Naval Air Station Grosse Ile was a Naval air station located on the southern tip of Grosse Ile, Michigan. It operated from 1927 until late 1969, and is now a township airport. During World War II NASGI was one of the largest primary flight training stations for Naval aviators, and RAF pilots. Among the many thousands of Navy pilots who began their careers at NASGI is game show host Bob Barker. Former President George H. W. Bush finished his active Navy career at NASGI attached to Torpedo Squadron 153(VT-153).

History

Early years

Naval Air Station Grosse Ile was commissioned 7 September 1929 as Naval Reserve Air Base Grosse Ile at

Grosse Ile, Michigan Große or Grosse is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Demetrius Grosse *Maurice Grosse *Katharina Grosse *Ben Grosse *Hans-Werner Grosse *Heinz-Josef Große *Julius Grosse Julius Waldemar Grosse (25 April 1828 – 9 ...

. Though that was the official beginning, the air station traces its roots back to July 1925 when four US Naval reservists started an aviation unit near Detroit. At first they had no aircraft, and for over a year had to operate using only classroom instruction. The first aircraft assigned to the Detroit Naval Air Reserves was a single

Consolidated NY The Consolidated Model 2 was a PT-1 biplane trainer diverted to the United States Navy for a trainer competition in 1925. It beat out 14 other designs, and was ordered into production as the NY-1."The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraftcover ...

-1, which remained their sole aircraft for another year. The base at Grosse Ile began with a single tin hangar floated down the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively referred to as Detro ...

from the unit's former home near downtown Detroit. By 1927 a large hangar had been built on Olds Bay at the southern tip of the island for use by Navy seaplanes. By 1935 the Navy had acquired all the property formerly owned by The

Detroit Aircraft Corporation The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10, 1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929. The Detroit corporation owned the entire capital stock of the Ryan Aircraft Corp., Air ...

and a Curtiss-Wright flying school, and had occupied the former Curtiss-Wright hangar, which became the base's primary hangar. The airship ZMC-2, the Navy's only all-metal airship, was constructed on the site from 1925 to 1929 by the

. The hangar where the airship was constructed measured 120' high, 120' wide and 180' long, and remained the largest structure on the base until it was disassembled in 1960, and its roof reused in the construction of a bowling alley in nearby

Trenton, Michigan Trenton is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, United States. At the 2010 census, the city population was 18,853. A Shawnee village was built in the area by war chief Blue Jacket after the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. The area later became the site ...

1930s

During the depression money was hard to come by, but NRAB Grosse Ile, MI continued to grow, many of its reservist drilling without pay. By the end of 1930 the first Marine unit had been commissioned and based at Grosse Ile.

World War II

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 opposing ...

came only 30 years after the Navy had acquired its first aircraft and 14 years after naval aviation had come to Grosse Ile, it would face a war that would change the world and base forever. During the war over 5,000 pilots received training at Grosse Ile, mostly Navy cadets, along with over a thousand British RAF pilot trainees. With this rapid expansion the base gained the new designation of Naval Air Station. The primary aircraft stationed at Naval Air Station Grosse Ile during the war years were

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wi ...

, Vought

F4U The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Vought, Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production co ...

Corsairs, Curtiss

SB2C Helldiver The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver is a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few surv ...

s, and Grumman TBM Avengers. Training was conducted using SNJ, and

Boeing Stearman The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane formerly used as a military trainer aircraft, of which at least 10,626 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Stearman Aircraft became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely kno ...

. Immediately following the end of WWII the base was equipped with several squadrons of the huge

Martin AM Mauler The Martin AM Mauler (originally XBTM) was a single-seat carrier-based attack aircraft built for the United States Navy. Designed during World War II, the Mauler encountered development delays and did not enter service until 1948 in small numbe ...

s, and for a short time six

McDonnell FH-1 Phantom The McDonnell FH Phantom is a twinjet fighter aircraft designed and first flown during World War II for the United States Navy. The Phantom was the first purely jet-powered aircraft to land on an American aircraft carrier and the first jet deplo ...

s, the only jets ever based on the island.

Postwar

After the war the base's runways were too short for use by the new generation of Navy jet fighters, and efforts to expand their lengths were met with disapproval by township citizens, so in the 1950s the base saw use as an ASW training base, which continued until the base closed. During this time the base was principally supplied with

A-1 Skyraider The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as the AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in front-line service well into the Jet Age ...

s, S2F anti-submarine warfare aircraft, as well as Marine Corps Reserve R4Q and

R5D The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian a ...

cargo aircraft. In 1956 the Army came to NASGI. A Nike site designated D-51 was built on the base, armed with three

Nike Ajax The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes abov ...

SAM's to defend Detroit against Soviet strategic bombers. The Nike site was operated by U.S. Army personnel who were housed and fed alongside the Navy crews. The Nike site closed in 1963, and was never upgraded to the nuclear-armed Nike Hercules. The Nike missile site is now a conservation area and bird sanctuary controlled by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services. The base also received a small number of helicopters in the late 1950s, beginning with the

Piasecki H-25 The Piasecki HUP Retriever/H-25 Army Mule is a compact single radial engine, twin overlapping Tandem rotors, tandem rotor utility helicopter developed by the Piasecki Helicopter, Piasecki Helicopter Corporation of Morton, Pennsylvania. Designed to ...

