World War II ended eight decades ago, but its legacy is all around us here in the San Joaquin Valley. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of Fresno’s Army Air Corps base, Hammer Field.
This story begins in December 1940. World War II was raging in Europe, and America’s armed forces were beginning to mobilize. Army Air Corps leaders selected Fresno for a planned large air base for the west coast. At first they considered using the existing Chandler Field airport near downtown Fresno, but found it was far too small.
Instead, in March 1941, the Army Air Corps struck a deal with the City of Fresno, and acquired around 1,600 acres at Clovis and Shields Avenue for the new base, which would be named Hammer Field. You know the location as today’s Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
Construction began almost immediately, and the runways were completed in November 1941, just weeks before Pearl Harbor brought America into the war. Hammer Field was primarily used as a training base for young pilots, as well as storage for bombs, and a large hospital with 85 buildings and nearly 1000 beds. Late in the war, Hammer Field served as a base for training night fighter squadrons.
The base was named for Lt. Earl Hammer, the first airman from California to die in combat in World War I. After the war, the City of Fresno acquired the site, becoming the Fresno Air Terminal. However, the California Army National Guard still calls its facility on Clovis Avenue the Hammer Field Armory.
