Naval Air Station Oceana
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| Naval Air Station Oceana Apollo Soucek Field |
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| IATA: NTU - ICAO: KNTU - FAA: NTU | |||
| Summary | |||
| Controlled By | United States Navy | ||
| Facility Type | Naval Air Station | ||
| Location | Virginia Beach, Virginia | ||
| Commissioned | 1943 | ||
| Current Status | Active | ||
| Commanding Officer | Capt. Patrick J. Lorge | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 22 ft (7 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 5R/23L | 11,977 | 3,651 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| 15L/23R | 8,001 | 2,439 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| 14L/32R | 8,000 | 2,438 | Asphalt/Concrete |
| 14R/32L | 7,999 | 2,439 | Asphalt/Concrete |
Naval Air Station Oceana or NAS Oceana (IATA: NTU, ICAO: KNTU, FAA LID: NTU) is a military airport located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is a United States Navy Master Jet Base (a base that offers 24 hour service and fuel). It is also known as Apollo Soucek Field, named after Lieutenant (later Admiral) of the same name who was a Navy Test Pilot and world record altitude holder in 1930 (he flew a Wright bi-plane to 43,166 feet).
In 1940, the Navy acquired the land that would eventually become Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana. At that time, the surrounding area was mainly farmland susceptible to flooding, but it served as a useful outlying field for the rapidly expanding Naval Air Force centered at NAS Norfolk and allowed units to work up for deployments away from the crowded base there. Airspace and facility restrictions precluded NAS Norfolk from serving as the home station for tactical air units, and in the 1950s NAS Oceana was expanded to Master Jet Base status to serve that purpose. NAS Oceana has grown to become one of the largest and most advanced air stations in the world, comprising 6,820 acres (including Dam Neck Annex). Obstruction clearances and flight easements total an additional 3,680 acres. Its four runways—three measuring 8,000 feet in length and one measuring 12,000 feet—are designed for high-performance aircraft. NAS Oceana's primary mission is to train and deploy the Navy's fighter/attack squadrons of F/A-18 Hornets. Pilots stationed at NAS Oceana fly approximately 219,000 training operations each year.
Under the Master jet base concept, all Type/Model/Series aircraft were homebased at one field with associated intermediate maintenance and training facilities. NAS Oceana became the home to all East Coast based F-4 Phantom Squadrons and VF-101 established a detachment at Oceana in its role as the Fleet Readiness Squadron (FRS) or "RAG" that trained aircrews and maintainers to operate the Phantom (at the time VF-101 operated out of NAS Key West, Florida). After the Tomcat arrived on the scene in 1976, VF-101 transitioned to Tomcat operations and Phantom training operations shifted to newly established VF-171 to handle training for the F-4 Phantom until it was retired from service in 1984. At one time all the east coast fleet's A-6 Intruder attack planes were home-based at Oceana as well with VA-42 as the associated Fleet Readiness Squadron charged with training all east coast A-6 pilots and Bombardier/navigators, as well as A-6 maintenance personnel. The A-6 was retired from the fleet in 1997.
Additionally, NAS Oceana became home to the F/A-18 Hornet following the Navy's closure of NAS Cecil Field as part of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process
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[edit] Current operations
Home to seventeen fighter squadrons of F/A-18 Hornets and F/A-18 Super Hornets. The base is the sole East Coast Master Jet Base and home to all the east coast strike-fighter (VFA) units (excluding VFA-86 and Marine Corps squadrons). Training is conducted by VFA-106 Gladiators in their F/A-18C/D Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
Tomcat training was conducted by the now disestablished VF-101 Grim Reapers. Oceana was host to the "Tomcat Sunset" reunion, where over 3000 former and current aircrew and maintainers came together to celebrate the retirement of the F-14 21-23 September 2006. Oceana also was the location the F-14 took off for the last time for final flight of the type when F-14D BuNo.164603 Modex 101 of VF-31 was ferried from Oceana to Republic Airport on Long Island, NY.
During the 2005 round of BRAC base closures, it was decided that NAS Oceana could remain open only if certain conditions were met. The most contentious of these requirements was that the city of Virginia Beach buy and condemn approximately 3,400 residences and an unknown number of businesses in crash zones surrounding the base. The BRAC commission proposed moving the fighters to Cecil Field, a deactivated base located near Jacksonville, Florida if NAS Oceana was not able to meet that and several other conditions. The plan was initially met with optimism by Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, even though Cecil Field had already been converted into a civilian commerce park. The Navy ultimately expressed disinterest in moving the Master Jet Base back to the Jacksonville area, and in October 2005, Jacksonville removed itself from the process.
On December 20, 2005 the Virginia Beach City Council passed numerous ordinances enacted to satisfy BRAC, but did not act to condemn any of the homes in the designated areas. In a November 2006 referendum, citizens of Jacksonville voted overwhelmingly to leave the Cecil Field Commerce Center in civilian hands, effectively halting any future plans of relocation.
In addition to the squadrons listed, there are numerous other commands present as "tenant" commands at Oceana:
- Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic that serves as "Commodore" of all east coast Hornet squadrons
- Strike Fighter Weapons and Tactics School, Atlantic (a.k.a. SFWSL) a Type Weapons School staffed by Strike Fighter Weapons & Tactics (SFWTI) instructors where aircrew go to learn more about dropping bombs and air-to-air tactics.
- Landing Signal Officer School, where pilots selected to be LSOs (a.k.a. "paddles"...which is a very old term from the days when the LSO actually signaled to the approaching aircraft with paddles) go to learn how to "wave" planes aboard the "boat" (aircrew speak for the aircraft carrier)
- CVW commands, or Carrier Air Wing Commanders (also called CAG, which is an old term dervied from the previous name for these commands, Carrier Air Groups), who are responsible for all the squadrons in the airwing (the planes on board one carrier).
- VFC-12, a reserve F/A-18A Squadron[1] that is part of CVWR-20, but performs adversary services to fleet Hornet squadrons. VFC-12 aircraft are painted in threat paint scheme similar to MiG-29 and pilots are expert in emulating threat tactics.
- Fleet Area Surveillance/Fleet Area Control (FASFAC) VACAPES is commanded by a Navy Captain and responsible for air traffic control of Virginia Capes warning areas for training purposes as well as surveillance duties in support of Homeland Defense
[edit] Tenant units
| F/A-18A+/B/C/D Hornets | F/A-18E/F Super Hornets | C-9 Skytrain II |
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[edit] References
- NAS Oceana (official site)
- FAA Airport Master Record for NTU (Form 5010 PDF)
- Naval Air Station Oceana Global Security.org. Retrieved 2006-10-27
- Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress Retrieved 2007-03-14
- KNTU Oceana Naval Air Station Air Nav.com Retrieved 2006-10-27
[edit] External links
- Extensive Photo Report from Oceana Air Shows
- Tomcat Sunset Information
- NAS Oceana at WikiMapia
- Resources for this U.S. military airport:
- AirNav airport information for KNTU
- ASN Accident history for KNTU
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KNTU
- FAA Airport Diagram (PDF)
