Naval Air Station San Diego

NAS San Diego was home to USS Ranger (R) and USS Langley (L) in the mid/late ’30s. Photo taken from a Martin PM-1.

Same two vessels, different day. A PBY cruises above, a P2Y peeks from behind Ranger.

As seen in these two photos, the area around Naval Air Station (NAS) San Diego in the 1930s was a busy place where ships, boats, and airplanes all vied for position on the harbor waters of the base’s namesake city. The navy, of course, later changed the name of their San Diego air base to its present title, NAS North Island. Even though the base’s land was not an island, that designation came about. At one time, it had been an island, but that enclave no longer existed, having been connected to the rest of California in the 1940s by ample loads of sand and gravel.

Nevertheless, what has not changed is that NAS San Diego/North “Island” is still a bustling locale; its nearby waters remain a swirl of ships, boats, and, though fewer in numbers from the seaplane-rich era of the 1930s, aircraft.