U.S. Navy use Commissioned on 12 July 1941, and encompassing what was once
Camp Dyer, NAS Quonset Point was a major naval facility throughout World War II. Beginning in 1943, pilots of the
Royal Navy's
Fleet Air Arm were trained at Quonset Point to fly the
Vought F4U Corsair, which was then brought into service on British aircraft carriers. Squadrons such as
VS-33 flew
anti-submarine patrols from NAS Quonset Point.
Royal Navy use of the airfield From 1 October 1942, facilities at the station were loaned to the
Admiralty for use by the Royal Navy as a forming and working‑up base for Fleet Air Arm squadrons receiving American aircraft supplied under the
Lend-Lease programme. The Royal Navy contingent was initially administered as part of HMS
Asbury, the receiving centre and barracks at
Asbury Park, New Jersey, and was later
recommissioned as HMS
Saker II on 13 March 1943. By 1 October 1943 all Fleet Air Arm squadrons had departed, and the Royal Navy
paid off its presence at Quonset Point exactly one year after it began. Responsibility for forming
Vought Corsair squadrons subsequently passed to
USNAS Brunswick, while the preparation of
Grumman Avenger units was transferred to
USNAS Squantum.
Return to U.S. Navy use NAS Quonset Point continued as a major naval facility well into the Cold War. Prior to its closure, it had been home to numerous aviation squadrons, primarily those land-based patrol squadrons operating the
P-2 Neptune and carrier-based antisubmarine and airborne early warning squadrons operating the
S-2 Tracker, the
E-1 Tracer,
SH3D Sea King helicopters and various modified versions of the
A-1 Skyraider. NAS Quonset Point was also the off-season home of Antarctic Development Squadron Six (
VX-6, later
VXE-6) during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, operating the
LC-47 Skytrain,
LP-2J Neptune,
C-54 Skymaster,
C-121 Constellation, and eventually the
LC-130F and LC-130R Hercules, as well as a variety of helicopters. In 1950, Coast Guard Air Detachment Quonset Point was established as a sub unit of
CGAS Salem, Massachusetts. In addition to flying squadrons, the air station was also home to a major aircraft overhaul and repair (O & R) facility, later renamed
Naval Air Rework Facility (
NARF)
Quonset Point. O & R Facilities, and their later incarnation as NARFs, are the predecessor of the present day Fleet Readiness Centers (FRCs), previously known as Naval Aviation Depots (NADEPs). Boasting a deepwater port, NAS Quonset Point was also homeport to several
Essex class aircraft carriers, including the
USS Essex (CV-9),
USS Intrepid (CV-11),
USS Wasp (CV-18),
USS Leyte (CV-32),
USS Antietam (CV-36),
USS Lake Champlain (CV-39), and
USS Tarawa (CV-40), as well as their respective carrier air groups (CAGs or CVSGs). In September 1945, Air Wing Eighteen became
Air Wing Seven here. NAS Quonset Point was decommissioned on 28 June 1974 as part of a series of defense cutbacks which resulted in a nationwide reduction in bases following the end of the US engagement in Vietnam.
Air National Guard use Since the Navy's departure, a smaller military presence has remained in the form of Quonset Point Air National Guard Station, home to the
143rd Airlift Wing (143 AW), an
Air Mobility Command (AMC)-gained unit of the
Rhode Island Air National Guard, operating the
C-130J and C-130J-30 Hercules aircraft. The Rhode Island Army National Guard also maintains an adjoining Army Aviation Support Facility for the 1st Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, operating the
UH-60 Black Hawk. Now known as
Quonset State Airport (IATA: OQU, ICAO: KOQU), the former NAS Quonset Point is a public general aviation airport with tenant
Air National Guard and
Army National Guard flying activities, as well as an adjacent industrial park. There is no scheduled airline service. The airport lies within Class D airspace and has an operating non-federal air traffic control tower (closed on Mondays) with two active runways, Runway 5/23 and Runway 16/34. Quonset State Airport is one of six active airports operated by the
Rhode Island Airport Corporation. ==Air National Guard use==