Naval Air Station Glynco | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Military: Naval air station (decommissioned) | ||||||||||
Owner/Operator | • Glynn County Airport Commission (current) • United States Navy (former) |
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Location | Brunswick, Georgia | ||||||||||
Built | August 1942 | ||||||||||
In use | 1942 - 1974 | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 26 ft / 7.9 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 31°15′31.71″N 81°27′59.39″W / 31.2588083°N 81.4664972°WCoordinates: 31°15′31.71″N 81°27′59.39″W / 31.2588083°N 81.4664972°W | ||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Naval Air Station Glynco, Georgia, was an operational naval air station from 1942 to 1974 with an FAA airfield identifier of NEA and an ICAO identifier of KNEA.
Now known as Brunswick Golden Isles Airport (IATA: BQK, ICAO: KBQK), it was previously known as Glynco Jetport following NAS Glynco's closure. It is a public airport located 5 miles (8 km) north of the city of Brunswick, in Glynn County, Georgia, USA. The airport has a single runway and is mostly used for general aviation, but it is also served by one commercial airline.
In August 1942, the U.S. Navy began building the air station on 2,400 acres (9.7 km2) in the northern part of the county. Named NAS Glynco as an abbreviation of Glynn County, it was initially constructed as an operational base for lighter-than-air airships, more commonly known as blimps.
In 14 months, workers at the new air station built two enormous wooden hangars, measuring 1,058 feet (322 m) long, 297 feet (91 m) wide and 182 feet (55 m) tall, to house an eight-ship fleet and to provide maintenance for blimps from other bases. Airship Patrol Squadron 15 (ZP-15), a subordinate unit of Fleet Airship Wing ONE at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey was subsequently based at NAS Glynco and was the principal unit based at the air station during World War II. Capable of sustained flight and state-of-the-art electronic submarine detection, blimps flew thousands of hours on coastal and maritime patrol, as well as convoy escort duty, protecting vulnerable ships delivering essential war materials. This convoy escort program has often been cited as one of the most successful defense operations of the war.