Postwar Era
Rather than the
quiet and methodical
airships to which
Peninsula residents
had become accustomed
over the years,
they soon were
seeing and hearing
a new era at Moffett
Field - the jet
age.
In mid-1945,
Naval Air Transport
Service Squadron
Four, (VR-4),
was based at Moffett
and with it the
base continued
its movement toward
heavier-than-air
uses. The Navy
extended Moffett's
landing strips
and modified its
hangars.
In October 1949,
the Overhaul and
Repair unit, formerly
the Assembly and
Repair Department,
was shut down.
Two months later,
Air Transport
Squadron Three
made its home
in the Mountain
View base. After
the arrival of
VR-5 in 1950,
Moffett Field
became the largest
Naval Air Transport
base on the West
Coast.
With the outbreak
of the Korean
Conflict in 1950,
Moffett's use
would again change.
But this time
it was not back
to the LTA program.
In 1950, Moffett
welcomed the jet
age with the arrival
of the F3D Skynight,
the first night
jet fighter in
the service, which
conducted its
first test flights
at Moffett.
With this came
a new era of activity
at Moffett. New
landing facilities
were built along
with new barracks
and more support
buildings. Moffett
also became the
home for fighters
that flew from
the Navy's aircraft
carriers out in
the Pacific.
In 1953, the
Navy designated
the Naval Air
Station the first
of nine Navy Master
Jet Air Stations.
Its use as a research
facility also
increased.
In 1954, test
pilot "Skeet"
Coleman made the
first tethered
vertical flight
in the Pogo XFY-1
inside Hangar 1.
In the spring
of 1957, the F11F
Tiger and the
F8U Crusader arrived
at Moffett, bringing
with them the
supersonic age.
Moffett became
so popular for
testing new aircraft
and jet operations
that the Navy
opened a new base
in 1961 in Lemoore,
Ca.
After use of the
Lemoore site increased,
concern grew that
Moffett Field
would be decommissioned.
Late in 1962 all
suspicion came
to an end. The
station's commanding
officer announced
that Moffett had
been selected
as the new West
Coast base for
the Navy's newest
and fastest antisubmarine
aircraft - the
P-3 "Orion."
The Navy's first
land-based anti-submarine
patrol aircraft
arrived in February
1963. For the
next 30 years
the P-3s would
become a common
sight over Moffett
Field.
In 1973, Moffett
became the headquarters
of the Commander
Patrol Wings,
U.S. Pacific Fleet,
responsible for
patrolling 93
million square
miles of ocean
from Alaska to
Hawaii. Known
as the hub of
submarine warfare
patrol operations,
it served as the
eyes for America's
defense systems
against enemy
submarines. The
role of Moffett
Field, borne out
of the need for
patrols off the
Pacific Coast,
had come full
circle.
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