Re: Crissy

From: Michael Schuh (schuh@apm-iris1.arc.nasa.gov-DeleteThis)
Date: Wed May 08 1996 - 12:17:10 PDT


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From: schuh@apm-iris1.arc.nasa.gov-DeleteThis (Michael Schuh)
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To: wind_talk@opus.hpl.hp.com-DeleteThis
Subject: Re: Crissy
Reply-To: schuh@apm-iris1.arc.nasa.gov-DeleteThis


>
> So who was Crissy?
>

http://www.flight.com/files/history/crissy.txt

                          Crissy Field

   Crissy Field was located on the Presido (renamed the Presidio of San
Francisco in 1938 (1)) on land that had been reclaimed for use as a racetrack
during the 1915 World's Fair. Airplanes were using the land, on the west end
of lower Presidio, by late 1919. The site was selected for use as an airfield
by Maj. Henry "Hap" Arnold, who was then Supervisor of the Western District,
Department of Military Aeronautics. By mid-1920 the airfield was known as
Crissy Field, honoring Major Dana Crissy. (2)
 
  Crissy was the commanding officer of Mather Field.(3) He was killed during
a 1919 transcontinental reliability and endurance test of Air Service
capabilities that had DH-4s fly simultaneously from coast-to-coast in both
directions. General Billy Mitchell said that it was "calculated to yield a
far greater profit to the Air Service and to the cause of aeronautics in
general than any field maneuver ever did before," promising to make aviation
"equal in importance to land and sea forces." The public saw the maneuvers
as a thrilling air race. Air Force historian Maurer Maurer says it was a
test of inexperienced pilots using obsolete equipment and deserted flying
fields. (4)

   Crissy and SFC Virgil Thomas left the Presidio with ten other planes
shortly after dawn on October 8, 1919. Flying through mountain snowstorms,
they all arrived at Salt Lake City later that day. Crissy's DH-4 crashed
while landing. He and Thomas were killed. (5)

   (Also killed in the race were Sgt. W. H. Nevin, 1st Lt. Edwin V. Wales,
Sgt. Worth C. McClure, 2nd Lt. French Kirby, 2nd Lt. Stanley C. Miller in
four other incidents. While many people said the death toll was
unacceptable, supporters of the race/test attributed the casualties to bad
weather, construction of the DH-4, violations of the race rules, and pilot
error. Pilot inexperience was given as the main reason for the crash that
killed Crissy and Thomas.) (6)

   Crissy Field was described by Erwin N. Thompson and Sally B. Woodbridge in
a 1992 National Park Service study, Presidio of San Francisco: An Outline of
Its Evolution as a U.S. Army Post, 1847-1990. (The Special History Study
anticipated the closure of the Presidio, ordered by the 1988 Defense Base
Closure and Realignment Commission, and its acquisition by the National Park
Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The 1993 base
closure commission ordered that Headquarters Sixth Army remain at the
Presidio in facilities leased from the Park Service).

                The field was turned over to the Air Service on June 24,
1921,
            upon completion of its buildings and other facilities. It became
            the first and only Air Service Coast Defense Station on the
            West Coast, its principle mission being to assist the Coast
            Artillery in the defense of San Francisco Bay.

    (Miller Field on Staten Island had the same function in New York and was

the only Air Service Coast Defense Station on the East Coast.)

                The first landing strip, or runway, consisted of a short
stretch of
             ground running from hangars at the west of the field eastward
             2,000 feet. A thin layer of clay over the sandy ground formed
the
             surface of the strip. By June 1925 the runway had reached a
length
             of 3,300 feet through leveling, grading and additional clay
surface. A
             year later the Army added another 1,000 feet to the runway and
             regraded and resurfaced the entire strip. Finally, in 1927,
work
             resumed resulting in the runway having the overall dimensions of
             5,200 feet in length and approximately 400 feet in width.

