Naval Air Station DeLand | |
|---|---|
| Summary | |
| Airport type | Military:Naval Air Station |
| Operator | United States Navy |
| Location | DeLand, Florida |
| Built | 1942 |
| In use | 1942–1946 |
| Occupants | United States Navy |
| Elevation AMSL | 70 ft / 21 m |
| Coordinates | 29°03′59″N81°17′02″W / 29.06639°N 81.28389°W /29.06639; -81.28389 |
| Map | |
  Naval Air Station DeLand | |
Naval Air Station DeLand was a United StatesNaval Air Station located inDeLand, Florida from 1942 to 1946.[1] After the war, theairfield and associated infrastructure was redeveloped intoDeLand Municipal Airport.
TheCity of DeLand began developing a civilian airport in the 1920s, with the firstasphalt runway laid around 1936.
In 1942, the City of DeLand donated the airport facility to theUnited States Navy and it was renamedNaval Air Station DeLand on 17 November.[2] The airfield officially opened after several months of additional land acquisition and extensive military building construction. Captain Tom Turner, the air station's first commanding officer, officiated. A Navy band had not yet been formed for the air station, so theDeLand High School band played for the opening of the base. Following still more extensive military construction, NAS DeLand's primary focus became advanced training for Navy flight crews in land-basedLockheed PBO-1 Hudson,Lockheed PV-1 Ventura andConsolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bombers, as well as carrier-basedDouglas SBD Dauntlessdive bombers.
The first aircraft to arrive at NAS DeLand were the Hudsons,[3] which had been transferred from Patrol Squadron 82 (VP-82) atNAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island. In addition to Quonset Point, VP-82 had previously employed these aircraft in training operations atNAS Norfolk, Virginia and detachment operations atNaval Air Station Argentia, Newfoundland andNAS Trinidad, British West Indies. This included the sinking by VP-82 of theGerman submarine U-656, the firstU-boat sinking attributed to U.S. forces in World War II.[3] These aircraft subsequently served as the training nucleus for PV-1 Ventura operational training units at both NAS DeLand and nearbyNaval Air Station Sanford until greater numbers of newer PV-1s became available. PB4Y-2 Privateer training operations followed in 1943, with the first examples reaching operational Fleet squadrons in 1944[4]
Between PBO-1, PV-1 and PB4Y-2 training operations, several of the U.S. Navy's former and present day maritime patrol and reconnaissance (VP) squadrons operating theLockheed P-3 Orion andBoeing P-8 Poseidon trace their squadron lineage to being established at NAS DeLand with these earlier aircraft during World War II.[5]
When the SBD Dauntless dive bombers began to arrive, along with pilots and crew members, Ventura training was scaled back.
Samuel Hynes, who in later life was a professor atYale University, the author of numerous books, and a participant in documentary films made byKen Burns, was aMarine pilot in World War II. He recounts learning to flyDauntless dive bombers at DeLand:
The planes on the flight line were old; they had come from fleet duty . . . Like the planes, our instructors were combat veterans . . . who had been to the Pacific theater, had seen the islands, and Japanese planes in the air, had dropped real bombs on real enemy targets, and had been shot at . . . [they showed us how] to dive an airplane straight toward the earth, and to drop a bomb while diving. This is the most unnatural action possible in a plane, a kind of defiance of all life-preserving instincts . . .
In Florida in 1944 one dive-bomber pilot died every day . . .
[Off duty, when visiting Daytona Beach, there] seemed to be no laws that governed the behavior of Marine pilots . . . the police might scold, but they never arrested us.[6]
In 1944, training operations in theGrumman F6F Hellcat carrier-based fighter also commenced at NAS DeLand, as well as an Advanced Carrier Navigation school for replacement pilots.[7]
Because support functions often exceeded the capability of the air station's uniformed officers, sailors and Marines, many of DeLand's citizens were also employed at the base in administrative and support roles and were paid wages that were a significant improvement over those the community had seen during the recently concludedGreat Depression.[8]
Nine Mile Point on Lake George was also under NAS DeLand's control and was used as a practice bombing site with a NavyConsolidated PBY Catalina seaplane stationed nearby in the event of an aircraft mishap on the lake. The Lake George site is still used today as part of the Navy'sPinecastle Electronic Warfare and Bombing Range[9] complex in theOcala National Forest that is managed byNAS Jacksonville.[2] NAS DeLand also maintained a duty watch of two sailors to patrolLake Woodruff in the event of any nearby naval aircraft mishaps.
NAS DeLand also had responsibility forNavy Outlying Field New Smyrna Beach and bombing targets nearPaisley,Hawkinsville, theIndian River Lagoon, and east of Lake Dias nearDeLeon Springs. These facilities were also used by aircraft based atNaval Air Station Daytona Beach and NAS Sanford.
The airfield at New Smyrna Beach refueled and rearmed aircraft practicing landings atOutlying Field Spruce Creek and conducting target practice over the Atlantic Ocean. These aircraft occasionally carried 500 pound bombs when they were over the ocean in the event any German U-boats were spotted.
Following the end of World War II, the base closed as an active naval installation on 15 March 1946. Its control tower also closed and ownership of the air station returned to the City of DeLand as an uncontrolled civilian airport.[8] After the city resumed control of the field, it becameDeLand Municipal Airport, a role it continues to this day.
From 1946 to 1953, the base was also home toStetson University College of Law.[10] The law school was relocated to Gulfport (St. Petersburg), Florida, in 1954.[11]
Located in the historicChief Master at Arms House inDeLand, Florida, theDeLand Naval Air Station Museum was dedicated in 1995 and focuses on the history of Naval Air Station DeLand, U.S. Naval Aviation, andUnited States Navy history.[12] Exhibits include anF-14B Tomcat on loan from theNational Naval Aviation Museum,[13][14]PTF-3 (a formerUSNNasty class torpedo boat undergoing restoration),[15] aGrumman TBF Avengertorpedo bomber (undergoing restoration), aKorean War eraH-13 SiouxMASHhelicopter, a 1954U.S. Army M38A1jeep, military artifacts, vintage photographs, and other memorabilia.[16]
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