In 1943, the U.S. Navy took over the airfield and changed the name to NAAS Otay Mesa; later that year the name was changed again to NAAS Brown Field in honor of Commander Melville S. Brown, USN, who was killed in the crash of F2F-1, BuNo 9660 near Descanso, CA on 2 November 1936. CDR Brown was the Commanding Officer of the USS Truxtun (DD-229) when the ship was commissioned in 1921, and was Executive Officer of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) at the time of his death. Between 1943 and 1946, the U.S. Army Air Forces, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps used NAAS Brown Field for training in various aircraft, including the USAAF Lockheed P-38 Lightning, and the USN and USMC Grumman F4F Wildcat/General Motors FM-1 Wildcat, Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger, Grumman F6F Hellcat, and Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer.