Patrick Space Force Base

Naval use in World War II Authorized by the Naval Expansion Act of 1938, Naval Air Station Banana River was commissioned on 1 October 1940 as a subordinate base of the Naval Air Operational Training Command at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. The Navy bought of scrub land south of Cocoa Beach. of Patrol Squadron 201 (VP-201) at NAS Banana River, late 1942 With the advent of war with Japan and Germany in December 1941, the Navy began anti-submarine patrols along the Florida coast using PBY Catalina and PBM Mariner seaplanes based at this facility. PBMs returned to training duty in March 1942 when replaced on patrol by OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes. Landing strips were constructed in 1943, allowing shore-based aircraft to operate concurrently. The Free French Naval Air Service officers also trained in PBMs at NAS Banana River. Various military-related activities took place at NAS Banana River, including maritime patrol aviation operations against German U-boats, air search and rescue operations, patrol bomber bombardier training, seaplane pilot training, and communications research. Other activities included a blimp squadron detachment, an Aviation Navigation Training School, and an experimental training unit termed Project Baker, a confidential program that developed and tested instrument landing equipment. NAS Banana River hosted a significant aircraft repair and maintenance facility. Later in the war, a small detachment of German POWs from Camp Blanding worked at NAS Banana River on cleanup details. At its peak, the base complement included 278 aircraft, 587 civilian employees, and over 2,800 officers and enlisted personnel. At 19:50 Eastern Time, the tanker SS Gaines Mills reported seeing a mid-air explosion, then flames leaping high and burning on the sea for 10 minutes. The position was 28°35′N 80°15′W / 28.59, −80.25. Captain Shonna Stanley of the SS Gaines Mills reported searching for survivors through a pool of oil but found none. The escort carrier reported losing radar contact with an aircraft at the same position and time. No wreckage of PBM-5 BuNo 59225 was ever found. During a board of inquiry investigation regarding the entire Flight 19 incident, attention was given to the loss of the NAS Banana River-based PBM. Several witnesses from both NAS Banana River and other PBM Mariner operating locations were questioned concerning occurrences of aviation gasoline (AvGas) fumes collecting in the bilges of PBM series aircraft and associated no-smoking regulations, which were reportedly well posted and rigidly enforced aboard all PBMs. Although the board's report is not a verbatim record and no accusations were made, there seems to be enough inference present to cause one to suspect that the board was aware of the PBM's nickname as "the flying gas tank." As such, it is possible that the PBM-5 was destroyed by an explosion resulting from either (a) violation of the no-smoking regulations in the aircraft or (b) a stray electrical spark in the lower aircraft hull that may have ignited AvGas fumes in the bilges. Contractors bought the land, naming it "South Patrick Shores". They constructed housing on it from 1956 to 1961. Homeowners had no mandatory solid waste removal until 1982. In September 1948, the facility was transferred to the U.S. Air Force. Several of NAS Banana River's original structures, including runway segments, particular hangars, support buildings, seaplane parking areas and seaplane ramps into the Banana River remain part of modern-day Patrick Space Force Base. Use under the United States Air Force NAS Banana River was transferred to the United States Air Force on 1 September 1948 and renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground on 10 June 1949. The installation was renamed Patrick Air Force Base in August 1950. From 1966 to 1975, the Space Coast was the second-most-visited spot by VIPs, after Washington, D.C., due to the Space Program. A protocol officer was assigned to Patrick to coordinate these visits, about three weekly, consisting of 10 to 150 people. In 1971, the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) was established at Patrick AFB. Five of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 were home stationed at Patrick AFB as part of the 71st Rescue Squadron (71 RQS). The 71 RQS relocated to Moody AFB, Georgia, in 1997. The 9/11 attacks prompted the Air Force to close the heavily used four-lane State Road A1A, which ran immediately in front of the AFTAC Headquarters building. A1A was later reopened to two-lane traffic with car inspections, followed by two-lane traffic without inspections until a barrier was constructed in front of the building, and the building was reinforced with steel and concrete with the windows sealed. In February 2005, the Patrick AFB Officers Club was destroyed by an accidental fire. In 2010, the Air Force announced its intention to replace the existing AFTAC building in front of State Road A1A with a new facility costing $100 million to $200 million. At the time of this announcement, this constituted the largest single military construction (MILCON) project in the United States for the Air Force. Completed in 2014, the new facility is a multistory command and control building with a radiochemistry laboratory, central utility plant and a 600-space parking garage located approximately west of the original AFTAC headquarters building. Use under the United States Space Force Following the establishment of the United States Space Force on 20 December 2019, the base was transferred from the Air Force. The facility was due to be renamed Patrick Space Force Base in February or March 2020, but this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The facility, alongside Cape Canaveral SFS, became the first two facilities to bear the name of the new branch at a ceremony with Vice President Mike Pence on 9 December 2020. ==Operational history==