               In 1934, two years before Crissy Field was abandoned, a
            contractor completed a 'landing mat' measuring 1,000 feet
            in length and 200 feet wide. Seven inches of crushed rock
            formed the base, a coat of rolled and packed 'leveling' rock
            covered the base, and a topping of natural rock asphalt
            completed the work.

              After Crissy Field closed, Works Progress Administration
           funds became available to make certain improvements at the
           field. A report in 1938 stated that 400,000 square feet of
           landing runway had bee resurfaced. Light planes used the
           runway in World War II. Then in the late fifties the
           installation reopened as Crissy Army Airfield to both light
           planes and helicopters. In 1974 use of the airfield was
           restricted to helicopters only. The date the present
           concrete runway has not been determined with certainty. It
           may have been 1938 or in 1960 when the runway was extended. (7)

   Most of the buildings at Crissy Field were built as part of a one million
dollar construction program approved in 1920. They included a gas pump
house, a hose reel house, armorer's building, aircraft shop, motor test
building, aero storehouse, grease rack and signal cable hut. They were
completed and turned over to the Air Service on June 24, 1921. The San
Francisco Examiner proclaimed on September 28 that the new Crissy complex was
"the strongest air base in the nation" where "scores of DeHavilands" were
based to protect the West Coast. Most of the buildings are still standing
and Crissy Field "is one of the best-preserved complexes of Army aviation
buildings of the early 1920s in the United States." (8)

   Also completed in 1921 was also a two-story H-shaped Mission Revival style
enlisted barracks. Hap Arnold's office was next door, on the second floor of
the two-story Craftsman/Mediterranean Revival style administration building,
used later as the headquarters of the commander of the Presidio and the 30th
Infantry
Regiment. (9)

   Originally there were two, two-story steel frame hangars. One was for land
planes and the other for seaplanes. There was a seaplane ramp nearby. Two
additional hangars were built in 1922-23. These had the words CRISSY FIELD
painted on their roofs. They were used as hangars for only a short while,
becoming classrooms, a gym and a drill hall used by the Army Reserve. The
hangars were joined by a small office building in 1928. In 1990 they appear
to be one building. (10)

   There were also twelve officer's quarters and a BOQ completed in 1921.
There was "always plenty of room" at the BOQ. It contained 16 three-room
apartments and an officer's club. In 1990, it was an enlisted guest house.
The Crissy Field radio receiving station was west of the officer houses. It
became an officer's house after World War II. Crissy Field also had twelve
NCO family quarters,
"....new , concrete; equipped with gas ranges and hot-air furnaces." (11)

   In December 1921, the U.S. Air Mail Service received permission to land
at Crissy Field. It constructed a small wooden hangar east of the enlisted
barracks. In 1928 it became an ROTC barracks and its walls were covered with
corrugated iron. Today it serves as a warehouse. (12)

   The 91st Aero Squadron (Observation), DH-4Bs, arrived at Crissy Field on
temporary duty for coastal artillery spotting in September 1920. The
squadron stayed at Crissy Field until it closed 16 years later. (The 91st
operated a detachment at Mather Field, used for aerial forest patrol, from 3
November 1919 to 24 Janaury 1920 and from 3 November 1920 to 21 May 1921.)
(13) The Air Service's 14th and 24th Balloon Companies had already moved San
Francisco, from Fort Omaha, in May 1920. And they were also assigned to work
with coastal artillery batteries. A combination of ballons and planes
produced the best spotting results. Together, they were so good that 91st
Squadron reported that coast
defense officials had "declared artillery obsolete without the aid of
balloons...and planes..." One or both of the balloon companies was based at
Fort Scott. Facilites included a hangar, a hydrogen generating house and a
field for maneuvering the balloon winch(es). (14)
 
   In 1935, one year before it closed, Charles Sullivan listed these units at
Crissy Field in his Army Posts and Towns:

                   Headquarters, 91st Observation Squadron;
                   15th Photographic Section;
                   Detachment, 18th Signal Service Company, Mather Field;
                   Detachment, 30th Infantry.

 Sullivan added that San Francisco was "One of the best Army towns." (15)

   There were also reserve flying squadrons at Crissy Field. The 316th
Reserve Squadron (Observation) was formed in late 1921. Its first airplanes
were five Jennies. By 1923 the 316th Photo Section and 447th Pursuit
Squadron were also at Crissy. (16)

   In an earlier National Park Service/Council on America's Military past
study, historian Gordon Chappell explained why Crissy Field was abandoned:

              Crissy Field unfortunately faced a number of problems
           which left her obsolete after a brief existence of a decade,
           although it would last for part of another. First, the field
           had no room for expansion. Second, Crissy Field suffered
           from high winds off the Pacific Ocean channeled through the
           Golden Gate. Finally the proposed Golden Gate Bridge if
           constructed would place two tall bridge towers in a position
           dangerous to Crissy pilots, and the bridge project seemed
           more and more certain as time passed. Consequently a Board
           of Officers was assembled to survey the whole Bay Area for a
           more suitable location for a major airfield, a location which
          did not have Crissy's drawbacks. The Board found what it
          sought at Marin Meadows near Novato, roughly 20 miles north
          of the Golden Gate. There, in 1932 and 1933, the Army Air
          Corps constructed Hamilton Field, far enough inland to be
          beyond the range of the heavy guns of battleships, sheltered
          by the coastal hills from the winds which scour the Golden
          Gate, and graced with ample room for expansion.

    Crissy Field continued to serve as an Army airfield for several years
more. Although Hamilton received its first station complement in 1933, it
was not until the summer of 1936 that Crissy Field closed as an Army Air
Field. The San Francisco Chronicle of June 19, 1936, noted that army flyers
would 'dip their wings in
a farewell' the next day as the 91st Aero Squadron transferred to Fort
Lewis, Washington and Hamilton Field assumed Crissy Field's mission. (17)

   Thompson and Woodbridge concluded their Crissy Field history:

            During its fifteen years of operation, (Crissy Field) had
         served the Army well: U.S. Air Mail Service, aerial forest
         fire patrol, aerial photographic assignments, participation
         in community activities, training army reservists,
         stimulating an interest in aviation, and, above all,
         cooperating with ground and coastal units of the Army in the
         defense of San Francisco Bay. (18)

                                        Crissy Field Chronology (19)
                         (from Thompson, Presidio of San Francisco)

