June 1 & 2, 2013

Get Tickets Now!

A Dos Palos Lion’s Club Fundraiser to Help the Air Field

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

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  Eagle Field Fly-In 2007

Saturday June 1^st, 2013

Enjoy a fine dinner prepared by Espana’s Catering of Los Banos and listen to the sensational 1940’s music of the 18-piece Knight Sounds Big Band, all of this in an ambience that takes you back to when this was an active US Army Air Force flight training base.

Tears will well up in your eyes as veterans from WWII through current enlistment stand up in front of the crowd while the band plays a moving medley of the service songs. The dance contest is guaranteed to brighten your evening, and you will want to bid on an array of interesting items at our silent auction.  For those who have attended past events you will notice a lot of sprucing of the barracks and hospital, a work in progress. And you will see that the planting of more hay has greened up some areas near the runway and just north of the hangar.

Eagle Field will be packed with military aircraft, vehicles and re-enactors of the era. You can visit the museum and take a field tour in the old Mack “General’s bus” to review authentic re-enactor encampments of Allied and perhaps enemy troops. The dress code is semi-formal; or you can put on that old uniform if you like or wear civilian clothing of the ‘40’s.

All profits go into a special Lion’s Club account dedicated to keeping Eagle Field up and running. Our plan is to have several Eagle Field fundraisers a year, and we cannot thank these Lion’s Club folks enough for their support! Eagle Field has become a community effort, and your attendance at this and other events, such as the vintage drag races on May 18/19, is what will keep the dream alive!!!

Former Eagle Field Cadets, Eagle Field workers and all other World War II Veterans and Families are encouraged to meet in the Administration Building Museum at 1:00 PM on Saturday for snacks and conversation. The Museum will be closed to other visitors until after this meeting.

Sunday June 2^nd, 2013

The Lion’s Club breakfast starts at 8 AM and goes until 11 AM. There will be time for you to enjoy visiting the re-enactor encampments and the museum, and you’ll want to watch the departing aircraft. Sunday is low key and the perfect way to top off the weekend.

Saturday Schedule

Sunday Schedule

Hotels

For the Pilots: First of all, be safe and use good judgment at our uncontrolled field, and please monitor/use 122.9 to announce your arrival. There will be a shuttle to the Vagabond Hotel ONLY, with runs approximately every hour beginning at 9PM. The shuttle stop is at the Quonset Hut.

RVs: Are welcome for ticketed guests only. Self-contained RVs please, as we have NO hookups. The ideal RV arrival time is Friday through 1 PM Saturday, but you are welcome to come in Thursday. If you plan to use a generator, please try to park in such a way as to minimize disturbance of others. If you park with your windows facing north you will get a good breeze at night to cool things down a bit.

If you intend to bring a vintage aircraft or warbird and would like to inquire about how to attend this event and receive up to 2* complimentary tickets please visit the “Contact Us” page and let us know you are interested.

Want to buy tickets by check? Click here to download a mail in form!

Purchase by securely with a credit card or PayPal below

*Those attending with bombers, fighters, and trainers will receive 2 complimentary tickets. Those attending with historic light aircraft such as l-birds or small vintage aircraft will receive 1 complimentary ticket. The event organizers reserve the right to determine which category your aircraft fits into.

The drag races we have every May and October have worked out very well and the monies earned are going into Eagle Field projects. It has not worked out perfectly, as we have had some lousy rain at some of the races, meaning attendance was way down. And, we had to spend a lot of money upfront to repair the runway for drag cars (Which is also good for airplanes!). We also had to purchased grandstands, which required a total overhaul in order for them to be safe, therefore we have not put much money in the bank as of yet. But, it is very promising and we did make some money on the most recent race.

Rocky Phillips, of Fresno, is the primary person responsible for bringing the races to Eagle Field. They are like races of the fifties and early sixties, and it really takes you back in time to see the old 32 Ford type hotrods blazing down the runway. For safety purposes we keep to the speeds down a bit by running only an eight of a mile track, versus the quarter mile they do at larger venues. Our intent is to keep the races smallish and simple, as we are not trying to compete with the big boys. Of all the hundreds of drag races held throughout the USA every year, we are proud to say that Hot Rod Magazine, the bible of hot rod folks, chose to feature the Eagle Field Drags in some of their issues.

