Naval Air Station Pensacola (Images of Aviation)

A sign at the gate of Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) welcomes visitors to “The Cradle of Naval Aviation.” And, indeed it is. The world’s first naval aeronautical station, it came into being when the USS Mississippi (BB-23) arrived in Pensacola on January 20, 1914, with seven aircraft, nine officers, and 23 men. Today, NASP is a dynamic, active station, hosting several schools and several branches of the US military. It is also the home of the Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, as well as the renowned National Naval Aviation Museum (NNAM), which displays more than 100 years of naval aviation, from a replica Curtiss hydroplane to the F-14 Tomcat.