Naval Air Station Pensacola Forrest Sherman Field |
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Military: Naval Air Station | ||||||||||||||||||
Operator | United States Navy | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Escambia County, near Pensacola, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1913 | ||||||||||||||||||
In use | Active | ||||||||||||||||||
Commander | Captain Christopher Martin | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 28 ft / 8.5 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 30°21′09″N 087°19′04″W / 30.35250°N 87.31778°W | ||||||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (IATA: NPA, ICAO: KNPA, FAA LID: NPA) (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits. It is best known as the initial primary training base for all U.S.Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard officers pursuing designation as Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers, the advanced training base for most Naval Flight Officers, and as the home base for the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the precision-flying team known as the Blue Angels.
Because of contamination by heavy metals and other hazardous materials during its history, it is designated as a Superfund site needing environmental cleanup.
The air station also hosts the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) and the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI), the latter of which provides training for all naval Naval Flight Surgeons, Naval Aviation Physiologists, and Naval Aviation Experimental Psychologists.