Naval Air Station Pasco was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

air station located 2 miles (3 km) northwest of Pasco, in

Franklin County, Washington Franklin County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 96,749. The county seat and largest city is Pasco, Washington, ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. After the war, it was redeveloped into Tri-Cities Airport. One of its auxiliary airfields became

Vista Field Vista Field was a public use airport in the northwest United States, located in Benton County, Washington. The airport was located northwest of the central business district of Kennewick and was owned by the Port of Kennewick. It was also known ...

in Kennewick, but was closed in 2013.

History

The United States Navy built a naval air training station in the early 1940s at the site of Pasco Airport for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During the first part of the war, the field was used to train beginning pilots for combat training. During the last half of the war, the mission shifted to training established pilots returning from battle in the use of newer aircraft. The field was one of the three busiest Naval aviation training facilities of the war. After the war, the Navy sold the field to the city of Pasco, but still retains training privileges. Several Navy aircraft, especially the

P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner.