Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove

NAS JRB Willow Grove

NAS Willow Grove in the 1940s
IATA: NXX – ICAO: KNXX – FAA LID: NXX
Summary
Airport type Military: Naval Air Station
Owner United States Navy
Location Horsham Twp, Pennsylvania
Closed 2011
Built 1928
Elevation AMSL 335 ft / 109 m
Coordinates 40°11′59″N 75°08′54″W / 40.1998°N 75.1482°W / 40.1998; -75.1482Coordinates: 40°11′59″N 75°08′54″W / 40.1998°N 75.1482°W / 40.1998; -75.1482
Website cnic.navy.mil/willowgrove/index.htm
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
15/33 8,002 2,439 PEM
Sources: official web site[1] and FAA[2]

Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove or NASJRB Willow Grove (IATA: NXX, ICAO: KNXX, FAA LID: NXX) was a Naval Air Station owned by the U.S. Navy and located in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States[3] four miles (6 km) northwest of the central business district of Willow Grove,[2] which is north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The installation was transferred to the Pennsylvania Air National Guard and the name changed to the Horsham Air Guard Station after the U.S. Navy departed in 2011.

History

Flight activity began in 1926 when Harold Frederick Pitcairn constructed a hangar and a grass airstrip in Horsham, Pennsylvania. The airfield was named after the nearest town Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. At the time, Horsham was a rural township with little significance. From 1926 to 1942 Pitcairn used the airfield for design, construction and testing of a number of aircraft, including the Mailwing which was used by the United States Postal Service.[4]

After the start of World War II, the United States purchased the property, under threat of eminent domain and launched a classified anti-submarine warfare program at the base. Following WWII and into the Cold War, it became an operational and training base for aviation activities of the Naval Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Army Reserve and Army National Guard. As part of its joint recruitment efforts, the base was an annual host to one of the largest air shows on the East Coast until 2006.

Units

Horsham Air Guard Station was home to the following:

The base was home to the following military aviation units:

Base Realignment and Closure

On May 28, 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure commission recommended that the base be closed as part of the 2005 BRAC round, that the tenant Air Force Reserve Command airlift wing be inactivated and that Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve flying units relocate to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey as tenant units.

On September 30, 2007, the Air Force Reserve Command disestablished the 913th Airlift Wing at the collocated Willow Grove ARS, and redistributed its C-130 Hercules aircraft to other active duty Air Force and Air Force Reserve units.

On February 29, 2008, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania released a report detailing a plan for a joint interagency installation (JII), with a mission of national defense, homeland security and emergency preparedness. On November 13, 2009, Pennsylvania dropped the plan for the JII based on the gradual removal of the 111th Fighter Wing. Since then it is planned that a portion of the base will be used for the National Guard and other Reserve Component military personnel. [6]

The airfield shut down on March 31, 2011; VP-64, VR-52, and a C-12 detachment were transferred to McGuire Air Force Base.[7][4]

On September 15, 2011, the base was closed. The Pennsylvania Air National Guard took custody, and the facility was to be designated Willow Grove Air National Guard Base, or Horsham Air Guard Station per source. A handful of National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers remained, and the Air Force maintained administrative offices on the property. The surplus land with the runways was turned over to Horsham Township for redevelopment. Horsham and other adjoining townships in Montgomery and Bucks Counties were debating the nature of this redevelopment.[8] In September 2015 the Horsham Land Redevelopment Authority worked on an "economic development conveyance" (EDC) application to acquire the base. An EDC transfer is one way for the Navy to dispose of federal surplus property.[9]

References

  1. ↑ NAS JRB Willow Grove, official web site
  2. 1 2 FAA Airport Master Record for NXX (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2007-12-20
  3. ↑ "streets.gif." Horsham Township, Pennsylvania. Retrieved on January 25, 2009.
  4. 1 2 Jeremy Roebuck, Willow Grove sees final departures Philly.com, March 31, 2011
  5. ↑ "Air Force Selects Horsham's 111th Fighter Wing for New High-Tech Mission". PR Newswire. March 19, 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  6. ↑ Pa Pulls Out of Plan to Operate Willow-Grove Airfield kyw1060.com Archived November 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Welcome to VP-64. Home of the Condors!
  8. ↑ Willow Grove site a gift, and a burden, for Horsham Philly.com, 21 February 2011
  9. ↑ Gary Weckselblatt (September 16, 2015). "HLRA inches closer to negotiations for Navy base". Intelligencer (PA). Retrieved 20 September 2015.

(9) Harold F. Pitcairn By Carl F. Gunther, Legacy of Wings ( The Harold F. Pitcairn Story) by Frank Kingston Smith

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