We just had the May 19/20 races, which were very well organized, the weather was perfect, mostly the cars were old school and there was a lot of down home fun to be had! And, we got the first chance to use our newly rebuilt and very comfortable grandstands. The rebuilding of these grandstands was a major undertaking by mostly drag race volunteers. If we ever have a real airshow at Eagle, these stands will be perfect.

On Saturday we had our flamboyant flagman starter, with the old school racing concept of seeing  who could get to the finish line first, with no timing….just whoever finished first was the winner. On Sunday we had the more modern “Christmas Tree” starter, with lights to indicate GO, and there was timing in place for elapsed time and speed. There must have been sixty to eighty RVs, lots of pop up tents along the raceway and many different kinds of food. There was a very festive and fair-like atmosphere, with the music of racing motors in the background.

It takes a lot of volunteers make these races happen, and Rocky brings in his merry band to set up the concrete safety barriers, to put up the hundreds of delineators, to get spectators in the gate, to get the cars parked, to do the safety tech inspections and to handle getting the race cars up to the starting line to run, safely off the track and then back around to run again. Of course, some of the Eagle Field volunteers assure that the grounds are prepared; they help with race car registration and keep the place clean. Once the races are over everything must be put away, so it is a very big job, everyone is wiped out afterwards, but it’s all fun nonetheless.

We had American Ambulance on hand, and Mark Jones and the rest of the Eagle Field firefighter crew did an excellent job responding to a car fire on Sunday the 20^th. Both fire engines were on the fire very quickly and saved the car from burning to the ground. After trying to get his fire extinguisher to work, the driver bailed out of the car unscathed. The crowd took up a sizable collection to help pay for repairs to the car….pretty heartwarming to see.     

We have noticed that the race car folks are very interested in the military history of Eagle Field and it is nice to see the race fans fill the museum during these events, and to see them taking pictures of their race cars taken in front of the old Harpoon, the Stuart Tank, the Huey and other artifacts.

We wish to thank the volunteers, who helped with the races, and I must stress that these races could not happen without them, they are the backbone to our success. We wish to give a special thanks to Keith Blades of Fresno, owner of KBK, for the seemingly magical dust control material he donates and applies to our fine-particle clay soil to keep the place pretty much dust-free during events. Keith continues to help us with dust control for both the races and our fly-in, and without his support we could not afford this high level of dust control. Keith himself comes out to supervise the application of the non-petrol based material, he puts it on heavy and it is very effective.   

Last but not least, we had a two showings of “Duece of Spades”, an American Graffiti type film produced, directed and acted in by Faith Granger. This lady put together a darn good film, which featured some of the hotrod legends. She is currently touring the USA with her RV and a genuine 32 Ford Hotrod.         

Keep an eye on our website for details of our upcoming race on October 6, 2012.

ARTICLES COMMING SOON

• Another Jet for Eagle Field
• Harpoon and Huey Spruce Up Projects

Copyright HOT ROD Magazine

Old Airfield Drag Racing – Deja Views
How Post-Postwar Hot Rodders Are Rediscovering Abandoned Airfields
From the November, 2010 issue of Hot Rod
By Dave Wallace
Photography by Dave Wallace/HotRodNostalgia.com, Mark Reynolds/DigitalHotRods.com

Eagle Field 11100 West Eagle Ave. Firebaugh, CA. 93622

Find directions on the map below.

With the war already raging in Europe, and tensions building in the Pacific, the United States War Department began contracting with civilian flight schools to train pilots for the U.S. Army. Coast Aviation of Palo Alto Cal was one such operator. The principle owners were Harry White, Lex Ehrman and Dick Hyde. They started a school called Mesa Del Rey in King City Cal. in March 1941, and with the entry of the United States into the war, they obtained a contract to build an additional airport and flight school in order to fill the War Departments need for pilots.

A broad, flat desert plain 10 miles south of Dos Palos was chosen as the site for this second facility. This training facility would be called Eagle Field. The ground breaking ceremony was on March 12, 1942 and construction began immediately.