, also known as the HUP-1. Later the crews converted to the larger

HSS-1 Seabat The Sikorsky H-34 "Choctaw" (company designation S-58) is an American piston-engined military helicopter originally designed by Sikorsky as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft for the United States Navy. It has seen extended use when ad ...

. With no Coast Guard station nearby, the helicopters were a highly useful addition to NASGI, and were soon earning their keep performing rescue operations for stranded boaters on Lake Erie and along the Detroit River. On one occasion the base's HUP-1's retrieved 17 fishermen stranded on an ice flow during a snowstorm.

1960s

The air station entered the 1960s on a installation training over 2,000 Naval and Marine Reservists. For the Navy, the principal aircraft remained the

and

S-2 Tracker The Grumman S-2 Tracker (S2F prior to 1962) was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft to enter service with the United States Navy. Designed and initially built by Grumman, the Tracker was of conventiona ...

, while the Marines converted to the

OV-10 Bronco The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a f ...

. Many of the men stationed at Naval Air Station Grosse Ile served in Vietnam. On 1 October 1960, future Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who was a Naval Aviator and a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve, was designated as an aircraft commander with Air Antisubmarine Squadron 731 (VS-731), where he flew the

S2F Tracker The Grumman S-2 Tracker (S2F prior to 1962) was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, sub ...

. The base closed in the fall of 1969, with its function and squadrons being moved to the newly established Naval Air Facility Detroit, located north of the city of Detroit as a tenant organization at what was then

Selfridge Air Force Base Selfridge Air National Guard Base or Selfridge ANGB is an Air National Guard installation located in Harrison Township, Michigan, near Mount Clemens. Selfridge Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the Unit ...

, now

Selfridge Air National Guard Base Selfridge Air National Guard Base or Selfridge ANGB is an Air National Guard installation located in Harrison Township, Michigan, near Mount Clemens. Selfridge Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the Unit ...

Grosse Ile Township Airport

Immediately following its closure the base was transformed into the

Grosse Ile Municipal Airport Grosse Ile Municipal Airport is two miles south of Grosse Ile, in Wayne County, Michigan. It is owned by the Township of Grosse Ile. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 catego ...

.Outlaw 2004, p. There are still some signs of the old naval air station, with the former Hangar 1 now serving as the Township Hall and offices. A museum is located in the township offices and a memorial garden dedicated to the old base and the men and women that served there is located on the old flight line ramp adjacent to Hangar 1. The original Curtiss-Wright flying school hangar still remains and is used to house civilian aircraft and a dance studio. Even the original tin hangar floated down the Detroit River in 1927 still stands, though it's on land controlled by the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...

and not accessible to the public. As of 2011, the airport was averaging 24,000 takeoffs and landings a year.

Aircraft

* ZMC-2 *

-1 *

Loening OL The Loening OL, also known as the Loening Amphibian, was an American two-seat amphibious biplane designed by Grover Loening and built by Loening for the United States Army Air Corps and the United States Navy. Design and development First flown ...

-9 *

Curtiss TS-1 TS or Ts may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Air Transat (IATA code TS), a Canadian airline * Tenaris (NYSE symbol), a global manufacturer of steel pipe products * Theosophical Society, religious philosophy * Tidewater Southern Railway ( ...

* Naval Aircraft Factory TS-1 *

Boeing F4B The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

-4 *

Martin T4M Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austra ...

Grumman FF The Grumman FF "Fifi" (company designation G-5) was an American biplane fighter aircraft operated by the United States Navy during the 1930s.Eden and Moeng 2002, p. 762. It was the first carrier aircraft with retractable landing gear.Winchester ...

-2 *

Vought O2U Corsair The Vought O2U Corsair was a 1920s biplane scout and observation aircraft. Developed by Vought Corporation, the O2U was ordered by the United States Navy (USN) in 1927. Powered by a 400 hp (298 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine, it inco ...

* Naval Aircraft Factory N3N Canary * SNJ *

* Curtiss

* Grumman TBM Avenger * Vought

Corsair *

Douglas A-1 Skyraider The Douglas A-1 Skyraider (formerly known as the AD Skyraider) is an American single-seat attack aircraft in service from 1946 to the early 1980s. The Skyraider had an unusually long career, remaining in front-line service well into the Jet Age ...

* Grumman

Lockheed P-2 Neptune The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and ...

* R4Q *

* North American-Rockwell

Notes

References

* * *

External links

NAS Grosse Ile Virtual MuseumNAS Grosse Ile web site
{{Airports in Michigan United States Naval Air Stations, Grosse Ile, Naval Air Station Military installations closed in 1969 Airports in Wayne County, Michigan U.S. Army Nike sites 1927 establishments in Michigan 1969 disestablishments in Michigan Closed installations of the United States Navy