Naval Air Warfare Center

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The Naval Air Warfare Center was a former U.S. Navy military installation located in Warminster, Pennsylvania and Ivyland, Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Navy purchased the grounds to establish this facility from the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation following its bankruptcy in the 1940s. The Brewster F2A Buffalo fighter of Midway infamy was produced by Brewster at this location. It was renamed Johnsville Naval Air Station

Aerial view of the NADC in the early 1970s

For most of its existence, the base was known as the Johnsville Naval Air Development Center, or N.A.D.C.

The base was closed by the federal government in the 1990s (during the Clinton Administration) and its operations were transferred to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Lexington Park, Maryland.

One of the key operations of this large, dome-shaped, underground facility was the engineering of Navigational Equipment, i.e. gyroscopes, used on Military Aircraft and Submarines.

The exceptionally long runway at the base was able to accommodate the C-5 Galaxy military cargo aircraft.

It is now home to an industrial park, Warminster Community Park, a housing development, the new Bucks County morgue and crime lab as well as Ann's Choice, a senior citizens' housing complex. Stormtracker6, the Doppler weather radar for WPVI is also located there.