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32°41′35″N 117°02′31″W / 32.693°N 117.042°W / 32.693; -117.042

Sweetwater Dam Naval Outlying Landing Field was a airfield near Naval Auxiliary Air Station Brown Field and Naval Air Station North Island used to support the training of US Navy pilots during World War II. The runway, built in 1944, was located in what is now a neighborhood, eight miles east of San Diego, California. The Navy leased 135.45 acres of grassland from Rancho de la Nación to complete the airfield; it had a single 3,000-foot east/west asphalt runway. The airfield closed in 1946.

In 1949, the runway became a private civil airport, known as Sweetwater Dam Airport; it was also called Paradise Mesa Airstrip. The airport was named after the nearby Sweetwater Dam that makes Sweetwater Reservoir; it closed in 1951 and the runway became home to the Paradise Mesa Drag strip. The Carlsbad, California's Oilers Club helped start the drag strip with the first meet on March 11, 1951. At its peak, 25 clubs were using the strip. The drag strip closed in 1959.

Houses were built on the site, now called Paradise Hills; no trace of the runway can be found today. Today, part of the site is also Daniel Boone Elementary School.

See also

• California during World War II
• American Theater (World War II)
• United States home front during World War II

References

1. "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: California: Southern San Diego area". www.airfields-freeman.com.
2. "Naval Outlying Field, Sweetwater Dam". www.militarymuseum.org.
3. Paradise Mesa - San Diego’s First Dragstrip

v t e United States in World War II
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Diplomatic participation	Lend-Lease Destroyers-for-bases deal Project Hula

v t e Operational military installations in California
Army	Fort Fort Irwin Fort Hunter Liggett Airfield Bicycle Lake Fresno Los Alamitos Heliport O'Sullivan Roberts Range Camp Parks Camp San Luis Obispo Logistics Sierra Army Depot School Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
Marines	Air Station Miramar Pendleton Bases MCRD San Diego Camp Pendleton Twentynine Palms Range Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range Mountain Warfare Training Center Edson Range Logistics Barstow
Navy	Depot Broadway Complex Seal Beach Military Sealift Command Long Beach Naval outlying landing field Imperial Beach San Clemente Island San Nicolas Island Base Coronado Point Loma San Diego Ventura County (composed of NAS Point Mugu, NCBC Port Hueneme) Air Station Lemoore North Island El Centro Range China Lake Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range School Naval Postgraduate School
Air Force	Air base Beale Edwards March Travis Range R-2508 Complex
Space Force	Space Force base Los Angeles Vandenberg Range Western Range
National Guard	Army Los Alamitos Camp Roberts Camp San Luis Obispo Air Channel Islands Fresno Moffett Field School California Military Academy
Coast Guard	Air Station Humboldt Bay Sacramento San Francisco San Diego Station Coast Guard Island Golden Gate Training Center Training Center Petaluma

• 1940s in California
• Formerly Used Defense Sites in California
• United States in World War II
• 1944 establishments in California