McClellan Air Force Base

McClellan Air Force Base has been a part of California's military and aviation history since the mid-1930s. Originally named Pacific Air Depot in 1935, the base's name was changed to the Sacramento Air Depot in 1938, and it became a repair facility for such fighter planes as the P-38 and P-39. During World War II, the base saw significant use in outfitting and supplying munitions for various fighters, including the B-17. Many armed-services personnel departed from McClellan for the Pacific theater, including in part Jimmy Doolittle's famed detail of B-25s, which attacked Tokyo in 1942. After the war, the base stored many types of aircraft, including the B-29 bomber series, and in 1948, changed its name to McClellan Air Force Base, continuing its mission of overhauling and retrofitting planes throughout the cold war.

In this volume of vintage photographs, authors Kyle Byard and Tom Naiman apply their expert knowledge, gained through extensive study of the base and its conversion to civilian use. Using fascinating images culled from McClellan’s archives, Naiman and Byard present the story of McClellan as it has rarely been seen―from the early days of construction to the bustling wartime years to today’s gradual makeover of the base into a successful industrial park.