Navy Jax-superbase #15

Located on the Atlantic coast of northern Florida, the city of Jacksonville has served America's airborne, surface, and undersea navies since the turn of the century. To the Navy or Marine Corps pilot, NAVY JAX refers to three separate bases within the city of Jacksonville: NAS Jacksonville, NAS Cecil Field, and NAS Mayport. Each base caters to an entirely unique aspect of modern naval aviation. NAS Jacksonville has hosted naval aviators since the mid-1980s. It was a huge pilot training centre during World War 2, when it was also utilized as a POW camp for some 2000 German prisoners. The base was the first home of the Blue Angels; the flight demonstration team gave its first public show near the base in 1946. The shift in emphasis towards anti-submarine warfare took place at NAS Jacksonville in the 1950s. Today it is one of the Navy's biggest VP bases, hosting several squadrons of P-3C Or ions and SH-3 anti-sub helicopters. NAS Jacksonville is also the principal base for naval aviation's in-house airline; the ' VRs' in their C-9 Skytrain lis, crewed primarily by naval reservists, are seen on the main runway at all hours. The other main activity at NAS Jacksonville is the gigantic Naval Aviation Depot, a facility for modifying and overhauling most types of naval aircraft.