Photos

This is the control tower for the Alameda Naval Air Station, flanked by its protective gun batteries. Thankfully, the guns were never needed.

In addition to the control tower, NAS Alameda had two runways at its west end: 07-25 (8000’x200') and 13-31 (7200’x200') and two helicopter pads. I have put a map (from Google) into Workshop (in the Original version) to give an idea of the layout of the base, the runways, and etc. You might notice that one of the runways is pointed directly at the Bay Bridge. Although strictly illegal, it was not unknown for naval aviators to fly UNDER the bridge. What can one say -- pilots will be pilots.

The area where the runways are located was originally water and tidal flats that have been filled in. While most of the old air station is accessible to the public today, the west end of the island, including the main runways, is now restricted as a wildlife refuge. The refuge covers over 500 acres of the base, including the runways, munitions bunkers and the main landfill. It begins just past the control tower (as seen in this photo, with the SF skyline in the distance). It is interesting to see how quickly Mother Nature has reclaimed her territory - one has a hard time even seeing the tarmac now. A large portion of the 469,700 sq yards of aircraft parking apron (where autocross races, swap meets, antiques fairs, remote controlled airplanes and car fly-/drive-ins, etc., take place) and several of the aircraft maintenance hangars trail away directly behind the photo here, and the seaplane lagoon (of which I cannot get a decent picture, and it is driving me crazy :-) ) is behind and to the left.

Technical: A bright orange traffic cone was cloned out of the photo, contrast was applied, the shadows/highlights tool was employed, and the image was sharpened and the noise was reduced. Re-posted with border to enhance and "pop" the image, which was pretty dull as a thumbnail.