NAS WHITING FIELD

Naval Air Station Whiting Field (NASWF) was commissioned on July 16, 1943 to train Naval Aviators and today, remains the “crown jewel” of Naval Aviation training. Home to Training Air Wing Five, which conducts training for nearly 2,000 students aboard the complex each year.

The mission of the installation is to effectively support the mission accomplishment of multiple tenant command’s training of U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and International students, by efficiently providing high quality installation facilities and operations services.

NASWF North Field hosts a fleet of over 150 T-34C “Turbo Mentor” aircraft; NASWF South Field supports 120 TH-57 “Sea Ranger” helicopters. The NASWF complex is the busiest Naval air complex in the world. NASWF North and South Fields launch more than 500 flights a day, with the complex supporting 1.3 million take-offs and landings and 10 percent of all Navy and Marine Corps flight hours flown world-wide.

In addition to the 6,000-foot long runways at North and South Fields, NAS Whiting Field operates eight Navy Outlying Landing Fields (NOLFs) supporting fixed-winged flight training. These fields are NOLFs Brewton, Evergreen, Wolf, Holley, Choctaw, Barin, Summerdale and Silverhill.

NAS Whiting Field will transition from the T-34C to the T-6B between mid-2009 to 2015. The T-6B requires longer runways to complete safe operations. The runway length required for dual-piloted training is 4,000 feet and 5,000 feet for solo-piloted training.

Currently, only NOLFs Brewton and Choctaw have the sufficient runway length to accommodate T-6 solo operations. NOLF Evergreen will meet the solo operation requirement later this year, with an on-going military construction effort to extend its runways to 5,000 feet. One additional NOLF for dual operations, and one additional NOLF for solo operations will be required to accommodate training in the southern working areas.