Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue

Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue, also known as Bogue Field, is an 875acre landing field located on Bogue Sound (North Carolina) that serves as the Marine Corps’ only East Coast site for Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP). By performing many of these landings at night, pilots simulate landing on an aircraft carrier or an amphibious assault ship, which provides the force with the means to forward deploy its aviation assets in order to have a more readily accessible aviation punch for the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) commander on the battlefield.Marines who are assigned to the remote airfield have been nicknamed "Bogue Rats". This nickname is reflected in their unofficial logo.HistoryWhen the United States Navy purchased 573acre of land in 1942 for an auxiliary airfield, three 4000ft runways were built for the use of Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, North Carolina. Facilities were also constructed to support two squadrons with a combined total of 45 aircraft and accommodations for 1,050 personnel.World War IIDuring World War II, Bogue was used almost exclusively by the United States Marine Corps for VMSB dive-bomber squadron training. Equipped with the SBD Dauntless, the first squadron, VMSB-331, moved to Bogue from MCAS New River in 1943 followed by Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33) later that year.