Crissy Field Aviation Hangars and Airfield: Dawn of Military Aviation

Why is it significant?

Pause beside the massive sliding steel doors of the historic 1921 aviation hangars lining the south side of the Crissy Field promenade. Established in 1919 by the United States Army Air Service and named in honor of Major Dana H.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Pause beside the massive sliding steel doors of the historic 1921 aviation hangars lining the south side of the Crissy Field promenade. Established in 1919 by the United States Army Air Service and named in honor of Major Dana H. Crissy, who died during an early transcontinental air race, this grass runway was the army's premier frontline air base on the Pacific Coast. From this very field, daring young aviators in open-cockpit biplanes proved that military aviation could bridge vast oceans and continents.

In June 1924, pioneer aviator Lieutenant Russell Maughan completed the historic 'Dawn-to-Dusk' flight, taking off from New York at dawn and landing his Curtiss pursuit plane on this grass strip at dusk, traveling over twenty-six hundred miles in under twenty-two hours. Three years later in June 1927, Lieutenants Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger took off from this runway in their Fokker tri-motor 'Bird of Paradise', completing the world's first successful non-stop aerial flight across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii in twenty-five grueling hours.

By the late 1930s, the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and larger modern bomber aircraft made this narrow runway obsolete for combat flying, and operations shifted to Hamilton and Travis Air Force Bases. Today, the beautifully restored wooden hangars house indoor climbing gyms, community organizations, and the Presidio's cultural workshops. Generations of travelers, artists, and neighborhood residents have gathered at this very vantage point, inspired by the unforgettable panorama where dramatic coastal nature meets monumental human ingenuity. Generations of travelers, artists, and neighborhood residents have gathered at this very vantage point, inspired by the unforgettable panorama where dramatic coastal nature meets monumental human ingenuity. Generations of travelers, artists, and neighborhood residents have gathered at this very vantage point, inspired by the unforgettable panorama where dramatic coastal nature meets monumental human ingenuity.

If you look across the grass toward the bay, you can still feel the wide-open expanse where early wood-and-canvas aircraft caught the coastal thermals.

Continue west along the beachfront promenade toward the rocky curve of Crissy Beach.