Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach or NOLF Imperial Beach is a United States Navy facility for helicopters, situated on 1204acre approximately 14mi south of San Diego and within the city limits of Imperial Beach, California. It is known as "The Helicopter Capital of the World".Mission statementThe mission of NOLF Imperial Beach at the present time as described, is to handle the overflow of helicopter squadrons traffic both VFR and IFR, from North Island. As a result, the helicopter squadrons at North Island do 95 percent of their operations at Imperial Beach.HistoryIn 1917, the United States Army established Aviation Field on the current site of OLF Imperial Beach. Aviation Field was used for air gunnery practices, among other things, by the Army and was kept active throughout World War I. In 1918, it was renamed in honor of Army Major William Roy Ream, the first flying surgeon of the American Army and the first flight surgeon killed in an aircraft accident.In the early 1920s the Navy began using Ream Field for practice carrier landings, but the field was not considered as advantageous for expansion as Brown Field, some 8mi inland, and did not develop much further until later during World War II.In 1943, the present runways were built and construction on the installation’s buildings began, and on 17 July 1943 Naval Auxiliary Air Station Ream Field was commissioned. By 12 April 1946 the station had 78 buildings and four airstrips consisting of runways, one oriented northwest by southeast and the other oriented northeast by southwest, both of which were 2500 by 500ft. In addition to the four runways, 82,730 square yards of aircraft parking area were built.
