In 1939 the Navy took ownership of Camp Kearny in San Diego and commissioned it as the Naval Auxiliary Air Station on 02/20/1943. By the end of WWII, the base had grown from 423 to 1101 acres and the combined facilities were commissioned as Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar on 05/01/1946. Further expansion to accommodate jet aircraft took place in the 1950s, the station became the Fighter Command for the Pacific Fleet in 1973 and added the “Top Gun” Flight School (of 1986 movie fame), and then became the Airborne Early Warning Wing Command. In 1998, the Naval Air Station closed and again became a Marine Corps Air Station. Read more about the history of the military and aviation in San Diego in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
