The Naval Lighter Than Air Station Richmond was a

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

military installation about south of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and west of

US 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

. It was an active

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

during

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 ...

. Since 1948, the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

has used it as a research facility and storage area.

History

In September 15, 1942, the

U.S. 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 o ...

purchased ; the base was used as a

blimp A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hydr ...

base. Among the ten LTA bases across the nation, 17 large wooden hangars were built, of which Richmond NAS had more (3) than any other base. On September 15, 1945, a hurricane caused a fire in one of the hangars. The fire quickly spread to the two other hangars and destroyed the hangars, blimps, 366 planes and 150 cars. The same type of wooden hangar can still be seen today at only four locations: (2)

Moffett Field Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an Local government in California#Counties, unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County, California, United States, ...

in California, (2)

Tustin, California Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city is located next to the county seat, Santa Ana, and does not include the unincorporated community ...

, (2) Lakehurst, NJ, and (1)

Tillamook, Oregon The city of Tillamook is the county seat of Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on the southeast end of Tillamook Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The population was 5,231 at the 2020 census. History The city is named for the T ...

. In response to the sudden increase in enrollment resulting from veterans returning to college, the

leased the decommissioned station to provide classrooms and housing for 1,100 students as its "South Campus." Buildings currently house: the Global Public Health Research Group, Miami Institute for Human Genomics, D.U.I. Laboratory (for analysis of motorist blood samples), and Microbiology & Immunology. Starting in 1956 the railroad tracks on the base were used for the

Gold Coast Railroad Museum The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Miami, Florida, adjacent to Zoo Miami. Description The Gold Coast Railroad Museum was founded in 1956. The museum was built on the former Naval Air Station Richmond. With over three ...

. In 1984, the museum moved to the area previously occupied by Hangars #1 and #2. In 1968, after ''Ramparts'' magazine exposed

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

operations on other campuses, JM/WAVE was moved off the Miami South campus out of concern for embarrassing the university. The command building currently houses the Miami Military Museum.

References

{{Florida airports

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Buildings and structures in Miami-Dade County, Florida Military installations in Florida University of Miami Military installations closed in the 1940s Defunct airports in Florida Proposed museums in the United States Installations of the Central Intelligence Agency Closed installations of the United States Navy