NAS Pensacola Damage

[Brad]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy air base in
Pensacola, Fla., suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage
from Hurricane Ivan, the Navy said Friday.
Ninety percent of the buildings on base received
"significant" damage.
Naval Air Station Pensacola is where every Naval aviator
gets his or her wings. About 15,000 airmen aviators and crews are
trained there annually.
There were no reported deaths or injuries on the base.
Roughly 2,900 sailors were staying in local shelters and helping the
American Red Cross unload supplies and food, the Navy said.
Most of the base roads were impassable and power generators
were fueling only selected buildings Friday.
The base public affairs office, including the photo lab, was
destroyed. The Coast Guard station was also reported destroyed. The
Naval Air Technical Training Center was completely under water.
The naval hospital was intact, but lost 80 percent of its
roof. There were no reports of damaged aircraft.
Soldiers from the Florida National Guard were to arrive in
Pensacola Friday to help with relief efforts and Navy Seabees were
to assess construction and engineering efforts during the weekend.
Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba has not suffered serious
damage from any of the three hurricanes so far, a Navy official
said.

[JD]

I was wondering about the Navy's aviation museum. I've never visited
Pensacola NAS, so I don't have an appreciation of just how far inland the
base buildings are. Does anyone have the base general layout?
jd

[BuZzY]

Perhaps a little encouraging news--

I am clipping a phrase from some news copy: "The Pensacola Naval
Aviation Museum, where the Navy houses its most valuable aviation
artifacts, held up, officials said."

The URL:

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=75709&ran=212492


JD wrote:
> I was wondering about the Navy's aviation museum. I've never visited
> Pensacola NAS, so I don't have an appreciation of just how far inland the
> base buildings are. Does anyone have the base general layout?
> jd
>
>

[Laura O''Leary]

Just a side note about the sentence of NAS P'cola is where every Naval
aviator gets his or her wings. It is where every naval aviator and naval
flight officer gets their start in naval aviation. Only the naval flight
officers get their wings at P'cola. Naval aviators or pilots get their
wings at several other locations.
"Brad" > wrote in message
...
> WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy air base in
> Pensacola, Fla., suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage
> from Hurricane Ivan, the Navy said Friday.
> Ninety percent of the buildings on base received
> "significant" damage.
> Naval Air Station Pensacola is where every Naval aviator
> gets his or her wings. About 15,000 airmen aviators and crews are
> trained there annually.
> There were no reported deaths or injuries on the base.
> Roughly 2,900 sailors were staying in local shelters and helping the
> American Red Cross unload supplies and food, the Navy said.
> Most of the base roads were impassable and power generators
> were fueling only selected buildings Friday.
> The base public affairs office, including the photo lab, was
> destroyed. The Coast Guard station was also reported destroyed. The
> Naval Air Technical Training Center was completely under water.
> The naval hospital was intact, but lost 80 percent of its
> roof. There were no reports of damaged aircraft.
> Soldiers from the Florida National Guard were to arrive in
> Pensacola Friday to help with relief efforts and Navy Seabees were
> to assess construction and engineering efforts during the weekend.
> Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba has not suffered serious
> damage from any of the three hurricanes so far, a Navy official
> said.
>
>
>

[John Carrier]

"Brad" > wrote in message
...
> WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy air base in
> Pensacola, Fla., suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage
> from Hurricane Ivan, the Navy said Friday.
> Ninety percent of the buildings on base received
> "significant" damage.
> Naval Air Station Pensacola is where every Naval aviator
> gets his or her wings. About 15,000 airmen aviators and crews are
> trained there annually.

What does the UPI know? Actually, no aviator gets his wings there. Strike
grads get their wings at Kingsville or Meridian. Maritime grads at Corpus.
Helo grads at Whiting. NFO's probably do get their wings at Pcola these
days. Most of those 15,000 are various enlisted schools grads. When the
Navy realigned Memphis, all of the training went to Pcola (kind of a nice
consolation prize after losing the NADEP). And a couple 100 million dollars
in construction to recreate what was in Memphis at NPA.

R / John

> There were no reported deaths or injuries on the base.
> Roughly 2,900 sailors were staying in local shelters and helping the
> American Red Cross unload supplies and food, the Navy said.
> Most of the base roads were impassable and power generators
> were fueling only selected buildings Friday.
> The base public affairs office, including the photo lab, was
> destroyed. The Coast Guard station was also reported destroyed. The
> Naval Air Technical Training Center was completely under water.
> The naval hospital was intact, but lost 80 percent of its
> roof. There were no reports of damaged aircraft.
> Soldiers from the Florida National Guard were to arrive in
> Pensacola Friday to help with relief efforts and Navy Seabees were
> to assess construction and engineering efforts during the weekend.
> Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba has not suffered serious
> damage from any of the three hurricanes so far, a Navy official
> said.

[nafod40]

Brad wrote:
> WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy air base in
> Pensacola, Fla., suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage
> from Hurricane Ivan, the Navy said Friday.

Go to the shot labeled "Aid and aftermath. (9-18-04)" on this page to
see a few pix of the base.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/guides/hurricane/galleries.shtml

In general, the newspaer has excellent gouge. It hurts to see the damage
they've sustained.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/

[vincent p. norris]

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 18:28:24 -0500, "John Carrier" >
wrote:
>>...... About 15,000 airmen aviators and crews are trained there annually.

>... Most of those 15,000 are various enlisted schools grads.

