Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the
Coronado peninsula on
San Diego Bay
San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of c ...
in
San Diego,
California, is part of the largest
aerospace-industrial complex in the
United States Navy –
Naval Base Coronado (NBC), and the home port of several
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s of the
United States Navy.
The commanding officer of NAS North Island (NASNI) is also the Commanding Officer,
Naval Base Coronado (NBC). As such, he or she commands or administers NASNI and seven other naval facilities:
Naval Amphibious Base Coronado
Naval Amphibious Base Coronado (NAB Coronado) is a US naval installation located across the bay from San Diego, California. The base, situated on the Silver Strand, between San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean, is a major Navy shore command, sup ...
(NABC);
Outlying Field Imperial Beach;
Silver Strand Training Complex; Remote Training Site, Warner Springs;
Mountain Warfare Training Camp Michael Monsoor;
Camp Morena; and
Naval Auxiliary Landing Facility San Clemente Island. NBC, with only its commands in the metropolitan San Diego area, brackets the city of
Coronado from the entrance to San Diego Bay to the
Mexican border. NAS North Island itself is host to 23 aviation
squadrons and 80 additional tenant commands and activities—one of which, the Fleet Readiness Center Southwest, is San Diego's largest aerospace employer.
Organization
NAS North Island also operates two other airfields in the Southern California region. One is
Naval Auxiliary Landing Facility (NALF) San Clemente Island, located approximately northwest of
San Diego in the
Channel Islands. The other is
Naval Outlying Landing Field (NOLF) Imperial Beach. Formerly an independent naval air station, NOLF Imperial Beach is located in the city of
Imperial Beach, on the U.S.-Mexico border, south of NAS North Island. The air station was known as Ream Field in the 1950s and 1960s.
NAS North Island resembles a small city in its facility content and its operations. It has its own police and fire departments, as well as advanced military security stations. It has large factory-type buildings which comprise the Naval Aviation Depot, employing 3,300 civilians, and its own commissary,
Navy Exchange, and housing units. Recreation facilities include officer, chief petty officer and enlisted clubs, movie theater, golf course, tennis courts, bowling alley, parks and beaches.
Its airfield has over 230 stationed aircraft, and its quay wall is
homeport to two aircraft carriers: and . Additionally, the base is home to the Navy's only
Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles,
''Mystic'' (DSRV-1) and
''Avalon'' (DSRV-2). The DSRV motor vessel support ships are also homeported here.
North Island is headquarters for four major military flag staffs including:
*
Commander, Naval Air Forces (COMNAVAIRFOR or CNAF), responsible for maintenance and training of all naval aircraft and aircraft carriers in the Atlantic Fleet, Pacific Fleet, the Naval Air Reserve, and the Naval Air Training Command
* Commander, Naval Air Force,
U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMNAVAIRPAC or CNAP), responsible for maintenance and training of all naval aircraft and aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet. This is a dual-hatted post in that it is concurrently held by the Commander, Naval Air Forces
* Commander,
Carrier Strike Group One
Carrier Strike Group One (CSG-1 or CARSTRKGRU 1) is a U.S. Navy carrier strike group. is the strike group's current flagship, and other units currently assigned are the ship's Carrier Air Wing 2 and embarked Destroyer Squadron 1, deployed wi ...
and Commander,
Carrier Strike Group Seven
With all the ships in port, the population of the station is nearly 35,000 active duty military, selected reserve military, and civilian personnel.
Department of Defense (DoD) contractors perform transportation flights from the air station to NALF San Clemente Island. Contractors also provide tactical training warfare for the DoD in joint efforts with the U.S. Navy and
U.S. Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through comb ...
. These aircraft include
C-26 Metroliner,
Learjet,
Gulfstream, and
Twin Otter aircraft.
History
North Island was commissioned a
Naval Air Station in 1917, called Naval Air Station San Diego until 1955. On August 15, 1963, the station was granted official recognition as the "Birthplace of Naval Aviation" by resolution of the
House Armed Services Committee.
