Santa Ana Army Air Base Santa Ana Army Air Base ( SAAAB ) was an air base built during World War II that was decommissioned in 1946 . The air base was used for basic training but did not have planes , hangars or runways . The base was and located in Costa Mesa between Baker Street on the north , Harbor Blvd . on the west , Wilson Street on the south , Newport Blvd . on the east . Origins and development . On 1 January 1942 the United States Army Air Corps activated Santa Ana Army Air Base and established the West Coast Air Corps Training Center at Santa Ana , California . The West Coast Air Corps Training Center at Santa Ana commanded flying training ( basic , primary and advanced ) at airfields in the Western United States . On 31 July 1943 , was redesignated as the Western Flying Training Command . Santa Ana Army Air Base was an air base without planes , hangars or runways . The original locations were at Maxwell Field , Montgomery , Alabama , Randolph Field , San Antonio , Texas and Moffett Field , Sunnyvale , California . These three Centers were to train a total of 7 , 000 pilots per year . However the national program was increased to 30 , 000 pilots per year in August 1940 . Many contract training schools were started to help fill this quota . In February 1941 , the Army initiated three Air Corps Replacement Training Centers . These were induction centers for new recruits entering the Army Air Corps with no military experience . Each center was to provide for the classification and preflight instruction for pilots , navigators and bombardiers . The locations were to be at existing air corps facilities . This was the case except for the West Coast Air Corps Training Center at Moffett Field , near Sunnyvale , California . The United States Navy wanted to use the field exclusively for its lighter than air " blimp " base so the Army Air Corps had to look elsewhere for a new facility . A search of sites in southern California was conducted . The City Council of Santa Ana wanted the new center located near it so they arranged to lease a 409 - acre site for $ 6 , 400 per year from M . H . Whittier Co . Ltd . with an option to buy at $ 500 per acre . The government could sublet from the city for $ 1 per year . The Army selected the Santa Ana site on June 16 , 1941 . The City leased the land on August 21 , 1941 . National Training Center . Santa Ana Army Air Base ( SAAAB ) was a huge basic training camp . Plans were also made to move the entire Army Air Force administrative offices at Moffett Field to the Santa Ana area . The master plan called for the construction of 145 buildings that would include : 79 barracks , 3 warehouses , quartermaster supply office , 4 school buildings , 10 administration buildings , 13 day rooms , 13 supply rooms , 4 cadet messes , 2 officers ' quarters , a motor repair shop , post office , gasoline service station , utility buildings , theater , 2 recreation buildings , commissary buildings , chapels , dispatchers ' office , officers ' mess , fire station , guard house , two post exchanges , and a 151 - bed hospital and all utilities . This would amount to a new city in the middle of bean and tomato fields . The construction contract for the 177 buildings at SAAAB was awarded to the Griffith Company on October 24 , 1941 for $ 2 million . The work was to be completed in 120 calendar days The Base would not have a flying field as a part of its facilities . It would receive air cadets from civilian life and give them basic ground training prior to their advancement to one of the contract primary aviation schools for flight training . The Orange County Airport was also selected as the site for the Headquarters Squadron originally located at Moffett Field . Arrangements were also made for the Air Corps lease five acres of land for a small facility at the adjacent airport to serve as a sort of " taxi service " for the Army Air Force officials to permit them to contact various points of flying activity along the West Coast . The first set of buildings was completed on May 15 , 1942 ; however , the officers and men began to move into the base on February 16 , 1942 . General Orders No . 