Thanks for the clarification, John. That "15,000" jumped out at me,
and I couldn't believe it. Pensacola was going full speed ahead when I
went through, with ops at both Whitings, Corry, Saufley, Ellison, and
probably others I've forgotten, but it wouldn't have added up to
anywhere near 15,000 per year.

vince norris

[Thomas A. Hoffer]

Took this information of a Pensacola newspaper. This segment mentions the
museum. Looks like the museum itself weathered the storm with only minor
damage. Doesn't go into much detail about what damage was done to static
aircraft displays.

" The National Museum of Naval Aviation was almost unscathed by the storm.
Nichols said there were a few leaks in the roof, but the exhibits inside
were unharmed.

Some of the historic aircraft parked on the tarmac behind the museum were
damaged, however. The canopy of an A-6 was sheared off. A couple of wings
lay on the pavement and some planes, evidently blown off their moorings, had
collided with other aircraft, causing significant damage."

[Pechs1]

news clip-<< The U.S. Navy air base in
Pensacola, Fla., suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage >><BR><BR>
<< Naval Air Station Pensacola is where every Naval aviator
gets his or her wings. >><BR><BR>

Is this true? I got my wings in Beeville..I don't think NavAir has changed that
much.
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer

[Jake Donovan]

Just the Press getting things wrong.

Only NFO (and now WSO) Wings at NAS Pensacola since VT4 stopped winging
E2/C2 Aviators in 1996? (Don't recall exact year)

Jake


"Pechs1" > wrote in message
...
> news clip-<< The U.S. Navy air base in
> Pensacola, Fla., suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in damage
> >><BR><BR>
> << Naval Air Station Pensacola is where every Naval aviator
> gets his or her wings. >><BR><BR>
>
> Is this true? I got my wings in Beeville..I don't think NavAir has changed
> that
> much.
> P. C. Chisholm
> CDR, USN(ret.)
> Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye
> Phlyer

[Elmshoot]

Just talked to a long time family friend who is a docent at the NAM, he did a
lot of the flight line tours. While he lives in Cantonment and hasn't been back
to the museum since Ivan he mentioned that he understood all the NAM facilities
are in good shape. The Buffalo "should" be Ok but mentioned the flight line was
torn up pretty good. Ironic that he served as the CO of the Hurrican hunters
and was responsible for the NAM Connie being painted in a Hurricane Hunter
scheme and now to get wiped out by a Hurricane :(
He mentioned that the Captains row of Quarters that overlook the parade ground
had water up to the main floor. The new enlisted barracks on chavalie field had
waves comming in the second floor windows. That's a lot of water!!!
The rest of the base got it much worse, there is even rumor that it may be
cheaper to move the TRACOM than rebuild.
Sparky

[Orval Fairbairn]

In article >,
(Elmshoot) wrote:

> Just talked to a long time family friend who is a docent at the NAM, he did a
> lot of the flight line tours. While he lives in Cantonment and hasn't been
> back
> to the museum since Ivan he mentioned that he understood all the NAM
> facilities
> are in good shape. The Buffalo "should" be Ok but mentioned the flight line
> was
> torn up pretty good. Ironic that he served as the CO of the Hurrican hunters
> and was responsible for the NAM Connie being painted in a Hurricane Hunter
> scheme and now to get wiped out by a Hurricane :(
> He mentioned that the Captains row of Quarters that overlook the parade
> ground
> had water up to the main floor. The new enlisted barracks on chavalie field
> had
> waves comming in the second floor windows. That's a lot of water!!!
> The rest of the base got it much worse, there is even rumor that it may be
> cheaper to move the TRACOM than rebuild.
> Sparky
>

Would that put NAS Pensacola on the BRAC list and its eventual use as a
public airport, where we could actually fly in to see the Naval Aviation
Museum?

[J. McEachen]

Extrapolating from my 1959 "Flight Jacket" - with alternating week
NavCad/MarCad and AOC's, and OI's every week - I would estimate 50/week
in Summer/Fall in Pre-flight. Of course that was the tail end of NA's
serving as VR/VP/VW navigators and VAH B/N's. They began training NAO's
(1960) as non-pilot navigators in Corpus Christi and B/N's in Whidbey
and Sanford (VAH RAG's had been training NAO's and enlisted B/N's and
third crewman from the AJ Savage days.) The first NAO(R)'s appeared with
VF-74's F4H-2's in 1962, probably trained in the VF RAG at Oceana.

In 1960, Corry, Barrin and Bronson were long closed; helo wings were
received in Ellyson, S2F/WF in New Iberia, single engine/multi engine
recips at Corpus, jets at Chase/Beeville or Kingsville.
Joel McEachen VAH-5

vincent p. norris wrote:
> On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 18:28:24 -0500, "John Carrier" >
> wrote:
>
>>> ...... About 15,000 airmen aviators and crews are trained there
>>> annually.
>> ... Most of those 15,000 are various enlisted schools grads.
>
> Thanks for the clarification, John. That "15,000" jumped out at me,
> and I couldn't believe it. Pensacola was going full speed ahead when
> I went through, with ops at both Whitings, Corry, Saufley, Ellison,
> and probably others I've forgotten, but it wouldn't have added up to
> anywhere near 15,000 per year.
>
> vince norris

[bci]

Pensacola News Journal now has some aerial photos of NAS taken on 9/23.

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/guides/hurricane/aerial1.shtml

B. C. Ilfeld

[Allen Epps]

In article >, bci
> wrote:

> Pensacola News Journal now has some aerial photos of NAS taken on 9/23.
>
> http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/guides/hurricane/aerial1.shtml
>
> B. C. Ilfeld

Hmm, no photo's of the Bama and their web site is still down. Can't be
good.
Pugs