Naval Air Station Alameda California Patch

In April 1942 the carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) loaded 16 Army B-25 bombers at Naval Air Station Alameda for the Doolittle Raid on Japan. The station sat on the east side of San Francisco Bay, on ground that had been Alameda Airport since 1927. Pan American's China Clipper flights to the Pacific had left from its yacht harbor beginning November 22, 1935. Naval operations started on November 1, 1940. For the next 57 years Alameda was airfield, carrier pier and overhaul shop all at once, one of the Navy's main air stations on the West Coast.

When the war began, Fleet Air Wing 8 ran its patrol and scouting squadrons from Alameda, and PBM Mariners, PV Venturas and PB4Y Privateers passed through on their way west. Transport squadron VR-2 formed here on April 1, 1942, flying PB2Y Coronados and the big Mars flying boats across the Pacific. In November 1945, during Operation Magic Carpet, USS Saratoga (CV-3), USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet (CV-12) and USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) tied up at the station to bring troops home. Carriers homeported at Alameda over the years included USS Hancock (CV-19), USS Oriskany (CV-34), USS Coral Sea (CV-43), USS Ranger (CV-61), USS Enterprise (CVN-65), USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). Reserve Carrier Air Wing 30 flew the A-4 Skyhawk, A-7 Corsair II, KA-3 Skywarrior and A-6 Intruder from the field, and the Naval Air Rework Facility, later NADEP Alameda, overhauled Navy jet and turboprop aircraft with thousands of civilian workers.

The patch is a 4 by 4 inch circle with a black merrowed edge rolled around the outside. A white band carries U.S. NAVAL AIR STATION across the top and ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA across the bottom in heavy black letters, with a red star on each side. In the center, gold Navy aviator's wings spread across the design, the anchor and the red and white striped shield at their heart, which is the mark every Navy flier works toward. Behind the wings is a black globe laid out in white grid lines, and above it a light blue sky with a black aircraft silhouette and red and black zigzag stitching. It has a sew-on backing.

Alameda closed on April 25, 1997, under the Base Realignment and Closure process, and the Naval Aviation Depot shut down the year before. By then the station had sent patrol planes to the Pacific war, loaded the Doolittle Raiders, welcomed the Magic Carpet carriers home and served as homeport for carriers from the Essex class to the Nimitz class. Thousands of sailors left from its piers on Western Pacific cruises, and thousands of civilians in the rework shops kept Navy aircraft flying. The carrier Hornet (CV-12) is moored there today as a museum ship. For anyone who reported aboard at Alameda, the place is still part of the story.

It belongs in a shadow box next to a carrier patch from the ship you rode out of Alameda, or on the vest you wear to a ship's reunion. It is also a good gift for a father or grandfather who worked the rework facility or flew with Air Wing 30. A plain round patch for a station that sent a lot of sailors to sea.