Eureka Municipal Airport and Samoa Drag Strip

 airport, Second World War 1939-1945, dragstrip, United States Navy

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The United States Navy commissioned Naval Auxiliary Air Facility, Eureka, a lighter-than-air field, on August 6, 1943. NAAF Eureka was an auxiliary to Naval Air Station Moffett in Sunnyvale, CA.

Moffett's ZP-32 then maintained a detachment of one to two K-ships at the facility except in the dead of winter. Operations were further complicated by the fact that Humboldt Bay had some of the foggiest weather in the U.S. In March 1944, Eureka had a complement of 19 officers and 72 enlisted men with barracks for 50 officers and 441 men. The base's 429 acres had a 700 x 1400-ft. paved blimp operating mat with two mooring circles and a 2400 x 200-ft. asphalt runway over the mat.

The Navy closed the facility on October 15, 1945. Following the war, the airfield became the Eureka Municipal Airport and remains so to this day. In 1995, the former Bachelor Officers Quarters was converted to a bed and breakfast establishment.

www.militarymuseum.org/NAAFEureka.html
www.samoadragstrip.com/