Naval Air Facility El Centro

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Naval Air Facility El Centro

IATA: NJK – ICAO: KNJK - FAA: NJK
Summary
Airport type		Naval Air Facility
Operator		United States Navy
Location		El Centro, California
Built		May 1, 1946
In use		Active
Commander		Captain James A. Hubbard
Coordinates		32°49′45″N, 115°40′18″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
8/26	9,503	2,897	PEM
12/30	6,824	2,080	PEM

FAA Airport Diagram

Naval Air Facility El Centro or NAF El Centro (IATA: NJK, ICAO: KNJK, FAA LID: NJK) is a military airport located six miles (10 km) northwest of El Centro, in Imperial County, California, USA.

1 History
2 Current Operations
3 Air Show
4 Popular culture
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

Provided by M.L. Shettle Jr.

In 1927, Imperial County purchased 75 acres within the city limits of the town of Imperial for a county airport. Maddox Air Lines began daily service to the airport the next year. In 1941, the CAA offered to build a modern airport if the county provided the land. Since the site of the present airport was considered inadequate for the two 4,500-ft. runways planned by the CAA, a 943-acre site of farmland was selected eight miles west of the old airport near the town of Seely. The farmland had produced one of the last flax crops grown in the United States. The project proceeded at a leisurely pace during 1941. After December 7, 1941, funding was quickly provided and ground broken on January 8, 1942. In March, a Marine Corps air station site selection committee, headed by LtCol William Fox, was directed to look at locations in the Imperial Valley. Two satisfactory locations were found, at Niland and the Imperial County Airport that was presently under construction. Since the work on the new airport was well underway it became the choice. Niland was also obtained, but became Camp Dunlap, a Marine artillery training base. The Navy leased the airport and purchased an additional 749 acres for the construction of buildings and other structures. Grading and paving of the first two runways was completed in April and construction of the buildings began in May. At the same time, the CAA expanded the original project by extending the existing runways and adding a third runway. On January 1, 1943, Marine Base Defense Air Group 43, VMF-216, and VMSB-235 were commissioned. The SBD Dauntless equipped VMSB-235's stay at El Centro was a short one. The squadron moved to Hawaii on March 28. A detachment of the Marines first night-fighter squadron, VMF(N)-531, with PV1s transferred from MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina for several months of training before departing for the South Pacific in July 1943. Meanwhile, VMO-155 with F4Fs arrived at the station in June after operating from the CVE, USS Nassau, in the Aleutians. On June 1, VMF-217 and VMTB-242 commissioned. The formal commissioning of MCAS El Centro took place on July 24, 1943. The station was quite underutilized at that time with only 20 some aircraft present. By September, activity had increased considerably with 105 aircraft on board. VMF-216 was operating Corsairs and departed for the South Pacific during the month. VMO 155 and VMF-217 were still training with F4F Wildcats due to the shortage of Corsairs but began transitioning to the F4U in the next few months. Among the officers assigned to VMO-155 was future astronaut and U.S. Senator, Capt John H. Glenn, Jr. In October, VMF-313 commissioned. The same month, Charles Lindbergh, a consultant to Vought, flew a new version of the Corsair to El Centro and spent a few days briefing the squadrons on improvements to the aircraft. By February 1944, VMO-155, VMF-217, and VMTB-242 had moved on. Present on the station, were Corsair equipped VMF-313, VMF-323, and Boyington's old squadron, VMF-122 that was being reformed. In addition, VMB-423, VMB-433, and VMB-443, the second, third, and fourth PBJ squadrons to be formed, were also conducting final training before entering combat. The PBJ squadrons practiced night overwater flying as well as bombing, strafing, and formation flying. Joint strikes were also practiced with the Corsair squadrons at El Centro. One of the most demanding tasks was night skip bombing training over the Salton Sea. Two PBJs were lost in January and February without any casualties among the crew. With VFR flying weather 92% of the time, El Centro was a very desirable training base. As a result, in April 1944, a project started to expand the station. Work included a new area and two additional runways that paralleled existing runways. From March to June 1944, one new Corsair fighter squadron formed each month. These squadrons were replacement training units. A Marine Bombardier and Gunnery School was also established that trained enlisted gunners and bombardiers. The school uti lized 12 Douglas SBDs for aerial training. Three Corsair replacement squadrons were present in September 1944, with a total of 61 Corsairs as well as VMF(N)-543 with F6F-3N Hellcat night fighters. An additional Hellcat night-fighter squadron, VMF(N)-544, transferred to El Centro from Cherry Point, NC in November. Between October and December, the Corsair replacement pilot squadrons transferred to El Toro. The maximum utilization of El Centro occurred in December with 213 aircraft. Meanwhile, the new air group area became ready for use in October 1944 and MAG 35, a transport-train ing group, moved aboard from Corvallis, Oregon. MAG 35's primary mission was training Marine R4D and R5C crews - pilots, copilots, navigators, radiomen, and crew chiefs. Additional missions included furnishing replacement aircraft and crews as well as ferrying VMR aircraft. In November, a ferry section detachment was maintained at Camp Kearney, California. VMR-352, an R5C transport squadron, arrived at the station on December 1. Among VMR-352's pilots was the actor Tyrone Power. MAG 35's 19 R4Ds and 90 R5Cs flew 814 flights that totaled 2,371 hours. Fourteen R5Cs were used for training and the remainder held in a pool. Also in December, MAG 35 established a detail at Olathe, Kansas, the Naval Air Transport Command's mid-continent terminal, to service Marine transport aircraft. An additional detail was established at Alameda to help dispatch and equip Marine transport aircraft with long-range gas tanks for ferrying to Hawaii. Although, it would seem that Los Angeles would be the closest U. S. mainland point to Hawaii at 2,555 statute miles, San Francisco is 157 miles shorter at 2,398. Due to this fact, the Oakland air port was the departure point for the first pioneering flights to Hawaii as well as NATS terminal for transpacific flights. In January 1945, El Centro went through a major mission change. MABDG 43 was redesignated MAG 43 and transferred to Ewa. MAG 42 transferred aboard from Santa Barbara. For the remainder of the war, El Centro was primarily utilized for transport training. The secondary mission became the home base for the ground echelon of fighter squadrons assigned to aircraft carriers. On the morning of February 2, an R5C disappeared on a flight to Corvallis. The last radio contact with the aircraft was in the vicinity of Los Angeles. After a month of searching for the aircraft, the effort was postponed until the summer. In March, MAG 35 began regular scheduled flights to Ft. Worth for fuel consumption tests and transportation of personnel to Cherry Point. On March 15, a Marine Corps Aerial Gunnery School was established with a complement of 36 officers and 322 men. The capacity of the school was 40 students per week. In April, VMF-214 and VMF-452, arrived at El Centro after their carrier, the USS Franklin, had been put out of the war by a Kamikaze attack. Also in April, a MAG 35 R5C was destroyed with minor injuries to personnel when it crashed while landing in heavy rain at Newport, Oregon. When the USS Bunker Hill was also put out of action by a Kamikaze in May, the two Marine squadrons assigned to it, VMF-221 and VMF-451, were also sent to El Centro for reassignment. The wreckage of the R5C, missing since February, was finally found June 30, on Mt. Whitney. Due to the crowded conditions at El Centro, MAG 35 began using the Camp Pendleton OLF for a storage pool. In July, VMF-112 and VMF-123 completed their tour on the USS Bennington and arrived at El Centro for reorganization. In August, El Centro became involved in the Marine CVE program. VMTB-473 was formed to train personnel for carrier duty. VMSB-231 also arrived from the South Pacific and redesignated as a VMTB squadron for carrier training. In conjunction with the CVE program, Carrier Aircraft Service Detachments 15 and 16 were also organized to provide support for Marine squadrons assigned to escort carriers. On August 25, an R5C and an R4D had a midair collision two miles east of the fleld. The R5C managed to land at the station, but the R4D crash landed in a field. Miraculously, there were no injuries on either aircraft. By the end of the war, 204 aircraft were on board, but over half of that number were in a temporary storage pool. On May 1, 1946, MCAS El Centro decommissioned and the station was taken over by the Navy as a naval air station (NAS). For the next year, the Navy used the air station primarily for aircraft storage as well as gunnery and rocket training. In 1947, the Navy acquired the leased land of the station for the purpose of making El Centro a permanent installation. Attracted by the year-round good weather, the Naval Parachute Experimental Unit moved to El Centro from Lakehurst. In April 1949, the Naval Air Technical Training Unit, engaged in target drone development and training, moved aboard from Santa Ana. In October of 1949, El Centro was reduced in status to a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS). The Air Force and the Navy formed the Joint Parachute Test Facility here in 1951. In May 1952, the Fleet Air Gunnery Unit established, hosting the annual Naval Air Weapons Meet. In 1958, the Gunnery School moved to Yuma as El Centro was reduced to an ALF the next year. During the 1960s, El Centro was the home of the National Aerospace Recovery Facility that tested parachute recovery systems for the space program. In 1967, the Blue Angels began using El Centro as their winter training base - a relationship that remains to this day. In July 1979, the parachute testing moved to China Lake. Today, El Centro is used for weapons training by Navy and Marine Corps aviation as well as the winter training home for the Blue Angels.