The U.S. Navy's first aviator, Lieutenant
Theodore Ellyson
Theodore Gordon Ellyson, USN (27 February 1885 – 27 February 1928), nicknamed "Spuds", was the first United States Navy officer designated as an aviator ("Naval Aviator No. 1"). Ellyson served in the experimental development of aviation ...
, and many of his colleagues were trained at North Island starting as early as 1911. This was just eight years after
Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the
first manned aircraft at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At that time, North Island was an uninhabited sand flat. It had been used in the late 19th century for horseback riding and hunting by guests of
J. D. Spreckels's resort hotel, the
Hotel del Coronado.
North Island derived its name from the original geography. In the nineteenth century it was referred to as North Coronado Island, because it was separated from South Coronado (now the city of Coronado) by a shallow bay known as the Spanish Bight, which was later filled in 1945 during
World War II. In 1886, North Coronado Island and South Coronado were purchased by a developer to become a residential resort. South Coronado, which is not an island but the terminus of a peninsula known as the
Silver Strand, became the city of
Coronado.
However, North Coronado was never developed. Instead,
Glenn Curtiss opened a flying school and held a lease to the property until the beginning of
World War I. Curtiss invited both the
U.S. Army and U.S. Navy to use the site for aviation training, with the Navy being the first to open a station in 1912. However the Navy abandoned its camp and did not return for five years, while the Army established an aviation school in 1913 at the southern end of the island. In 1917, Congress appropriated the land, and two airfields were commissioned on its sandy flats. The Navy started with a tent city known as "Camp Trouble". As its name suggests, things did not always go well in the early days. The Navy shared North Island with the Army's
Signal Corps,
Air Service, and Air Corp's
Rockwell Field until 1937, when the Army left and the Navy expanded its operations to cover the whole of North Island.
In 1914, then-unknown aircraft builder
Glenn Martin took off and demonstrated his
pusher aircraft over the island with a flight that included the first
parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...
jump in the San Diego area. The jump was made by a ninety-pound civilian woman named
Tiny Broadwick
Broadwick ready to drop from a Glenn_L._Martin.html" ;"title="Martin T airplane piloted by Glenn L. Martin">Glenn Martin.
Georgia Ann "Tiny" Thompson Broadwick (April 8, 1893 in Oxford, North Carolina – 1978 in California), or Georgia Broadwick ...
. Other aviation milestones originating at North Island included the first
seaplane flight in 1911, the first
mid-air refueling
Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the List of tanker aircraft, tanker) to another (the receive ...
, and the first non-stop
transcontinental flight, both in 1923. One of history's most famous aviation feats was the flight of
Charles A. Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
from
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
to
Paris in May 1927. That flight originated at Rockwell Field on North Island on May 10, 1927, when Lindbergh began the first leg of his journey. Forefathers of today's "
Blue Angels", the three-plane "Sea Hawks" from
VF-6B
Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (VFA-106), also known as the "Gladiators", is a United States Navy F/A-18 Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.
Mission
As the East Coast Fle ...
, the "Felix the Cat" squadron, were thrilling audiences with flight demonstrations as early as 1928. They demonstrated the training skills of Navy
fighter and
bomber pilots and on many occasions, flew their aircraft in formation with the wings tethered together.
The list of American military pilots trained at North Island reads like the Who's Who of aviation; however, the U.S. was not the only country interested in aviation early in the twentieth century. Six years before the Naval Air Station was commissioned, Glenn Curtiss trained the first group of Japanese aviators at his flying school on North Island. Among them were a Lieutenant
Yamada, later the head of the
Imperial Japanese Navy's
Naval Aviation arm in World War II and
Chikuhei Nakajima
, was a Japanese naval officer, engineer, and politician, who is most notable for having founded Nakajima Aircraft Company in 1917, a major supplier of airplanes in the Empire of Japan. He also served as a cabinet minister.
Biography
Na ...
, founder of
Nakajima Aircraft Company.
