Naval Air Station Fallon
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Naval Air Station Fallon Van Voorhis Field |
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Aerial view of NAS Fallon, 1988
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military: Naval Air Station | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | United States Navy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Churchill County, near Fallon, Nevada | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | June 10, 1944 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | Active | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 3,934 ft / 1,199 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 39°25′30″N 118°42′10″W / 39.42500°N 118.70278°WCoordinates: 39°25′30″N 118°42′10″W / 39.42500°N 118.70278°W | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www.cnic.navy.mil/fallon/ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||||||
 KNFL
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Source: FAA and official website
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Naval Air Station Fallon or NAS Fallon (IATA: NFL, ICAO: KNFL, FAA LID: NFL) is the United States Navy's premier air-to-air and air-to-ground training facility. It is located southeast of the city of Fallon in western Nevada in the United States. Since 1996, it has been home to the Naval Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), and the surrounding area contains 240,000 acres (97,000 ha) of bombing and electronic warfare ranges. It is also home to the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC/NAWDC), which includes TOPGUN, the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (CAEWWS) and the Navy Rotary Wing Weapons School. Navy SEAL Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) training also takes place here.
The airfield is named Van Voorhis Field in honor of Lieutenant Bruce Van Voorhis (1908-1943) who was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.
The airfield at NAS Fallon was originally built in 1942 as part of a defensive network to repel a feared Japanese invasion of the west coast. It was soon taken over by the Navy for training use and has been used as such ever since with the exception of the period of 1946 to 1951, during which it was used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During the years prior to 1972, the base was known as Naval Auxiliary Air Station and was heavily used during the Vietnam War by various squadrons that rotated through the base before deploying to carriers headed for Vietnam. During these same years prior to 1972, many ground troops were temporarily assigned to NAAS Fallon for their hot weather training (during the summer months) and cold weather training (during the winter months). On January 1, 1972, the Navy recognized NAS Fallon's importance to naval aviation by upgrading the base from auxiliary air station status to a major aviation command as a full-fledged naval air station. While NAS Fallon provides training for visiting Carrier Air Wings, Strike Fighter Squadron 127 (VFA-127), the "Desert Bogeys", was the air station's only permanently based squadron from October 1987 until it was disestablished on March 23, 1996.
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