Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, located in Santa Ana (later incorporated into Irvine), Orange County, California, operated as the primary West Coast US Marine Corps jet aviation installation from WWII until its closure in 1999. El Toro served as a major military airfield with extensive aircraft maintenance and storage facilities, aviation training programs, and Marine aviation combat readiness operations throughout the Cold War. Navy Hospital Corpsmen (HM), Naval Aviators, and Navy personnel assigned to El Toro in support roles worked throughout the installation’s WWII-era and Cold War-era building stock.

WWII-Era Hangars and Industrial Facilities and Asbestos

MCAS El Toro’s hangar complex and industrial facilities used asbestos-containing construction materials:

  • WWII-era aircraft hangars — the large aircraft maintenance hangars at El Toro were constructed during the WWII period using industrial building materials of the era including asbestos-containing roofing systems, asbestos pipe insulation in the building heating systems, and asbestos fireproofing applied to the structural steel in the large-span hangar buildings. Aviation maintenance workers and base personnel in these hangars were in proximity to aging asbestos-containing hangar construction throughout El Toro’s decades of operation
  • Aircraft maintenance shop buildings — the aircraft maintenance shops, avionics shops, and support buildings at El Toro used WWII-era and postwar industrial building construction with asbestos-containing roofing, insulation, and building mechanical system materials throughout the maintenance area building stock
  • Base administrative and barracks buildings — the administrative, barracks, and base support buildings throughout El Toro’s large base complex used WWII-era institutional building construction with asbestos ceiling tile, asbestos floor tile, and asbestos pipe insulation in the building mechanical systems throughout the base housing and support infrastructure

Aviation Maintenance and Asbestos Exposure

Aviation maintenance operations at El Toro involved asbestos-containing aircraft components:

  • Aircraft brake and friction component work — aircraft landing gear brake system maintenance at El Toro’s maintenance facilities involved asbestos-containing brake lining and disc brake materials used in older aircraft systems, with inspection and replacement operations creating asbestos fiber exposure for aviation maintenance personnel
  • Aircraft thermal insulation — older aircraft in El Toro’s inventory used asbestos-containing thermal and acoustic insulation in aircraft fuselage areas, with maintenance operations requiring removal and reinstallation of these asbestos-containing insulation blankets

VA Claims for MCAS El Toro Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at Marine Corps air stations. Navy personnel and veterans who served at MCAS El Toro in WWII-era or Cold War-era hangar and industrial facilities and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.