NAVAL AIR STATION ALAMEDA
NGZ

On November 1, 1940, Naval Air Station Alameda was commissioned.

In 1967, following the death of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the Navy named the airfield at NAS Alameda, "Nimitz Field", in his honor.

On June 30, 1996 an airfield closure ceremony was held to mark the end of 56 years of NAS Alameda "Nimitz Field" operations.

To commemorate the closure of Nimitz Field Control Tower (Bldg. 19), amateur radio station WA6JVZ held a special event operation on June 29th, 1996 from the control tower cab while airfield operations were still in progress.

The tall silver antenna on the top left side of the tower cab is the R-7 vertical antenna I used for the special event radio station, (WA6JVZ). I'm standing just below the R-7 antenna on the exterior cat-walk next to the cab windows.

(Photos taken by Hal Franklin WA6CCM)

Amateur Radio contacts were made on 40 through 17 meters, CW and SSB, using a Kenwood 450SAT transceiver at 100 watts feeding the vertical. The R-7 vertical was mounted on the roof of the control tower cab. Two meter QSO's were made with a Kenwood TR-7400A with 25 watts to a 5/8 wave mag-mount vertical, also mounted on the control tower roof.

On June 30, 1996 NAS Alameda's "Nimitz Field" was permanently closed and on that same day I retired from Federal Service after 31.5 years working for the Department of the Navy at NAS Alameda.   Most of that time was spent working in the Nimitz Field control tower and GCA radar facility.

I miss hearing the call sign . . . N G Z . . . sent by the NAS Alameda TACAN and ATIS.

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