work, allowing military flight operations and agriculture to exist side by side. This farming arrangement helped offset base operating costs and brought local growers into direct contact with the military community.