It’s been some time since I brought up the grand old lady War Eagle Field, out on Avenue I and 60th West, but the other night I was reading an old World War II issue of BULAERO, the base newspaper that covered all the Cal Aero fields in Southern California, including our very own Polaris Flight Academy at War Eagle Field.

The stories shared were the up-and-coming entertainment of USO shows making their way to the airfields, and on that list was War Eagle. Being in proximity to Hollywood and the entertainment industry, there were many famous people who could take time to perform at local venues and still make first call in Hollywood on workdays.

My love for the old field out on that corner is well documented and two of my favorite old haunts there are Hangars One and Two which during the life of the field, were beehives of activity 24-hours-a-day. Aircraft upkeep was constant for the hundreds of cadets who needed aircraft to train in every day, and the constant sound of engines and air tools gave a concert that the everyday ground personnel took for granted. But there were times when those sounds were replaced with others just as important to the war effort for keeping up morale in such trying times.

The Antelope Valley has seen many famous people come here and entertain over the years but during those years of World War II those old hangars at War Eagle were the stage for more celebrities than our valley has seen since World War II.

On many special occasions the hangars were emptied of aircraft and filled with portable stages. Sound systems filled the facility as hundreds of airmen crowded in to hear the very best of Hollywood and the music industry, along with stand-up comedians who today we consider legendary.

Young airmen and old alike who kept the field buzzing could escape the world and its problems for a while at these shows, and ease the pain of separation from their families, and fear of the unknown. On those special days and nights, one could listen and laugh while drifting away to the sounds of a Hollywood starlet singing like her song was personally to every soldier in attendance.

Bob Hope, Joe E Brown, Mickey Rooney, Clark Gable, John Wayne, Jack Benny, and Bing Crosby were always big draws, but it was those shapely girls with soft voices, talented troupes like the Andrew Sisters, and a mixture of Big Bands that prompted thoughts of home, good times, friends, and family.

Starlets like Veronica Lake, Carole Landis, Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, Ginger Rogers, and Lauren Bacall all made appearances out at that old hangar that is now filled with dust-covered storage from years of non-use.

We also must not overlook entertainers who were not famous but had skills, like the amateurs who would fill the bill in between the big names with dancing and unique talents. For many of these entertainers the USO shows were their start in the entertainment industry.

One of those starlets who entertained at our old field in those hangars was Lancaster’s own Judy Garland. One day when I was being given a tour, the silence that is that old hangars’ daily routine gave way to my imagination as that space was filled with the sounds of a very young Judy singing her signature song “Somewhere over the Rainbow” to many of those cadets with mist in their eyes hearing it in a setting that we can only imagine. I wonder how many of those young pilots went off to war, never to return, with that song in their hearts, and memories of that special night.

The Antelope Valley has many places that over the years became the stage for performances of famous people and acts. Who would have ever thought that two old hangars wasting away at a forgotten location would become our Hollywood Bowl? For a brief time, the top celebrities who set the standards for American entertainment entertained what would become our Greatest Generation.

I sure hope when the powers-that-be decide those old hangars must come to an end that Judy’s words are not forgotten:

Someday I’ll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops

That’s where you’ll find me.

I sure hope those two old hangars and the thousands of cadets found that magical place, if only for a brief time, when Hollywood came to Lancaster and wrote their history in the hearts of those far from home, in buildings training them for war in far-off lands.

Until next time, peace my friends, and Bob out …