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Pleasanton History

Original post made by Stacey, Amberwood/Wood Meadows, on Aug 23, 2007

Pleasanton used to host three Naval Outlying Fields (NOLFs) that were attached to the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Livermore, which later became the lab. This information is taken from Web Link

The long/lat coordinates are not as accurate as I'd like but they give a general idea of where these runways were located.

"NOLF Cope, 3,200' runway, located at Pleasanton (37.68/-121.84)" - In the middle of a gravel quarry along Stanley across from Shadow Cliffs

"NOLF Rita-Butterworth, 3,000' runway, located at Pleasanton (37.7/-121.85)" - Somewhere around Staples Ranch area

"NOLF Spring Valley, 3,500' runway, located at Pleasanton (37.7/-121.9)" - Somewhere along Owens Dr near BART

Another interesting fact is that old railroad junctions and stops had names attached to them. Most people may be aware of Verona station, which was a stop near Verona Rd. for visitors to the Hearst Hacienda. The old railroad junction at the intersection of Valley Ave. and Stanley Blvd. was called Radum. If you use Google maps and type in these names it actually shows these locations.

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Posted by Stacey
a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows
on Aug 23, 2007 at 5:51 pm

Forgot to add, there were a total of something like 12 NOLFs attached to Livermore NAS. Some others were located in Livermore, Dublin, and Tracy. Camp Parks used to host one of them as well as the old location for the Livermore Municipal Airport. One was as far away as Milpitas. These were practice fields for pilots training for WWII.

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Posted by Jack Hovingh
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Aug 24, 2007 at 4:40 pm

Thanks Stacey...for the local history lesson.

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Posted by Stacey
a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows
on Dec 10, 2007 at 10:37 am

I started to put together a Google Earth KMZ file marking the "lost locations" around the Tri-Valley by putting in the locations of these Naval Outlying Fields. I also added the old Hummingbird Haven gliderport in Livermore. I intend to add more locations as I find them...

Here you can download the KMZ file:
Web Link

You will need Google Earth from Web Link to view this file if you don't have this program already.

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