Norton Air Force Base Museum

In response to the growing threat of fascism and the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States began and expanded mobilization efforts in 1941. President Roosevelt initiated the Protective Mobilization Plan as a unified program of national defense. Historian Thomas Morgan notes that the U.S. Armed forces lacked manpower and its army ranked seventeenth worldwide in terms of overall troop numbers at that time. The Protective Mobilization Plan lasted until 1941 and full-scale mobilization went into effect after the Pearl Harbor attack. The aftermath of Pearl Harbor saw a massive war mobilization in the United States to support the war effort and this included converting civilian airports into military installations that could support training pilots and mechanics.

Norton Air Force Base began as the Municipal Airport of San Bernardino under Army Air Corps jurisdiction. The base was used as a training location for pilots and its main function was the repair and maintenance of aircraft. The facility was later transferred to the newly created Air Force as the San Bernardino Air Force Base. Years later, the base was renamed to honor Captain Leland Francis Norton, a San Bernardino native, and World War II aviator who died on a combat mission. On that mission, Captain Norton was hit by enemy fire but remained with his plane until his crew of three had bailed out while he perished with the plane. Captain Norton was recognized posthumously with high honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the San Bernardino airbase was known as Norton Air Force Base until its closure in 1994. This museum is located at the site of the former base, the San Bernardino International Airport, and shares the history of California's experience in World War II and beyond.

"History Of Norton Air Force Base". 2019. Nafbmuseum.Org. https://www.nafbmuseum.org/history.

"History Of Norton AFB". 2021. Afcec.Af.Mil. https://www.afcec.af.mil/Home/BRAC/Norton/History.aspx.

Morgan, Thomas D. 1994. "The Industrial Mobilization of World War II: America Goes to War." Army History, no. 30: 31-35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26304207.