[edit] Current Operations

The facility has two operating runways. The 9,500-foot east/west runway handles 96 percent of the traffic. It is equipped with a Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System at each approach end as well as lighted carrier deck landing areas at both ends so pilots can simulate carrier landings.

Apart from "touch and go" landings and take-offs, aircrews use the many ranges at NAF El Centro to develop their skills. A remote-controlled target area allows naval aviators to practice ordnance delivery. The desert range is used for air-to-ground bombing, rocket firing, strafing, dummy drops and mobile land target training. The target complex uses the Weapons Impact Scoring System that microwaves target images to a range master control building for immediate verification of weapons delivery accuracy.

The addition of the Display and Debriefing Subsystem, known as DDS, expanded the role of NAF El Centro to include air combat training by utilizing remote television, acoustical and laser scoring systems. The DDS is linked with TACTS to provide a computerized record of the tactics employed by individual aircrews employ and to evaluate the effectiveness of each maneuver. Many believe the training at NAF El Centro is as close as pilots can get to actual air combat.

NAF is the "winter home" of the world-famous Blue Angels, the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron.

[edit] Air Show

NAF El Centro is the winter home of the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, The Blue Angels. NAF El Centro historically kicks off the Blue Angels' season with their first air show, traditionally held in March. The 2008 NAF El Centro Air Show was held on March 8, 2008.