Hamilton Field History Museum

An Air Force Thunderbird Crashes at Hamilton.

The USAF Thunderbirds arrived at Hamilton on May 9, 1964, for an airshow. The formation made a low-pass arrival over the runway, and the three aircraft pulled up vertically to enter the landing pattern. At roughly 300 knots and about a 45-degree attitude, Thunderbird #2, flown by Captain Gene Devlin, snapped in half, followed by an explosion that killed him immediately. In the weeks following, a 40-member Air Force Board examined the maintenance logs and manufacturer's records. What they found was surprising.

It was not pilot error, faulty maintenance, or weather.
The board found that a mis-drilled structural joint connecting the wing spar to the fuselage had created cracks that slowly grew over time. Under the stress of the pull-up maneuver, the joint failed, causing the crash.
The discovery led to the redesign and reinforcement of the F-105 structure across the fleet.

A new display at the Hamilton Field History Museum features several Oral Histories collected over the years from service personnel stationed at Hamilton. These stories allow us to look back in time, see how the base evolved, and hear the recollections and experiences of those stationed there.
For instance, Ed Tanner was a flight instructor at Hamilton. While in Germany during WWII, he was captured in December of 1943 and spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp. Lt. Col Arthur Harman was a Tuskegee airman. He reflects on his time in WWII and Korea.
There are recollections by Pilots, Crew Chiefs, Security personnel, and others associated with the base.
The oral histories may be viewed in the library at the museum.

In March 1932, the County of Marin officially transferred the land, then known as Marin Meadows, to the U.S. Government for one dollar. This transfer cleared the way for the construction to begin on Hamilton Field. The location for the new base had been hotly contested up and down the coast because these were the Great Depression years, and the new base would create 800 new jobs.
The Ceremonial Certificate commemorates that event.