HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018.06.04 Council Meeting Handout`Dks-VYkb'_xk4_6 00C.*r'.¢. reogutoea -0_" j CJ
Pasco Naval Air Station
0 PASCO, WA
One year before people began arriving to work at Hanford, hundreds
of young men and women were reporting for duty at the new Pasco
Naval Air Station (NAS). Built with wartime urgency, construction of
the entire air station was completed in less than a year.
The Pasco Naval Air Station today
Photo courtesy of Save the Old NAS Pasco Tower
Opened in July 1942, the large facility trained nearly 1,900 cadets fly-
ing over 260,000 hours in 300 Stearman bi-planes, making Pasco the
third busiest naval air training station in the United States. Both pilots
and mechanics trained at NAS Pasco for duty on aircraft carriers. NAS
Pasco was the first naval air station to allow WAVES (Women Accepted
for Volunteer Emergency Service) to work and live in barracks on the
base.
In 1943, NAS Pasco's mission changed to advance operational training
for combat air groups using aircraft such as the Grumman Hellcat. Af-
ter the war, many of the servicemen and women settled in town, be-
coming community leaders and raising their families in the Tri-Cities.
PRESERVING THE TOWER
In the early 1960s, the Port of Pasco acquired the entire Naval Air Sta-
tion for one dollar and used the control tower building as the airline
terminal for the Tri-Cities Airport. In December 1966, a new terminal
was opened and the old control tower was abandoned.
In June 2011, the non-profit Save the Old Tower convinced the Port
of Pasco to save the air control tower. Once restored as the Pasco
Aviation Museum, the public can enjoy displays on local aviation
history including the 1926 airmail route, NAS Pasco history, and air -
show history. For more information, see www.savetheoldtower.com.