14 made it official on March 3 , 1942 . The base grew rapidly as the need for pilots and air crews skyrocketed . Newly inducted soldiers , earmarked for the Army Air Forces , were given 9 weeks of basic training and then testing to determine if they were to be pilots , bombardiers , navigators , mechanics , etc . From SAAAB , they went on to other bases for training in their specialties . It planned to accommodate 2 , 500 to 3 , 000 cadets , 83 officers and 806 enlisted men , and to cost about $ 3 , 200 , 000 to construct . The first group of 50 cadets arrived on February 20 , 1942 . On February 25 , 1942 the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron with its enlisted men and approximately 2 , 000 cadets arrived to begin training . By March there were 5 , 000 cadets on the base . Cadets lived in tents until the new barracks could be completed . Instruction began in March for a nine - week course . In May 1942 the base was organized into Wings , Groups and Squadrons . A wing consisted of ten squadrons , divided into two Groups . A squadron usually had about 180 men . This was broken into flights and then squads . The first class of 2 , 601 cadets graduated on July 1 , 1942 . By the end of 1942 the annual rate of graduates from the Pilot School was over 45 , 000 . To carry out this program , the Air Force had recruited a faculty of over 250 well - trained and experienced high school , college and university teachers who later became officers in the Air Corps . In the Fall of 1942 SAAAB became an Overseas Replacement Depot ( ORD ) housing Army Air Forces personnel awaiting transportation overseas . Turnover was rapid so that by the end of the year 23 , 470 soldiers had passed through SAAAB . By the end of 1943 that number jumped to 57 , 895 . The Base reached its maximum strength by the fall of 1943 , with a population of some 26 , 000 servicemen . In November 1943 members of the Women ' s Air Service Pilots ( WASP ) began training at the base , followed shortly by members of the Women ' s Army Corp ( WAC ) . Being close to Hollywood and with such a large turnover of service personnel , the base attracted a lot of Hollywood celebrities who put on shows at the base . Preflight training at the SAAAB peaked in the latter part of 1943 . Pilot class 44D , the largest , completed training in October 1943 . By then , the Army Air Forces had enough aircrews for the foreseeable future . On May 31 , 1944 aircrew classification ceased at the SAAAB , only about two years since a began . The Pilot School closed on May 22 , 1944 . It had received 73 , 923 cadets and graduated 70 , 464 for flying schools . By the end of 1944 most pilot training schools were being closed by the Army Air Forces . On November 1 , 1944 the SAAAB was turned over to the Army Air Forces Personnel Distribution Command with General Arthur E . Easterbrook in command . At the time it had 800 buildings on the Base . Most of the remaining cadets were sent to San Antonio , Texas . From its inception until this transfer the SAAAB Classification Center had received 149 , 425 men . Of that total , 82 , 252 were classified as pilots , 21 , 842 as bombardiers and 14 , 230 as navigators . Classification eliminated 28 , 388 to ground crew and 188 to radio operator school . At its close 2 , 525 remained unclassified . May 7 , 1945 V - E day was the close of the fighting in Europe . Suddenly SAAAB ' s role changed 180 degrees and it worked around the clock to become a separation center . By November 1945 81 , 000 combat veterans had been returned to private life . In late 1945 Japanese aliens from the alien internment camps being returned to Japan by the Immigrations and Naturalization Service ( INS ) were housed here while awaiting transportation to Japan Finally on March 13 , 1946 the Army deactivated the SAAAB . On May 4 , 1946 the title to the SAAAB passed from the Army to the War Assets Administration . Postwar use . In the ensuing years some of the buildings on the base were sold and moved piecemeal , others became part of colleges . In 1953 the City of Costa Mesa was incorporated . In June 1955 , the former SAAAB property was annexed to the City . For a period of time in the mid - 1950s a portion of the Base served as a Nike guided missile training base . The three - battery missile compound had been made operational in January 1956 . Two years later , in June 1958 , the Air National Guard received a five - acre parcel of land and the remaining 260 acres , including the five - acre air base water facility , was declared surplus and turned over to the GSA . On June 29 , 1979 , a plaque was dedicated to " all pilots , bombardiers and navigators who trained here that contributed to an early victory in World War II " . This plaque was placed on the Air National Guard base , which is the last active duty post on the original location of the SAAAB . In literature , the Santa Ana Army Air Base is notable as being one of the two settings - but the only non - fictional one ( the other , the fictional island of " Pianosa " in Italy ) - for the novel " Catch - 22 " by Joseph Heller .