(Redirected from Point Mugu)'Point Mugu' (
IPA: ),
California is an
unincorporated area and geographical
promontory on the
Pacific coast in
Ventura County, near the cities of
Port Hueneme and
Oxnard. It is also a name applied to the nearby
Naval Air Station -
NAS Point Mugu, and a test range facility known by various names over the years, including
Pacific Missile Test Center and Naval Air Missile Test Center. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian term Muwu, meaning beach, which was first mentioned by Cabrillo in his journals in 1542.
The 'Mugu Rock' is a distinctive feature of the coastal
promontory. The Rock was formed when a path for the
Pacific Coast Highway was cut through the mountain, thus forming the massive feature.
The facility adjacent to Point Mugu was developed in the late
1940s as the
U.S. Navy's major missile development and test facility. This facility was the site where most of the Navy's missiles were developed and tested during the 1950/1960 era, including the
AIM-7 Sparrow family and the
AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air, Bullpup
air-to-surface, and
Regulus surface-to-surface missiles.
NAS Pt. Mugu has dominated the area since the
1940s, and is one of the few places in the area that is not agricultural. The base has been home to many
ordnance testing programs, and the test range extends offshore to the Navy-owned
San Nicolas Island in the
Channel Islands.

The casket of former President
Ronald Reagan is carried on the tarmac at Point Mugu during the
state funeral honoring the former President in 2004.
In
1963 the
U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program was established on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean. The facility was relocated in
1967 to
Point Loma in
San Diego, California.
Until the late
1990s, the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX (VXE-6), the squadron of
LC-130s equipped to land on ice in
Antarctica, to supply the science stations there. Now, the
New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility.
Outside of the air station there is also
Point Mugu State Park, a popular site for viewing birds, marine mammals, and wildflowers and provides about 15,000 acres (61 km²) of protected land including beaches, riparian areas, and coastal hills and canyons. Between the park and the naval base, Mugu Lagoon provides one of the largest coastal
wetlands in
Southern California that has not been largely developed.
Point Mugu was the airfield used by former
President Ronald Reagan during his presidency on visits to his
Santa Barbara ranch. The airfield was also used during the
state funeral honoring him in 2004, as the place where the former President's body was flown to
Washington, D.C. to
lie in state in the
Capitol Rotunda. The body was flown back to Point Mugu two days later.
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed on January 31,
2000 at sea near Point Mugu, killing all 88 passengers and crew aboard.
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