Let us continue our look at the airfields that were built in California during World War II.  As we explained earlier in the first part of this series, the work at home during the war was every bit as important as the work the soldiers did in Europe and the Pacific.  Flight crews and pilots underwent extensive training to prepare them for the battles that would be waged and available flight fields were needed.  As you will see from this article California was heavily invested in this effort.

At Aces High we are interested in all things having to do with World War 2.  Maybe that is one reason why we remain the most popular combat flight simulator on the market.  Now, on to California.

• Chico AAF; now Chico Municipal Airport
• Sacramento MAP; now Sacramento Executive Airport
• Daggett MAP; now Barstow-Daggett Airport
• Hamilton Field AAF; now Hamilton Air Force Base
• Lemoore AAF; now non-flying agricultural use
• Porterville AAF; now Porterville Municipal Airport
• March Field; now March Air Reserve Base
• Shavers Summitt AAF; now sub base of March Field
• Merced AAF; now West Coast Training Center
• Castle Air force Base; now Castle Airport
• Ontario AAF; now LA/Ontario International Airport
• Oroville AAF; now Oroville Municipal Airport
• Santa Maria AAF; now Santa Maria Airpot
• Estrella AAF; now Paso Robles Municipal Airport
• 493d Army Air Force Base; now Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport

And of course there are more but that will do it for today.  California is a big state. Remember, back in 1941 California was still fairly undeveloped with lots of wide-open spaces, the perfect place to build airfields and conduct test flights and training.  East of the mountains in particular the area was desolate and under-populated and as such was the perfect setting for training.

Anyone studying WWII will soon learn, as we have at HiTech Creations, that the war effort at home was massive.   Once Pearl Harbor happened it took about a year for the full might of the United States industrial effort to be in full swing.

We love this stuff.  Our World War 2 Flight Simulator is as close as you will come to flying in the cockpit of a WW2 fighter plane and that’s because we have dedicated ourselves to making the best replica we can with our flight sim game.  Strap on your helmet and fly the skies of Aces High. You won’t be disappointed.

There are only three Special Events remaining in the month of May and here they are:

• 27^th Sunday European Campaign (SEC)
• 29^th AHXARL (Aces High XTreme Air Racing League)
• 30^th Snapshot (The Battle of Sicily)

So what’s the big deal?  Well, if you are new to Aces High, our exciting flight simulator, then you will only find out the answer to that question by signing up to be a part of a Special Event.  Taking on the best flight sim players in the world is a true test of your own skills but on a more basic level it is just plain fun.

May is winding down but that doesn’t mean the Special Events are diminishing.  We wrap up May and bring in June this week and the Special Events just keep on coming.

• May 29^th AHXARL
• May 30^th Snapshot
• June 1^st FSO
• June 2^nd SEC

Are you new to Aces High and are you wondering what this all means?  Click on our Special Events link under our Community link and read all about the events we hold all month long, every month.  It is an excellent way for you to get involved with other flight sim gamers and test your combat flight simulator skills.

We at HiTech Creations have been making and improving Aces High for over sixteen years now and we remain at the top of the heap of online combat flight simulators.  Quite frankly that even surprises us from time to time.  Not that we are complaining; we are just a little surprised at our success and occasionally we get a little reflective and wonder how it all happened.

One of the keys to our success in the flight sim world is our dedication to all things related to World War 2.  We are fascinated by the war and we are constantly learning more about it.  That is how this series of articles happened; we were thinking about the at home effort during the war and wondering what each state did here while the war was raging elsewhere.

Today we’ll take a brief look at the airfields that were built in California during the war years.

• Bishop AAF; now Eastern Sierra Regional Airport
• Concord AAF; now Buchanan Field Airport
• Delano AAF; now Delano Municipal Airport
• Gardner AAF; now agricultural use
• Lockheed Air Terminal; now Bob Hope Airport
• Los Angeles Airport/Miners Field AAF; now Los Angeles International Airport
• Arysville AAF; now Yuba County Airport
• McClellan Field; now McClellan Airfield
• Muroc Flight Test Base/AAF; now Edwards Air Force Base
• Blythe AAf; now Blythe Airport
• Palmdale AAF; now Palmdale Regional Airport
• Oakland MAP; now Metropolitan Oakland International Airport
• Redding AAF; now Redding Munipal Airport
• San Bernardino AAF; now San Bernardino International Airport

For today we’ll have to stop but we will return to California later to pick up the rest of the airfields that were built during WWII.  Suffice it to say that there were quite a few more as California is a large state with quite a few geographic features that make it a perfect location for airfields.

During the war pilots and aircrews were trained at these airfields.  Many of them were also used to stage supplies as a waystop until they could be shipped on to the Pacific Theater where they were needed.  These airfields were remarkable in that many of them were made literally within days; heavy machinery was brought in and around the clock the clearing and paving was done so that an airfield suddenly appeared where three days earlier there was just scrub land.  Quite remarkable indeed!

Anyway, we will return to the California story in our next installment of this series.  Check out our Special Events calendar to see what great events are coming up for our World War 2 Flight Simulator