{"nrhp_refnum":"99001591","name":"Sequoia Field-Visalia-Dinuba School of Aeronautics","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Near jct. of Ave. 368 and Road 112, 9 mi. N of Visalia","address_restricted":false,"city":"Visalia","county":"Tulare County","state":"CA","lat":36.44585148100006,"lon":-119.32216417671184,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-06-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 78-acre historic district about 9 miles north of Visalia in Tulare County, California, made up of a World War II civilian-operated pilot training school (Visalia-Dinuba School of Aeronautics) and its adjoining base airfield, Sequoia Field. The buildings date from 1941.","why_significant":"The district is significant for its role in World War II Army Air Forces primary flight training, in which civilian-run schools prepared pilots for combat. Six to eight thousand Army pilots learned to fly here, including a Medal of Honor recipient. The distinctive layout of barracks around an X-shaped parade ground has been largely preserved.","narrative":"Sequoia Field and the Visalia-Dinuba School of Aeronautics form a 78-acre district roughly nine miles north of Visalia, California. During World War II a civilian company ran the school to give Army pilots their primary flight training, while the neighboring field supplied hangars, runways and a control tower. Thirteen cadet barracks were arranged in four triangular groupings around an X-shaped grass parade ground with a central flagpole, a layout that survives today. Barracks are single-story wood-frame buildings with stucco walls, built in 1941. Between six and eight thousand pilots trained here and later served in every major theater of the war. One graduate, Captain Darrell R. Lindsey, received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. After the war the school became a county home for the aged and later housed sheriff and probation facilities, with interiors altered but the original plan kept. The airfield became a county airport.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th & Early 20th Century American Movements; No Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Former school grounds are now used by the Tulare County Sheriff's and Probation Departments, including an adult correction center; the airfield became a county general aviation airport, and part of the runway area is farmed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.034433-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/99001591.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862247","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/tulare-county/sequoia-field-visalia-dinuba-school-of-aeronautics-99001591/"}