Editing Moffett Federal Airfield (section)

===Naval operations===
[[File:Moffett Field circa 1934.jpg|thumb|left|Established in 1931, Moffett Field in [[Sunnyvale, California|Sunnyvale]]/[[Mountain View, California|Mountain View]] has played a strategic role in Silicon Valley's evolution, researching and developing key technologies, first for the [[U.S. military]] and then for [[NASA]]. Today it hosts the [[NASA Ames Research Center|Ames Research Center]].]]
The naval air station (NAS) was authorized by an Act of Congress, signed by President [[Herbert Hoover]] on 12 February 1931. Construction of the original facilities was begun 8 July 1931.<ref name=BYD>{{harvnb|Bureau of Yards and Docks, US Navy|1947| loc=p. 251, Volume I&nbsp;— Part II: The Continental Bases}}</ref> The base was originally named '''Airbase Sunnyvale CAL''' as it was thought that calling it Mountain View would cause officials to fear airships colliding with mountainsides.<ref name="DeBolt">{{cite news |last= DeBolt|first=Daniel |date= 2008-11-28|title= Moffett Field's serendipitous 75th anniversary|url=https://www.mv-voice.com/listings/items/2008-11-28/|work=Mountain View Voice|page=6|access-date=2024-09-25|ref=none}}</ref> The original station was commissioned on 12 April 1933 and dedicated '''NAS Sunnyvale'''.<ref name=BYD/> After the death of [[Rear Admiral]] [[William A. Moffett]], who is credited with the creation of the airfield,<ref name="nps">{{cite web | url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/santaclara/usn.htm | title=US Naval Air Station Sunnyvale, CA Historic District (Moffett Field) | work=California's Historic Silicon Valley | publisher=[[National Park Service]] | access-date=2007-03-13 | archive-date=2007-04-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407001525/http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/santaclara/usn.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> in the loss of the [[USS Akron (ZRS-4)|USS ''Akron'']] on 4 April 1933, the airfield at NAS Sunnyvale was renamed '''Moffett Field''' on 1 September 1933. In the tradition of the Navy, the installation is named for the surrounding city, while the airfield on the installation, including runways, can be named after an individual. Examples include Forrest Sherman Airfield at NAS Pensacola and Halsey Airfield at NAS North Island.

After the ''Macon'' crashed in the Pacific Ocean on 12 February 1935, the Navy considered closing NAS Sunnyvale and Moffett Field at due to its high cost of operations. Also, in San Diego, the Army and Navy were having jurisdictional issues over [[Naval Air Station North Island]] in San Diego harbor, which had both [[NAS San Diego]] as well as the Army's [[Rockwell Field]] dividing the island. The Navy wanted the Army out of North Island as it needed to expand NAS San Diego as a training airfield for its growing number of aircraft carrier pilots. The Army resisted strongly, as Rockwell Field was a major training airfield for flight cadets, and had been using the field for flight training since 1912. With the subtle assistance of [[President Franklin Roosevelt]], a former assistant secretary of the Navy, a complex arrangement of facilities realignment was made by the War Department which transferred NAS Sunnyvale and Moffett Field to Army jurisdiction and Rockwell Field to the Navy in October 1935, becoming [[NAS North Island]].<ref name="Rockwell">[http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/v52-3/pdf/2006-3_air.pdf Forgotten Air Pioneers: The Army’s Rockwell Field at North Island]</ref>

Upon taking jurisdiction of NAS Sunnyvale and Moffett Field, the base was renamed Army Air Corps Training Base Sunnyvale. The Army also took on the high cost of Hangar One's maintenance and wanted to inactivate the facility. However, President Roosevelt would not allow the closure of the facility, and the Army assigned Moffett to its [[Western Flying Training Command]] as headquarters for pilot and aircrew flight training west of the [[Rocky Mountains]]. Also in 1939, the former NAS Sunnyvale saw the establishment of the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory.<ref name="CAMUS">[http://www.militarymuseum.org/NASMoffettFld.html Historic California Posts Naval Air Station, Moffett Field]</ref>

As an aftermath of the [[Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]], the Navy wanted to use Moffett Field and the large dirigible hangar for blimp operations along with Pacific Coast. However, the Army, still stinging about having to transfer Rockwell Field to the Navy, resisted strongly. Again the inter-service rivalry was overruled by the War Department, citing the Navy's need for coastal defense a priority and ordered the Army to move its training headquarters to [[Hamilton Air Force Base|Hamilton Field]] in Marin County, north of San Francisco.<ref name="CAMUS"/>

