Naval Air Station Key West

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Naval Air Station Key West Boca Chica Field

IATA: n/a^[1] - ICAO: KNQX - FAA: NQX
Summary
Controlled By		United States Navy
Facility Type		Naval Air Station
Location		Key West, Florida
Commissioned		December 15, 1940
Current Status		Active
Commanding Officer		Captain J.R. Brown
Elevation AMSL		6 ft (2 m)
Coordinates		23°34′32″N, 81°41′19″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
7L/25R	10,000	3,048	PEM
3R/21L	7,000	2,134	PEM
13R/31L	7,000	2,134	PEM

Naval Air Station Key West (ICAO: KNQX, FAA LID: NQX), also known as NAS Key West, is a military airport located 4 miles east of Key West, Florida.^[2] NAS Key West provides the U.S. Navy superb year round weather and abundant unrestricted air space for training of transient tactical aviation squadrons. It maintains and operates facilities, provides essential services to customers, and ensures the highest affordable quality of life for the service members and their families while stationed in Key West. The population consists of 1,650 active-duty; 2,507 family members; 35 Reserve; and 1,312 civilians.

The Naval Air Station supports the needs of aviation units and is host to many tenant commands, including Joint Interagency Task Force South. Some of the military housing and an RV park are located at Sigsbee Park, as well as the Navy Exchange and Commissary. The single service member housing is located at Trumbo Point (E-4 and below) and Truman Annex (E-5 and above). The Combined Bachelor Quarters is also located on Trumbo Point and is very visible from North Roosevelt Boulevard and Palm Avenue, with its "FLY NAVY" printed on the building (it is the tallest building on the island of Key West). Truman Annex has a sandy beach and is the location of the Joint Interagency Task Force East.^[3]

1 History
2 Tenant units
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The U.S. Navy's presence in Key West dates back to 1823 when a Naval Base was established to stop piracy in this area. The lower Keys were home to many wealthy shipping merchants whose fleets operated from these waters. This drew the interest of pirates such as Blackbeard and Captain William Kidd, who used the Keys as a base from which to prey on shipping lanes. The base was expanded during the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War. In 1898, the battleship Maine sailed from Key West to Havana, Cuba, where it sank. The sinking of the Maine resulted in the United States declaring war on Spain, and the entire U.S. Atlantic Fleet moved to Key West for the duration of the war.

During World War I (1914-1918) the base was expanded again, and in 1917, a U.S. naval submarine base was established on what is now naval air station property. Its mission during World War I was to supply oil to the U.S. fleet and to block German ships from reaching Mexican oil supplies.

The nation's southernmost Naval Base proved to be an ideal year-round training facility with rapid access to the open sea-lanes and ideal flying conditions. The Navy's forces were expanded to include seaplanes, submarines and blimps. Ground was broken for construction of a small coastal air patrol station on July 13, 1917, at what is now Trumbo Point, on land leased from the Florida East Coast Railroad Company. The project involved dredging, erection of station buildings, three seaplane ramps, a dirigible hangar, a hydrogenerator plant, and temporary barracks.

On September 22 of that year, the base's log book recorded the first naval flight ever made from Key West - a Curtiss N-9 seaplane flown by Coast Guard Lt. Stanley Parker. About three months later, on December 18, Naval Air Base Key West was commissioned and Lt. Parker became the first Commanding Officer.

Naval Air Base pilots flew in search of German submarines resting on the surface to recharge batteries. The aircraft was armed only with a single machine gun, but gunners were supplied with hand grenades. The slow Curtiss biplanes flew low over surfaced subs, and gunners dropped grenades into open conning towers. Naval aviation antisubmarine warfare was born.

On January 18, 1918, the first class of student flight officers arrived for seaplane training, this launched the stations reputation as a premier training site for Naval aviators, which continues today. The base was primarily used for antisubmarine patrol operations and as an elemental flight training station. More than 500 aviators were trained at the station during World War I.

The lessons of war are easily forgotten in peace. After World War I, the base was decommissioned. Its personnel were released. Most of the buildings were destroyed or dismantled and moved to other locations. The remaining facilities were used only occasionally during 1920-1930 for seaplane training. The station remained inactive until 1939.

The seaplane base was designated as a Naval Air Station on December 15, 1940, and served as an operating and training base for fleet aircraft Squadrons. This set the stage for America's entry into World War II. Fortunately, the government retained the property, which proved to be a wise decision as the nation scrambled to re-arm in a state of emergency at the outbreak of the war.

The base was reopened to support Navy destroyers and PBY aircraft. Other satellite facilities were established to support other war efforts, including Meachim Field for lighter than air operations on Key West, and a runway for land-based aircraft on Boca Chica.

By 1943, German submarines were operating so near Key West that they were sinking allied ships within sight of land. Submarine raids peaked in May of that year, when 49 ships were torpedoed off the coast of Florida. As the war decreased, so did the torpedo raids. In March 1945, the satellite fields were disestablished and combined into one aviation activity designated as U.S. Naval Air Station, Key West.

After the war ended, NAS Key West was retained as a training facility. It responded to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which posed the first doorstep threat to America in more than a century. Reconnaissance and operational flights were begun October 22, 1962, in support of the blockade around Cuba. During the Missile Crisis, Key West cemented its claim to the title "Gibraltar of the Gulf," coined a hundred years earlier by Commodore David Porter.

Literally built up from the swamp, all of the NAS Key West sites, including Harry S. Truman Annex, Trumbo Point, Meachum Field, and Boca Chica, were now permanently etched in military history.

On October 5, 2001, Naval Air Station Key West was re-designated as an Air Facility.

On April 1, 2003, the air facility was re-designated as Naval Air Station Key West.^[4]