Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton

Calverton Executive Airpark
Calverton in 1979–1980
IATA: CTO ICAO: none FAA LID: CTO
Summary
Airport type	Public-owned, Private-use
Owner	Town of Riverhead
Location	Calverton, New York
Elevation AMSL	75 ft / 23 m
Coordinates	40°54′54″N 072°47′31″W / 40.91500°N 72.79194°W / 40.91500; -72.79194
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 14/32 10,000 3,048 Asphalt/Concrete 5/23 7,000 2,133 Asphalt/Concrete
Source: Federal Aviation Administration

Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton (NWIRP) was a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility which had the mission of designing, fabricating, and testing prototype aircraft from 1956 until 1996, located in Riverhead, New York.

About 1950, the United States Navy purchased about 6,000 acres (2,400 ha) on the Peconic River by New York Route 25 for the facility. Among the properties purchased was a mansion belonging to the grandson of F.W. Woolworth.

The Navy was to build among other things a 10,000-foot (3,000 m) runway. It is labeled on topographic maps as Grumman Peconic River Airport with an FAA code of CTO.

The unit is most associated with test, assembly and retrofitting the A-6 Intruder, E-2 Hawkeye, EA-6B Prowler and F-14 Tomcat. Older U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft such as the F9F Panther, F-9 Cougar, and F-11 Tiger were also tested at the facility.

The Grumman site consisted of "Plant Six", where final assembly of F-14s, A-6s, EA-6Bs, and E-2Cs took place, and "Plant Seven", Flight Test.

During the Space Race, Grumman built a mock up of the lunar surface to test its proposed Lunar Roving Vehicle. Many of the lunar astronauts were said to have visited the plant then.

In 1965, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed converting the airport into the fourth New York City metropolitan airport joining Laguardia Airport, John F. Kennedy Airport and Newark Airport. The proposal was abandoned following opposition from both Grumman and local residents.