| Description: |
- Farenholt sundial for U.S. Naval Air Station Sunnyvale CA. This cast bronze dial was designed and commissioned by RADM Farenholt for U.S. Naval Hospitals at bases where he was commanding officer, visited, or had special meaning to him. The dial is 18 inches (46cm) in diameter. The outer chapter ring has the motto, followed by a chapter ring with Arabic hours 6am to 6pm, raised hour lines that radiate from near the foot of the gnomon and short half-hour lines. The gnomon has graceful curves and a star cut-out in the center. Below the gnomon is the naval command name, followed by the commissioning date in the southern portion of the hours chapter ring.
The history of this dirigible air base goes back to Mrs. Laura Thane Whipple who helped raise $476,000 to purchase 1000 acres in Sunnyvale, diverting it from a proposed site in San Diego. On April 12, 1933, the Navy commissioned US Naval Air Station Sunnyvale. This is the command name and date on the Farenholt sundial.
However, on April 4, 1933 another US dirigible, the USS Akron, crashed off Barnegat Light NJ with a loss of 74 lives, including William A. Moffett, Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics. On 13 May 1933, effective 1 June, Secretary of the Navy, C.A. Swanson issued General Order No. 50, renaming NAS Sunnyvale as Moffett Field. This certainly indicates that the Farenholt sundial was cast specifically for the original commissioning of the Air Station on April 12, 1933.
In 1997, the Navy discovered the hangar’s siding was leaching polychlorinated biphenyls. It was declared a toxic site and closed in 2002. Rather than demolition, the paneling was removed and much of the base in part of NASA-Ames Research and Conference Center.
|
| |
General Information: | Inscription: | | - Circling the top of the dial:
Como La Sombra Hoye La Hora
(The Shadow Tells the Hour)
South of the gnomon on the dial face:
UNITED STATES
NAVAL AIR STATION
SUNNYVALE
CALIFORNIA
1933
Below date: "AF" for RADM Ammen Farenholt
At base of pedestal:
PRESENTED BY
R.ADM. A. FARENHOLT
(M.C.) U.S.N.
NOV 21, 1933
“A presentation plaque is located near the bottom of the column. At the base of the sundial sits the 100-year time capsule, slated to open on April 12, 2033.” from N.A. Veronico in "Moffet Field". Plaque can be seen in photo
|
- Designer: RADM Ammen Farenholt
|
- Builder: U.S. Naval Foundry
|
|
| |
| References: |
- Farenholt Sundials
#181 US NH Annapolis MD
#258 US Naval Center Bethesda MD
#461 US NH Brooklyn (Walter Reed, Bethesda MD)
#462 US NH Pearl Harbor (At Walter Reed)
#1014 US NH Parris Island SC (Beaufort SC)
#1076 US NH Mare Island CA
#1077 US NH Newport RI
#1078 US NH Puget Sound WA (Bremerton, WA)
#1079 US NH San Diego CA
#1080 US Naval Ammo Depot (Hawthorne, NV)
#1081 US Naval Air Station CA
#1082 US NH Portsmouth NH
#1083 US NH Corpus Christi TX
|
