Air Station Names

Wings of Gold, Winter 2003 by Lacouture, John

On a Florida vacation I visited the officer's club at Patrick AFB. Prominently displayed in the lobby is a bronze replica of General Patrick, and underneath it is a brass shield setting forth his accomplishments, including assignment as the first General of the Army Air Force.

In my day as a fighter pilot student and instructor at nearby NAS Melbourne, Patrick AFB was a naval air station with the unimaginative title, "Banana River." I learned the Air Force has taken pains to rename almost all its bases in honor of former pilots killed in the line of duty or of persons who have contributed much to Air Force history and progress.

Some examples: (1) Langley AFB, activated in 1916 and the oldest continuously active base in the Air Force, is named for professor Samuel Pierpont Langley who successfully flew powered models as early as 1896 and encouraged aviation pioneers such as the Wright Brothers; (2) Wright Patterson AFB, originally two separate fields, named for the Wright Brothers and 1Lt Patterson who was killed in an aircraft crash in 1918 while testing fixed machine guns synchronized to fire through the propeller of a DH-4; (3) Nellis AFB, originally Las Vegas AFB, renamed in 1950 for ILt William Nellis, a WWII fighter pilot who was killed in December 1944 on his 70th mission while flying his P47 over Bastogne, Belgium;

These examples indicate the Air Force's lack of reluctance to change the names of their air bases to honor its heroes. The Navy, on the other hand, has not done this for years, leaving us with the vapid geographic names for our air stations even though most of these bases have hidden, dedicated names of many of our heroes. I imagine 90% of our pilots do not know the dedicated names of the fields they fly from.

In the early 1940s the fields we trained at in the Pensacola complex were named in memory of aviators of renown. Examples: (1) Barin field: LT Louis Barin, Naval Aviator No. 56, test pilot extraordinary and copilot of the NC-I on its transAtlantic attempt; (2) Bronson Field: LTJG Clarence Bronson, Naval Aviator No. 14, killed by premature explosion of a bomb during bomb dropping tests; (3) Corry Field: LCDR William Cony, Naval Aviator No.23 and Medal of Honor winner posthumously; (4) Ellyson Field: CDR Theodore Ellyson, first Naval Aviator; (5) Saufley Field: LTJG Richard Saufley, Naval Aviator No. 14, killed in a crash while on a record endurance flight; and (6) Whiting Field: CAPT Kenneth Whiting, Naval Aviator No. 16, first to command Naval Aviation units overseas in WWI and a leader in the development of carriers.

All of these fields were named at their establishment or prior to their establishment. all were also either N AS s or Naval Auxiliary Air Stations, as contrasted to Chevalier Field at NAS Pensacola and Chambers Field at NAS Norfolk, which were "named" fields on an air station of a different name.

Before it was disestablished, NAS Cecil Field, which was originated in 1943, was named after CDR Henry Cecil, Naval Aviator No.42. Cecil was lost in the crash of the USS dirigible Akron. Before it was disestablished a few years ago, there was NAS Moffett, named in honor of RADM William Moffett, first chief of BuAer and Naval Aviation leader, who also lost his life in the Akron crash.

Our principal air stations all have their fields named after Naval Aviation heroes or leaders, but in contrast to the Air Force, the hero's name is treated as a sub-head to the base, usually identified by its geographic location.

The following is not an all inclusive list, but illustrates the names of our bases if they had the same names as their airfields: NAS New Orleans would become NAS Alvin Callender; NAF China Lake would become NAF Armitage; NAS Agana, NAS Brewer; MCAS Quantico, MCAS Brown; NAS Pensacola, NAS Forest Sherman; MCAS Cherry Point, MCAS Cunningham; NAS Patuxent River, NAS Trapnell; NAS North Island, NAS Halsey; NAS Barbers Point, NAS John Rodgers; NAS Lakehurst, NAS Maxfield; NAS Meridian, NAS McCain;NAS Guantanamo, NAS McCallam; MCAS Beaufort, MCAS Merritt; MCAS Miramar, (MCAS) Mitscher; NAS Lemoore, NAS Reeves; NAS Oceana, NAS Soucek; NAS Jacksonville, NAS Towers; MCAS Quantico, MCAS Turner, and NAS Fallen, NAS Van Voorhis.

By CAPT John Lacouture USN (Ret.)