Авиабаза Корпуса морской пехоты Мирамар: История и современность

USMC installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (MCAS Miramar) , formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Miramar and Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the aviation element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. It is located in Miramar, San Diego, California, about 14 mile (23 km) north of Downtown San Diego. The airfield has been named Mitscher Field since 1955, after Admiral M. A. Mitscher, who was the commander of Task Force 58 during World War II. The air station is the former location of Pacific Fleet fighter and Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft (F 4 Phantom II, F 14 Tomcat, E 2 Hawkeye) and is best known as the former location of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (NFWS), its TOPGUN training program and the movie of the same name. In 1996, NFWS was relocated to Naval Air Station Fallon in western Nevada, 60 miles east of Reno, and merged into the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC). During the heyday of TOPGUN at NAS Miramar, the station was nicknamed "Fightertown USA".

The base contains It is bisected by Kearny Villa Road and Interstate 15. The area east of Kearny Villa Road, called "East Miramar", is undeveloped and is used for military training. Miramar is recognized as the world's largest Master Jet Air Station.

Kumeyaay Native Americans were the first inhabitants in the vicinity of the base. Spain claimed the San Diego area in 1542 and colonized it beginning in 1769. In 1846, the crown issued a land grant that included the area of the current base to Don Santiago Argüello. After the American Civil War, the land was divided and sold to people such as Edward Scripps, a newspaper publisher from the eastern United States, who developed a ranch on the site. It was Scripps who named the area Miramar, meaning "view of the sea". The land was predominantly used for grazing and farming into the early 20th century.

During World War I, the U. S. Army acquired of land in the Miramar Ranch area, on a mesa north of San Diego. Camp Kearny was opened on 18 January 1917 and was named after Stephen W. Kearny, who was commander of the Army of the West during the Mexican–American War. The base was primarily used to train infantrymen on their way to the battlefields of Europe. During World War I, an airstrip was never built on the property, although Army and U. S. Navy aircraft from Naval Air Station North Island did land on the parade deck. Following the Armistice, the base was used to demobilize servicemen and was closed on 20 October 1920. More than 1,200 buildings were demolished when the camp closed. Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis airplane was built in nearby San Diego. Lindbergh used the abandoned Camp Kearny parade field to practice landings and take offs before making his historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. During the 1930s, the Navy briefly used the air base for helium dirigibles. In 1932, a mooring mast and hangar were built at the camp for the dirigibles, but when the program was abandoned, the base was quiet again.

By the time World War II began, Miramar was already undergoing a "precautionary" renovation. Camp Holcomb (later renamed Camp Elliott) was built on part of old Camp Kearny, to be used for U. S Marine Corps artillery and machine gun training. Camp Elliott became home to Fleet Marine Force Training Center, West Coast, and the 2nd Marine Division, charged with defending the California coast. Runways were constructed in 1940, and the 1st Marine Air Wing arrived on 21 December of that year. The Navy commissioned Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Camp Kearny in February 1943, specifically to train crews for the Consolidated PB4Y 2 Privateer, which was built less than 10 mile (16 km) away in San Diego. A month later, the Marines established Marine Corps Air Depot Camp Kearny, later renamed Marine Corps Air Depot Miramar, to avoid confusion with the Navy facility. The big Privateers proved too heavy for the asphalt concrete runway the Army had installed in 1936 and the longer runways built in 1940, so the Navy added two concrete runways in 1943. During the 1940s, both the Navy and the Marine Corps occupied Miramar. East Miramar (Camp Elliott) was used to train Marine artillery and armored personnel, while Navy and Marine Corps pilots trained on the western side. The bases were combined and designated Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in 1946.