[[File:Aerial View of the NASA Ames Research Center - GPN-2000-001560.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial view of NAS Moffett Field and NASA Ames Research Center in 1982]]

On April 16, 1942, control of the facility was returned to the Navy and it was recommissioned as NAS Sunnyvale.<ref name=BYD/> Four days later it was again renamed Naval Air Station Moffett Field, thereby becoming one of the few Naval Air Stations named after an individual. The Navy then built Hangars 2 and 3 on the eastern side of the runways for additional blimp operations. Due to the priority of metal for use in building war materials such as airplanes, ships and tanks, these two hangars were built from wood and concrete. From the end of [[World War II]] until its closure, NAS Moffett Field saw the development and use of several generations of land-based anti-submarine warfare and maritime patrol aircraft, including the [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] [[P2V Neptune]] and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] [[P-3 Orion]]. Until the demise of the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] and for some time thereafter, daily [[anti-submarine]], maritime reconnaissance, Fleet support, and various training sorties flew out from NAS Moffett Field to patrol along the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] coastline, while Moffett's other squadrons and aircraft periodically deployed to other Pacific, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf bases for periods of up to six months.

The onset of the Korean War brought a restructuring of the Navy's disposition of air forces, resulting in several squadrons being transferred to the Moffett Field as well as [[Naval Air Station Alameda]]. During the 1950s the Moffett served as the fighter base, with Alameda hosting attack aircraft. Naval aircraft home based in Moffett included the [[F9F Panther]] and [[FJ-3 Fury]]. On Feb. 1, 1957, a Navy Thunderjet plane piloted by Capt. Robert Mulvehill, 32, of Edenburg, PA, crashed at 3:25&nbsp;p.m. in Mountain View while on approach to Moffett Field. The plane was travelling parallel to Castro Street when it crashed near the corner of California and Oak Streets, narrowly missing an elementary school, according to the Mountain View Register-Leader—the local paper of record at the time.

By the end of the 1950s the Navy was looking to consolidate assets as the majority of carrier based aircraft had transitioned to larger jet powered aircraft, needing longer runways. The majority of squadrons based at Moffett transferred to [[Naval Air Station Miramar]] when they transitioned to the [[F-8 Crusader]]; while attack aircraft from Alameda were relocated to the newly opened [[Naval Air Station Lemoore]]. By 1961, the last fighter aircraft had left Moffett Field.<ref name="VF-154 History">{{Cite web |url=http://www.vfa154.navy.mil/history.html |title=VF-154 History |access-date=2015-02-06 |archive-date=2015-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206093041/http://www.vfa154.navy.mil/history.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1960, the nearby [[Air Force Satellite Test Center]] (STC), was created adjacent to (on the SE corner of) NAS Moffett Field. Often referred to as "the Blue Cube," it was operational until 2010 as [[Onizuka Air Force Station]], part of the Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN). The building was demolished in 2014.

In August 1986 during the ''NAS Moffett Field Airshow'', the Italian demonstration team, [[Frecce Tricolori]], and the German Navy's F-104 flight demonstration team, the Vikings,<ref name="Vikings">{{cite web | url=http://www.fly-navy.de/vikings/vikings.html | title=The Vikings Display Team | access-date=2011-12-12}}</ref> performed in front of the crowd.

At its peak in the 1990s, NAS Moffett Field was the U.S. Navy's principal Pacific Fleet base for the P-3C operations. In addition to headquarters staffs for Commander, U.S. Patrol Wings Pacific Fleet (COMPATWINGSPAC); Commander, [[Patrol Wing 10]] (COMPATWING 10); and Commander, Reserve Patrol Wing Pacific / [[Patrol Wing 4]] (COMRESPATWINGPAC/COMPATWING 4), the air station also hosted [[Patrol Squadron THIRTY-ONE (VP-31)]]...the west coast P-3C Fleet Replacement Squadron, six additional active duty P-3C squadrons and a [[United States Navy Reserve|Naval Air Reserve]] P-3C squadron in addition to [[NASA]] and [[California Air National Guard]] aviation activities.