1918 Air Service established. Soon had 200,000 personnel. At that time
        North Cantonment temporary buildings covered the east half of
        lower Presido.
1919 Hap Armold requested the removal of ten buildings from North Cantonment
        as menace to aircraft landing in the western part of lower Presidio.
1920 Army aircraft transferred to Presidio.
1920 The name Crissy Field appeared in Air Service News Letter. Planes from
        there took photos of Forts Baker and Barry.
1920 Plans developed for Crissy Field facilities.
1921 Announcement that Crissy Field would be an Air Service Coast Defense
        Station.
1921 June 24. Crissy Field completed and turned overto Air Service. Hap
        Arnold moved from Santa Fe Building in San Francisco to second floor
        of new administration building.
1922 Porches on officer's quarters were glassed and a sleeping room and a
        sun porch added to rears of buildings (the buildings were too
small).
1922 Transcontinental flight of Army dirigible C-2 arrived at Crissy.
1922 The 91st Squadron (Observation) and Aerial Photo Section 15, Crissy
        Field, were the only active Air Service organizations in Ninth
Corps.
1923 The 36 buildings in North Cantonment used by Fort Mason Supply Depot
        were a nuisance to Crissy's operations. Some were demolished
        before the end of the year.
1924 Newly cleared land in eastern lower Presidio transferred to Crissy.
1924 First dawn-to-dusk flight from Long Island, New York (Mitchel Field),
        landed at Crissy.
1927 Post Office gave its hangar to Army. Army converted 80' x 100'
        building into ROTC barracks.
1928 Crissy Field only regular Army field in Ninth Corps Area. There were
        six reserve fields.
1928 Extensive plans for new quarters and barracks, a hangar-gym, seawall,
        etc. Not carried out.
1930 Crissy to be abandoned, too small, dangerous winds.
1931 East end of lower Presidio became a polo field. Landing field now 3050
        feet long, 400 feet wide.
1931 78 accidents at Crissy since 1921.
1934 "Weather proof" landing mat built. 2000 feet long, 200 feet wide.
        Seven inches crushed rock, covered with coat of leveling rock
        rolled and crushed, topped with 1-1/2 inch natural rock asphalt,
        rolled and packed tight.
1935 Discussion whether to enlarge Crissy or abandon it. The new asphalt
        landing and takeoff strip mentioned.
1936 June 30. Crissy Field abandoned. Field restricted to emergency
        landings only.
1936 Crissy Field administration building became the headquarters for the
        Presidio and the 30th Infantry Regiment.
1937 Army stopped using the term "Crissy Field" and referred to the area as
        "Lower Post."
1938 WPA funds used to landscape, paint, and to resurface 400,000 square
         feet of runway.
1957 Field now important to Sixth Army headquarters and to guided missile
         air communications (NIKE). New runway to be built along the beach.
1958 Steel and glass control tower transferred to the field from Castle AFB.
         Crissy reactivated for small aircraft and helicopters (possibly
         before 1958 but after 1953).
1959 16 military aircraft authorized. Also 8 civilian aircraft at the
field.
1960 The runway now a flexible pavement runway 2,500 feet long and 50 feet
         wide. Still dangerous.
1966 Plans to remove all buildings in east lower Presidio and extend runway
         to Lyon Street.
1972 Recommendation to restrict all fixed-wing aircraft and convert to a
         heliport for use of VIP and medevac only.
1974 Closure date was 2400 hours, Feb. 14, 1974.

----------------------------------

(1) Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World
War: Zone of the Interior, Volume 3, Part 2: Territorial
Departments; Tactical Divisions Organized in 1918; Posts, Camps,
and Stations Organization and Activities of the War Department.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1949 (Facsimile reprint
by the Center for Military History, 1988.)

(2) Erwin N. Thompson and Sally B. Woodridge, Presidio of San
Francisco: An Outline of Its Evolution as a U.S. Army Post,
1847-1990 (Denver: National Park Service, 1992), 144; Sullivan,
Army Posts and Towns, 1935 ed., 215; Maurer Maurer, Aviation in
the U.S. Army, 1919-1939 (Washington: Office of Air Force
History, 1987), 18.

(3) Maurer Maurer, Air Force Bases, Vol 1: Active Bases within the
United States on 17 September 1982 (Washington: Office of Air
Force History, 1989), 375.

(4) Maurer, Aviation in the U.S. Army. 29-30.

(5) Ibid., 31.

(6) Ibid., 31-36.

(7) Thompson, 144-45.

(8) Gordon Chappell, Crissy Army Airfield, Presidio of San
Francisco, California, 1919-1936, based on research by E.
Thompson and John Legellier (typescript, n.p., n.d.).

( 9) Thompson, 145.

(10) Ibid., 146-47.

(11) Ibid., 146; Sullivan, 215.

(12) Thompson, 147.

(13) Chappell, Crissy Army Airfield; Maurer, Aviation in the U.S.
Army, 109-10; Thompson, 101.

(14) Maurer, Air Force Bases, Vol 1, 378-79.

(15) Sullivan, 214.

(16) Maurer, Aviation in the U.S. Army, 88.

(17) Chappell, Crissy Army Airfield.

(18) Thompson, 149.

(19) Ibid., 205-7.
  

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