Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster

Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster

Aerial view of the NADC in the early 1970s
Summary
Airport type Military: Naval Air Station
Operator United States Navy
Location Warminster, Pennsylvania
Built 1930s
In use 1940
Occupants Navy
Elevation AMSL 375 ft / 114 m
Coordinates 40°11′0.00″N 075°03′58.00″W / 40.1833333°N 75.0661111°W / 40.1833333; -75.0661111Coordinates: 40°11′0.00″N 075°03′58.00″W / 40.1833333°N 75.0661111°W / 40.1833333; -75.0661111
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 8,000 2,438 Asphalt, Concrete
NAWC, Aircraft Division, Warminster
(Johnsville Naval Air Development Center)
Location of the former Naval Air Development Center Pennsylvania
Location Warminster and Ivyland, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 40°11′35″N 75°04′31″W / 40.19295°N 75.07532°W / 40.19295; -75.07532
PA marker dedicated 11 November 1998[1]

Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster (IATA: NJP, ICAO: KNJP) was a U.S. Navy military installation located in Warminster, Pennsylvania and Ivyland, Pennsylvania. For most of its existence (1944–1996), the base was known as the Naval Air Development Center, Johnsville, NADC, or simply, Johnsville.[2]

History

Early history

The U.S. Navy purchased the grounds to establish this facility from the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation following its bankruptcy in the 1940s. The Brewster Buccaneer dive bomber was produced by Brewster at this location. It was named Brewster Field. After the US Navy took over in 1944, It was renamed NAMU (Naval Manufacturing Unit Johnsville).It was a modification center for fleet aircraft before joining the fleet. Wing panels for PBY's were manufactured here for assembly on planes at Mustin Field at the Philadelphia Naval Aircraft factory. The famous Chance Vought F4U Corsair was also modified here, with the Brewster F3A version being built here during WW2. It was renamed a Naval Air Development Center in 1952.[3][4] The facility played an important role in Project Mercury.

Base closure

The base was closed by the federal government Base Realignment and Closure action in the 1990s and most of its operations were transferred to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Lexington Park, Maryland. In 1992, as part of the BRAC, the NADC Navigation Department (Code 40) was transferred to NCCOSC (Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center) Research, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Division San Diego, CA.[5][6] NRaD Warminster Detachment ultimately relocated to San Diego when the base closed on 30 September 1996.[7][8]

NADC Code 40 and subsequently NRaD Warminster Detachment Code 30 operated several facilities including the GPS Central Engineering Activity (CEA) and a large, dome-shaped, underground facility (Inertial Navigation Facility).[9] This facility performed the engineering functions associated with Inertial Navigational Equipment, including gyroscopes, used for inertial navigation systems on military aircraft and submarines. While the GPS CEA currently operates out of San Diego, CA,[10] the underground inertial facility is maintained and operated by the Penn State Applied Research Lab (ARL).[11]

The 8,000-foot-long (2,400 m) runway at the base was able to accommodate the C-5 Galaxy military cargo aircraft.

Today

The former Center is now home to an industrial park, Warminster Community Park, a housing development, the new Bucks County morgue crime lab, Ann's Choice, a senior citizens' housing complex and the IHG hotel "Holiday Inn Express". Stormtracker6, the Doppler weather radar for WPVI is also located there.

While once part of the EPA's superfund list, the US Navy has completed all cleanup activities at the former base.[12]

In 2014, the Warminster Municipal Authority issued a public notice stating that groundwater contamination has been identified on and in the area for the form NAWC site and shut down two supply wells as result of the contamination until further notice. The water is contaminated with perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. Contamination was detected in other wells but not above the EPA's provisional Health Advisory Level.[13]

The former runway of Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster is now part of Warminster Community Park and contains basketball courts and a playground
U.S. astronaut Walter M. Schirra Jr. prepares to enter the gondola of the human centrifuge at Johnsville in 1960.

Human centrifuge

Since Johnsville possessed the world's largest human centrifuge, capable of spinning a man to at least 16g, (42g max 19g/s onset) it was used for astronaut training.[14] The centrifuge was later used for flight simulation where it could simulate 6 degrees of freedom with g loading. The F-14 flat spin on takeoff issue was investigated and resolved on the DFS Centrifuge. Later endeavors included supine seat experiments, G-Tolerance Improvement Program (GTIP), and F/A-18 simulation. The DFS Centrifuge building (formerly building 70) has been refurbished as a museum, office space and a theater.[15][16][17]

See also

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "PHMC Historical Markers". Historical Marker Database. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "Johnsville Naval Air Development Center Historical Marker". explorepahistory.com/. explorepahistory.com/. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "Celebrating 275 Years of Warminster Twp.". philly.com. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Johnsville Naval Air Development Center Historical Marker". explorepahistory.com/. explorepahistory.com/. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Evolution in Naval Air Navigation – From NADC to NRaD". ion.org. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  6. ↑ "NRaD Detachment, Warminster". US Navy. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  7. ↑ "Johnsville Naval Air Development Center Historical Marker". explorepahistory.com/. explorepahistory.com/. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  8. ↑ "Celebrating 275 Years of Warminster Twp.". philly.com. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "NRaD Detachment, Warminster". US Navy. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "The GPS Division" (PDF). US Navy. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "ARL Navigation Research Facilities". arl.psu.edu. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "Naval Air Development Center Warminster". epa.gov. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  13. ↑ "PUBLIC NOTICE FROM YOUR WATER AUTHORITY". Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  14. ↑ Ackmann, Martha. The Mercury 13. p. 57.
  15. ↑ "Johnsville centrifuge site to be a small biz center". philly.com. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  16. ↑ "Johnsville Naval Air Development Center Historical Marker". explorepahistory.com/. explorepahistory.com/. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "Celebrating 275 Years of Warminster Twp.". philly.com. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 31 July 2015.

Sources

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