History Lakehurst Maxfield Field's history began as a test range for ammunition being manufactured for the
Imperial Russian Army in 1916. It was then acquired by the
United States Army as
Camp Kendrick during
World War I. The
United States Navy purchased the property in 1921 for use as an airship station and renamed it
Naval Air Station Lakehurst (
NAS Lakehurst). The
United States Navy's lighter-than-air program was conducted at Lakehurst from its inception through the 1930s. NAS Lakehurst was the center of
airship development in the United States and housed three of the U.S. Navy's four
rigid airships,
(ZR-1) Shenandoah,
(ZR-3) Los Angeles, and
(ZRS-4) Akron. A number of the
airship hangars built to berth these ships still survive.
Hangar One, in which the
Shenandoah was built, held the record for the largest "single room" in the world. According to an article in the January, 1925 issue of
National Geographic, the
airship hangar "could house three
Woolworth Buildings lying side by side." The base also housed many Navy non-rigid airships, otherwise knowns as
"blimps," in several squadrons before, during, and after
World War II. This included the U.S. Navy's
ZPG-3W (EZ-1C), which was deactivated in September 1962. In 2006, after a 44-year hiatus, the U.S. Navy resumed airship operations at Lakehurst with the
MZ-3. marker The installation was the site of the
LZ 129 Hindenburg disaster on 6 May 1937. Despite the notoriety and well-documented nature of this incident, today there is a simple memorial that denotes the location of the crash at then–NAS Lakehurst in the field behind the large airship hangars on base. A ground marker, painted black, and rimmed by a bright yellow painted chain, marks the spot where the gondola of the
Hindenburg hit the ground.
Aviation training Lakehurst conducts the unique mission of supporting and developing the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment and Support Equipment for naval aviation. Since the 1950s, aviation boatswain's mates have been trained at Lakehurst to operate catapults and arresting systems on aircraft carriers using rail guided jet donkeys pushing dead loads at 200 knots tested carrier
arresting gear cables and
tailhooks. The
Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and the
Advanced Arresting Gear system that will replace the existing steam catapults and the Mk-7 arresting gear are being developed and tested at Lakehurst at full-scale shipboard representative test facilities here. The former NAS Lakehurst also hosted the U.S. Navy's first helicopter squadrons, HU-1 (later HC-1) and HU-2 (later HC-2); the "A" and "C" enlisted training schools for the Aerographer's Mate (AG), Aviation Boatswain Mate (AB, ABE, ABF, ABH), and Parachute Rigger / Aircrew Survival Equipmentman (PR) ratings until their transfer to other Naval Air Technical Training Centers; and an Overhaul & Repair (O&R) facility for fixed-wing aircraft, the forerunner of the former Naval Air Rework Facilities and Naval Aviation Depots (NADEPs) now known as Fleet Readiness Centers (FRCs). Today the base is used for various Naval Aviation development programs. Lakehurst Maxfield's main airfield has two runways under its own control tower, while a separate test runway (12/30) – equipped with a separate control tower and pavement-mounted catapults and arresting gear for testing
aircraft-carrier suitability of new naval aircraft and new flight-deck systems – is located approximately a mile to the northwest. == Tenant organizations ==