Even the base's first commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander
Earl Winfield Spencer Jr., USN, added a degree of celebrity to North Island. His wife was
Wallis Warfield
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...
, a prominent socialite who was to remarry twice and finally become Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor, better known as the
Duchess of Windsor, for whom King
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
abdicated his throne in 1936.
During World War II, North Island was the major continental U.S. base supporting the operating forces in the
Pacific. Those forces included over a dozen
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s, the
Coast Guard,
Army,
Marines, and
Seabees
United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Force (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Depending upon ...
. The city of Coronado became home to most of the aircraft factory workers and dependents of the mammoth base which was operating around the clock. Major
USO entertainment shows and bond drives were held weekly at the Ship's Service auditorium, which was later replaced by the 2,100 seat Lowry Theater. Famous people stationed here or on ships home ported here during the war years included
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr., (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best known for starring in such films as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937), ''Gunga Din'' (1939) a ...
,
Guy Madison, future television cowboy star of the 1950s and 1960s as
Wild Bill Hickok, was at that time Seaman Bob Mosely, a lifeguard at the NAS crews' pool. Stars like the
Marx Brothers and
Bob Hope appeared regularly at USO shows at the auditorium.
Tenant squadrons
Ships
*
*
*
Tenant commands
*
Commander, Naval Air Forces
*
Commander, Naval Air Forces, Pacific Fleet
Commander, Naval Air Forces ( COMNAVAIRFOR, and CNAF; and dual-hatted as Commander, Naval Air Force, Pacific, and COMNAVAIRPAC) is the aviation Type Commander (TYCOM) for all United States Navy naval aviation units. Type Commanders are in Admini ...
(COMNAVAIRPAC)
*Commander, Helicopter Maritime Strike WING Pacific (CHSMWP)
*Combat Camera Group, Pacific
*
Commander, Carrier Strike Group One (CCSG-1)
*
Commander, Carrier Strike Group Three (CCSG-3)
*Commander, Carrier Strike Group Seven (CCSG-7)
*
Commander, Carrier Strike Group Eleven (CCSG-11)
*Commander, Cruiser Destroyer Group One (COMCARDESGRU 1)
*Commander Destroyer Group Seven (COMDESRON 7)
*Commander, Destroyer Squadron Twenty-One (COMDESRON 21)
*Commander, Tactical Air Control Group One (COMTACGRU 1)
*Construction Battalion Unit 405 (CBU 405)
*Deep Submergence Unit (DSU)
*Defense Enterprise Computing Center Det San Diego
*DSU Det Mystic (DSRV 1)
*DSU Diving System Support Detachment
*DSU Unmanned Vehicle Detachment
*Fleet Aviation Specialized Operational Training Group Pacific
*Fleet Imaging Command Pacific
*
Fleet Readiness Center Southwest
*Fleet Weather Center - San Diego
*HSC Weapons School, Pacific
*HSM Weapons School, Pacific
*Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Center (NATEC)
*Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station
*Naval Leader Training Unit, Coronado
*Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center
*Naval Public Affairs Support Element, West
*Naval Special Clearance Team One
*Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit (CNATTU)
*Naval Information Warfare Training Group, San Diego (formerly NIOC San Diego)
*Navy Reserve Center North Island (formerly Navy Operational Support Center North Island, formerly Naval Air Reserve San Diego)
*Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron(MSS-3)
Climate
NAS North Island features some of the warmest winter temperatures anywhere on the west coast of the continental United States. Under the
Köppen climate classification system, it is classified as a semi-arid climate (
''BSh'' or warm steppe).
See also
*
Naval Air Station
*
List of airports in California
*
List of United States Navy airfields
References
External links
*
Navy Lodge North Island - Beach Front LocationAviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary*
{{DEFAULTSORT:North Island
United States Naval Air Stations
Military facilities in San Diego County, California
Military in San Diego
Coronado, California
San Diego Bay
Tied islands
Airports in San Diego County, California
Airports established in 1917
National Register of Historic Places in San Diego County, California
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California