In 1941, the San Diego Naval Air Station began training pilots for the U.S. Air Force, a total that reached 31,400 pilots by the end of World War II in 1945. However, years before the war began, Japanese aviators trained at the school, including Lieutenant Otozo Yamada, who would later head the Imperial Japanese Naval Aviation Army. Read more about San Diego’s military facilities and aviation industry in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