With construction still underway, the first cadet pilots arrived by train from Santa Ana at the railroad station in South Dos Palos, Ca. in June of 1942. They rode to their brand new base on a tram that was used for the 1939 Worlds Fair held on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay.

In time there was steam heat and air conditioning in the barracks and offices. A soda fountain, bowling alley, landscaping and a recreation hall made Eagle Field the country club of training bases.

Only a few employees other than the cadets were actually in the Army. The others were civilians working for the contracting corporation. This included the flight instructors who wore regulation Army uniforms and had to march in drill. The civilians worked as mechanics, cooks, gardeners, office workers, fuelers, base security and many other jobs needed to make the base function. Hundreds of people from the local area and from out of town found good jobs and enjoyed working here. It was what they could do to support the war effort.

A Ryan PT-22 "Cadet" running up behind the field's Administration building

Ryan PT-22s were the first planes used for training. Cadets were expected to solo after a maximum of 10 hours of dual instruction. If they “washed out” they went back to the walking Army (talk about motivation!). If they succeeded they went on to two more levels of flight training before they were introduced to ACTUAL combat overseas.

As the Allies gained the upper hand in the war effort and enough student pilots were in the pipeline the training contracts were canceled. King City was closed in August 1944 with some personnel transferred to Eagle Field. In December 1944 Eagle Field saw her last cadets. Actual operations lasted 30 months. In those 30 months approximately 5000 pilots graduated from primary training with the loss of only three lives due to accidents. This is considered an excellent record.

Each class held graduation ceremonies and a dance in one of the hangars. Some of the top name bands came to Dos Palos for those dances. The base was used right after the war as an aircraft storage depot and then for many years as a crop duster facility. After the war the city of Dos Palos was to develop Eagle Field as a municipal airport but they failed in their effort. The property reverted to the federal government. In 1980 it was put up for auction. The largest parcel, consisting of both large hangars, runway, administration building, the remaining barracks and the hospital was bought by Mr. Joe Davis of Fresno, California. He has always had a vision of restoring a WWII airfield out of respect for the men and women who won the war, making a home for vintage aircraft and vehicles and giving both their place in history.

This story was transcribed from the original “Eagle’s Log” yearbook, class 44-D. The photographs accompanying the story were are also the original photographs that were published with the story. Transcribed by: Shannon Davis

[Show as slideshow]

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The fellows that put out this class-book are understating guys and they knew that you and the family would like to see just what a “flying gadget” does that keeps him so busy he can’t write. So here is the story in pictures and it’s actually dedicated to all of you.

Life at the “County Club” has its good and bad points. No one is ever ready to get up when Reveille blasts over the loud speaker system; it’s a mystery to all of us how we stay so healthy on the sleep we get. From then on it’s the old Army System of line up and wait. We line up for the latrine, for chow, for solo ships, and to get paid. It is rumored that the reason we are signed up for the duration and six months, is that they figure we will have to stand in line six months to get our discharges after the war is over.

After chow in the morning, back we go to clean the place up. (Take a look at that.) It is statistically proven that housemaid’s knee is a prevalent in this branch of the service as athlete’s foot.

Then off we go to the wild instructors yonder (on the flight line). Incidentally, my instructor told me yesterday that he was sure I would get my wings, but that if I didn’t improve it would probably be in heaven. However, I am sure that I am improving some, as he used to climb out of the plane and look at me, shake his head and make funny noises; now he just looks at me and shakes his head.

It is the same with my Link Trainer Instructor. Every time they band me a yellow slip for an hour ride in one of those “clipped wing jobs.” I plod wearily up to Link No. 5 and the operator nonchalantly calls out “ Hey Tex! You don’t have to look any further, here is that Missing Link.” Honest to gosh, some people’s idea of humor is disgusting. It is good training, though, as we learn to keep our eyes on the instruments, although I don’t know what else we would do as they put the hood over you and there isn’t anything else to see. We get five hours of “Link” and it is real work for an hour at a time. Then dizzily back to the flight line. To a casual observer seeing us sitting around waiting for our ships, it looks like we lead a pretty easy life, but just let them wrestle one of those Pt-22’s around for a couple of hours and they will get back to the ship-yards in nothing flat.

