Quonset Point Air National Guard Station | |
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Part of Rhode Island Air National Guard | |
Located near: North Kingstown, Rhode Island | |
143d Airlift Wing C-130 Quonset Point Air National Guard Station
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Location of Quonset Point Air National Guard Station, Rhode Island
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Coordinates | 41°35′50″N 071°24′44″W / 41.59722°N 71.41222°WCoordinates: 41°35′50″N 071°24′44″W / 41.59722°N 71.41222°W |
Site information | |
Controlled by | United States Air Force |
Site history | |
Built | 1941 |
In use | 1941–present |
Garrison information | |
Garrison |
143d Airlift Wing |
Airfield information | |||||||||||||||
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Elevation AMSL | 18 ft / 5 m | ||||||||||||||
Website | www |
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Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Quonset Point Air National Guard Station is the home base of the Rhode Island Air National Guard 143d Airlift Wing.Naval Air Station Quonset Point was a United States Naval Base in Quonset Point, Rhode Island that was deactivated in 1974. Next to NAS Quonset Point was Camp Endicott at Davisville, home of the Naval Construction Battalions known as the Seabees. Quonset Point also gave its name to the Quonset hut, a standardized temporary structure used by the U.S. military starting in World War II. Former US President Richard M. Nixon went through basic naval officer training at Quonset Point in 1942.
Commissioned on 12 July 1941, and encompassing what was once Camp Dyer, NAS Quonset Point was a major naval facility throughout World War II. Beginning in 1943, pilots of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm were trained at Quonset Point to fly the Vought F4U Corsair, which was then brought into service on British carriers.
Quonset Point continued as a major naval facility well into the Cold War. Prior to its closure, it had been home to numerous aviation squadrons, primarily those land-based patrol squadrons operating the P-2 Neptune and carrier-based antisubmarine and airborne early warning squadrons operating the S-2 Tracker, the E-1 Tracer and various modified versions of the A-1 Skyraider.
NAS Quonset Point was also the off-season home of Antarctic Development Squadron Six (VX-6) during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, operating the LC-47 Skytrain, LP-2J Neptune, C-54 Skymaster, C-121 Constellation, and eventually the LC-130F and LC-130R Hercules, as well as a variety of helicopters.