Naval Air Station Brunswick

Naval Air Station Brunswick
Naval Air Station Brunswick in October 2009
IATA: NHZ ICAO: KNHZ FAA LID: NHZ
Summary
Airport type	Military: Naval Air Station
Operator	United States Navy
Location	Brunswick, Maine
Built	1943
In use	1943–1946, 1951 – 2015
Commander	Capt. George G. Womack
Occupants	2,317 Navy 61 Civilian
Elevation AMSL	75 ft / 23 m
Coordinates	43°53′32″N 069°56′19″W / 43.89222°N 69.93861°W / 43.89222; -69.93861Coordinates: 43°53′32″N 069°56′19″W / 43.89222°N 69.93861°W / 43.89222; -69.93861
Website	www.cnic.navy.mil/Brunswick/index.htm
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 1L/19R 8,000 2,438 Asphalt (closed) 1R/19L 8,000 2,438 Asphalt (closed)
Sources: FAA, official site

Naval Air Station Brunswick (IATA: NHZ, ICAO: KNHZ, FAA LID: NHZ), also known as NAS Brunswick, was a military airport located 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of Brunswick, Maine with a number of Navy-operated maritime patrol aircraft. As of November 28, 2009, the last aircraft (P-3 Orions) left. The runways were permanently closed in January 2010. The base operated while the airport operated publicly under the name Brunswick Executive Airport until the base closed on May 31, 2011, as per the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure committee decision. Since then the base is known as Brunswick Landing. The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority has been managing base redevelopment with high-tech business and industrial park. On April 2, 2011, the airport reopened as Brunswick Executive Airport.

Naval Air Station Brunswick was originally constructed and occupied in March 1943, and was first commissioned on April 15, 1943, to train and form-up Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadrons with Vought Corsairs, Grumman Avengers and Grumman Hellcats. The 1,487-acre (6 km²) station was built in part on land that was donated by the town of Brunswick. By the early 1940s the town was using most of this land to operate a small municipal airport, which would become the core of the air station.

Operating under the motto, “Built For Business”, the first U.S. squadron to arrive at NAS Brunswick was a heavier-than-air Scouting Squadron (VS1D1). During World War II, pilots from NAS Brunswick as well as those of the Royal Navy/Fleet Air Arms used the station as a base from which they carried out anti-submarine warfare missions with around-the-clock efficiency. The air station had a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, but the squadrons also practiced at other Naval Auxiliary Air Facilities (NAAF) in Maine before eventual transport to Britain. The station was supporting the Casco Bay NAAF seaplane base on Long Island from May 14, 1943 to December 15, 1946 and auxiliary landing fields Lewiston NAAF until December 1, 1945, Sanford NAAF until February 1, 1946, Rockland NAAF until March 15, 1946, and Bar Harbor NAAF from September 1, 1943 until November 15, 1945. On August 15, 1945 Japan surrendered to Allied forces, ending the war. As a result, NAS Brunswick was scheduled for deactivation.