In 1947, the Marines moved to MCAS El Toro in Orange County, California, and Miramar was redesignated as NAAS Miramar (Naval Auxiliary Air Station Miramar). It became NAS Miramar (Naval Air Station Miramar) on 1 March 1952. In 1954, the Navy offered NAS Miramar to San Diego for $1 and the city considered using the base to relocate its airport. But it was deemed at the time to be too far away from most residents and the offer was declined. Only the western half of Miramar's facilities were put to use; the old east station began to deteriorate, with many buildings sold as scrap. Miramar found new life as a Navy Master Jet Station in the 1950s. The eastern half, former Camp Elliot, was used by the United States Air Force for Project Orion (having been transferred temporarily), and later by NASA; it was the site of several launches. The base really came into its own during the Vietnam War. The Navy needed a school to train pilots in dog fighting and in fleet air defense. In 1969, the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School was established organizationally as part of VF 121, which was then the F 4 Phantom Fleet Replacement Aviation Maintenance Personnel (FRAMP), which trained the maintainers who joined the fleet as qualified "Phantom Phixeres". In October 1972, Miramar welcomed the F 14 Tomcat and fighter squadron VF 124, a former Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) tasked with the mission to train new Tomcat crews. Formerly, VF 124 had been training pilots in the F 8 Crusader. That task was handed over to Light Photographic Squadron 63 (VFP 63) that then became "Crusader College" The first two operational Tomcat squadrons, VF 1 known as the "Wolfpack" and VF 2 known as the "Bounty Hunters," trained here before deploying aboard Enterprise in 1974. NAS Miramar was also the west coast E 2 squadrons home. VAW 110 the west coast fleet replacement squadron and fleet squadrons VAW 112, VAW 113, VAW 114 (disestablished 1995), VAW 116 and VAW 117. With the change to MCAS Miramar, the training squadron was disestablished and moved to NAS Norfolk, Virginia. The fleet squadrons were moved to NAS Point Mugu, California.

In 1993, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission recommended that MCAS El Toro and MCAS Tustin be closed down and that NAS Miramar be transferred to the Marine Corps. BRAC also recommended that all Navy Pacific Fleet F 14 aircraft and squadrons (with the exception of those assigned to Carrier Air Wing 5 in Japan) and Pacific Fleet F 14 training be consolidated with the Atlantic Fleet and be relocated to NAS Oceana, Virginia. BRAC recommended that Pacific Fleet E 2C training be consolidated with Atlantic Fleet E 2C training at NAS Norfolk, that all Pacific Fleet E 2C aircraft and squadrons (with the exception of those assigned to Carrier Air Wing 5 in Japan) be relocated to NAS Point Mugu, and that the Naval Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) and Navy Reserve adversary squadron VFC 13 be relocated to NAS Fallon, Nevada. In 1999, MCAS El Toro and MCAS Tustin were closed and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing returned to Miramar when it officially became Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. On 1 October 1997, Colonel Thomas A. Caughlan became the first Marine commanding officer of MCAS Miramar since World War II. Caughlan was also the last commanding officer of MCAS Tustin. In 2005, the BRAC Commission directed instructor pilots and support personnel from Miramar to Eglin AFB in Florida, sufficient to stand up the Marine Corps' portion of the F 35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program (JSF) Training Site. This will lead to an eventual phasing out of fighter pilot training at Miramar by 2015 as the F/A 18 Hornets are retired. In 2006, the San Diego County Proposition A proposed obtaining 3000 acres (12 km2) at MCAS Miramar to develop a commercial airport. The proposition was defeated 62 percent opposed to 38 percent in favor.

Numerous noise complaints have been lodged against MCAS Miramar (and its predecessor, NAS Miramar) going back for decades funded partly by real estate developers (Pardee Construction Co). MCAS Miramar is located near the center of the City of San Diego. It is surrounded on three sides by residential areas including Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, University City, Clairemont, and Tierrasanta. MCAS Miramar has a web site and phone number that people can call to register complaints about noise. To lessen the noise impact to the community, MCAS Miramar has made adjustments to their operations over the years, including the use of hush houses, limitations on engine run ups, and modification to flight plans. In spite of efforts, noise complaints remain an issue in 2019.

On 30 January 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs dedicated a new National Cemetery at the northwest corner of MCAS Miramar. The cemetery is an extension of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery and when complete will accommodate approximately 235,000 deceased veterans and spouses.

MCAS Miramar was home to the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum, which closed in 2021. The Miramar Airshow is a major airshow held at MCAS Miramar each October.