Santa Ana Army Air Base
For a crucial period during World War II, the U.S. Army housed and trained the pilots, engineers, bombardiers and navigators who would work with and operate the B-24 Liberator bomber in combat in Quonset huts on the Santa Ana Army Air Base. The base was deactivated in 1946 and a portion of the land was later annexed by the city of Costa Mesa. The buildings are now used for storage and work spaces managed by Pacific Mesa Properties. Property manager Bruce Bear commissioned muralist Nancy Hadley, who has a studio in one of the huts, to paint a 65-foot homage to the B-24 and history of the site. Hadley included a remembrance of her mother, who told her stories about the era, as a pin-up girl on the nose of the plane.
Costa Mesa, Orange County
Images by Andrew Schmidt