Marine Corps Air Station Tustin Marine Corps Air Station Tustin ( IATA : NTK , ICAO : KNTK , FAA LID : NTK ) is a former United States Marine Corps air station , located in Tustin , California . History . The Air Station was established in 1942 as Naval Lighter - Than - Air Station Santa Ana , a base for airship operations in support of the United States Navy ' s coastal patrol efforts during World War II . NLTAS Santa Ana was decommissioned in 1949 . In 1951 , the facility was reactivated as Marine Corps Air Facility Santa Ana to support the Korean War . It was the country ' s first air facility developed solely for helicopter operations . It was renamed Marine Corps Air Station Tustin in 1979 . During the Vietnam War , the base was a center for on - going testing of radar installations which were erected , tested , disassembled and shipped to Vietnam . It also was a training facility for helicopter pilots . By the early 1990s , MCAS Tustin was a major center for Marine Corps helicopter aviation and radar on the Pacific Coast . Its primary purpose was to provide support services and material for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and for other units utilizing the base . About 4 , 500 residents once lived on the base , and the base employed nearly 5 , 000 military personnel and civilians . In addition to providing military support , MCAS Tustin leased to farmers for commercial crop development . For many years , agricultural lands surrounded the facility . However beginning in the 1980s residential and light industrial / manufacturing areas developed adjacent to the station . In 1991 and again in 1993 , under the authority of the Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990 , it was announced that MCAS Tustin would be closed . Operational closure of the base occurred in July 1999 . However , the north hangar is still used as a storage and repair center for commercial blimps . Of the approximately , some 1 , 294 acres ( now known collectively as " Tustin Legacy " ) have been conveyed to the City of Tustin , private developers and public institutions for a combination of residential , commercial , educational , and public recreational and open - space uses . The remaining 300 - plus acres will be conveyed to other federal agencies , the City of Tustin and public institutions for the same uses once environmental clean - up operations have been concluded . In 1993 , the blimp hangars were designated National Civil Engineering Landmarks by the American Society of Civil Engineers ( ASCE ) . There have been talks regarding making one of the hangars a military museum . The site of the base is now the home of the academy of the Orange County Sheriff ' s Department . Much of the former base has become residential housing . Worldwide Aeros Corp is , as of 2013 , utilizing one of the historic hangars to build a prototype cargo blimp under contract from the Pentagon and NASA . In October , 2013 , part of the roof collapsed , damaging the blimp prototype . Plans for Regional Park . Plans are in the works to convert 84 . 5 acres of the former base into a regional park , to be opened in 2016 . As of the summer of 2013 , OC Parks is in the process of gathering input from the community in order to determine the features and layout of the forthcoming facilities . Although the preservation of the hangars is one of the greatest concerns raised in surveys taken by OC Parks , the fate of the south hangar is uncertain .