Our first impression was that the instructors had it soft, only working a few hours each day, but now we know better and really appreciate their job. It sure is great to be an upperclassman and not have to walk wing tips any more. For Sis’s benefit I will say that “Wing Tips” is not the post mascot (do you think it is too corny?). You really don’t have to worry about me, Mom.

Maintenance rules are extremely strict, as are air discipline rules. They teach us the precautionary measures for each maneuver as we lean the maneuver. This is a perfectly clear procedure to us. Some times our instructors are a little sarcastic. Mine delights in cracking wise as we land with some remark like “Well, how deep are your going to bury us this time?” Then there is the constant worry about check rides; we get them on out 13th, 25th, 45th and 50 hour, if we get that far. Not to be omitted is the cross county hop. It is supposed to be a direct trip to and from a near city, but the guy that thought up the name “ Cross County” for it was a genius. They pick the cadets out of the trees for miles around.

Then when the planes are all down and accounted for, back we got to the ground school and drill, etc. Oh me, oh my! I almost forgot about noon chow. As you can tell from the photo, we are all underfed, as we get all the milk we want and as much food as we can eat. They even vie with you on real “home treats.” Naturally, Maw, it isn’t like home, but it’s pretty darn close. Now we’ll cover ground school. We take engines, weather, navigation, theory of flight, and identification/ After the first class we are allowed to smoke outside of the ground school’ that is the only place on the post we can smoke outside. That boy Captain Smith thinks of everything. We only ho to school two hours a day. Ground school splits a half a day with physical training. P.T. is one course I would like take from the Special Service Dept. by correspondence. At last the day is over and back we go to the barracks and then showers. My idea of solid comfort is a nice soft bed with a built-in shower at the same time. It is in the showers that all of the choicest latrine rumors are heard. I never could figure out why the Associated Press of bothers sending reports all over the world. They can pick up any angle, from the personal life of the mosquito to the next place the Allied nations will attack by just sticking around the average army latrine.

Now we proceed to retreat, which officially ends the day. After that it is chow again and we are on our own. You can see that we have recreation provided. Pool tables, ping-pong tables, bowling alleys. We can also get ice cream, candy or food at the PX as well as any of the million things we need. The kids that are married get to visit their wives in the lounge for an hour. The guy and the gal in front of the door in the picture are just saying good night. This is one post where wives are welcome. Captain Smith says they are really good workers on the maintenance link as each wife has the idea that her husband may fly the plane she is working on and really does a good job.

In the barracks the rumors fly thick and fast, but are usually nosed out at this period by the lusty roar of hangar flying. If some of the kids in my bay could fly as good in a Pt as they do on the bay at night, they would be in advanced by now. Of course we tell each other our mistakes too. One H.P. in our barracks followed a house trailer all over the countryside before he discovered it wasn’t the white house we use for a rendezvous point. When we get down in our studies we have to go to supervised study at night school. Some, yes a few, who don’t have to study or are too restless to sleep, even write letters. All soldiers have a one-way outlook on the postal system. They can hardly wait to get letters and they can never get around to writing them. Guess this should give you an idea of what we do and how we do it. I will write you from Basic. Love to all the family.

Herky, Jr.

Eagle Field was used as a set location for the 2008 movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Eagle Field’s original Administration Building played the part of the airport terminal at Nazca, Peru, in 1957.  Along with the building, the set was decorated with many of Eagle Field’s vintage vehicles. Set decorators spent a week getting the scene ready, building a Peruvian market, using several truck loads of props including live goats and chickens.

For the filming an Antonov An-2 aircraft wearing the colors of Pan American Airways was flown in for the scene which included dropping Indiana (Harrison Ford) and his son Mutt (Shia LaBeouf) at the airport terminal. Harrison and Shia were on site for filming as well as the director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas.

Harrison Ford piloted a Cessna 208 Caravan landing at Eagle Field for the filming. As this was the last day of shooting for the film, the cast and crew stayed after for a wrap party and BBQ following the filming.  Mr. Spielberg who many know to be a WWII history buff was interested in looking around the Field. Volunteer Jim Bertao was happy to give him a guided tour of the museum.

Location scouts for the film as with as the Fresno County Film Commission have told us that Eagle Field worked well as a location and that they would keep it live as a potential filming locations for future projects.