NAS Whiting Field, FL Installation Guide

NAS Whiting Field 7511 USS Enterprise St. Milton, FL 32570-6013

Location........................ : MILTON, FLORIDA

Major Command................... : TRAINING AIR WING FIVE, NAS WHITING FIELD, TRAINING SQUADRON TWO, TRAINING SQUADRON THREE, TRAINING SQUADRON SIX, HELICOPTER TRAINING SQUADRON EIGHT, HELICOPTER TRAINING SQUADRON EIGHTEEN

Mission......................... : Primary Flight Instruction

Population assigned-served Active Duty 2000 Family Members 2700 Retirees 9108

Civilian Employees, 147 Federal Employees, 115 non appropriated funds employees, 50 Navy Exchange employees, 750 Contractor employees.

Telephone Access................ : Commercial 850 area code DSN 868 Prefix

Welcome to "EXCITING FLYING WHITING," the Navy's best kept secret. NAS Whiting Field is the busiest Naval Air Station in the world, responsible for an estimated 46 percent of the Chief of Naval Air Command's total flight time and over 10 percent of Navy and Marine Corps total flight time. Over 1,200 personnel complete their essential flight training yearly. NAS Whiting Field and Training Air Wing Five have an outstanding and unmatched safe flying record. Commissioning ceremonies for Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field were held on July 16, 1943, in the South Field Hanger. At 11:00 in the morning, Rear Admiral George D. Murray, Commandant of the Naval Air Training Center, welcomed some 1,500 persons and introduced Mrs. Kenneth Whiting, widow of the Naval hero Captain Kenneth Whiting, for whom the base was named. On July 12, 1945, Detachment THREE 1470 SCU was established. Detachment THREE, a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp for German soldiers, was operated through the efforts and cooperation of Naval authorities at NAS Pensacola and Army authorities at Camp Rucker, Alabama. After the war, Whiting converted to a Naval Air Station and by 1949 Milton residents became accustomed to the sight of heavy and medium bombers in the skies. Whiting Field was known as the backbone of the Navy's flight program. In 1955-56 Whiting adopted a new aircraft, the Beechcraft T-34B Mentor, a trainer with tricycle landing gear. In 1956, the instruments tactics phase of basic flight training was moved from NAS Saufley Field to Whiting. During this time, the T-28 Trojan was brought to Whiting Field to augment student training. On 1 May 1960, Primary Training Squadrons TWO (VT-2), THREE (VT-3) and SIX (VT-6) were established. VT-2 and VT-6 were located at North Field; VT-3 at South Field. In January 1972, as a result of a major reorganization of the Naval Air Training Command, Whiting Field became the home of Training Air Wing FIVE. Also in 1972, Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHT (HT-8) came under the command of TRAWING-FIVE and was later split to form Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHTEEN (HT-18). Academic and simulated flight-trainer instruction are also provided. In April 1977, the T-34C Procedure Training Cockpit was accepted into the syllabus and in the fall of that year, the station began its transition to the T-34C Turbo Mentor as the primary trainer. In August 1980, the new simulator building was completed. The building houses numerous flight simulators for instructor-student and self-paced instruction and familiarization. In the spring of 1983, the T-28 was phased out and a static display was presented to the station. In the fall of 1983, the UH-1 was also phased out. It was the end of one era and the beginning of a new and brighter era with the arrival of the JPATS.