Earlier this year, another piece of aviation history left Horsham, Pennsylvania and was transported from the former Naval Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove in the Philadelphia suburbs when a historic NADC Air Traffic Control Tower was moved from the to the Naval Air Development Center Museum in Warminster. The tower was utilized in training for both aerial missions and also space missions.
Michael Thomas Leibrandt explains.
A U.S. Navy Grumman C-1A Trader carrier on-board delivery aircraft at Naval Air Station, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.
Activity at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station began nearly 100 years ago in 1926 when Harold Frederick Pitcairn opened a hangar and a grass runway on the site. Over the next nearly sixteen years — Pitcairn tested aircraft at the site including the Mailwing (US Postal Service air transport.) In the spirit of defense and military innovation during wartime — the US Military would acquire the base during the World War II era of 1942. One of its first initiatives — a submarine warfare program.
During the six decades that followed — the base grew in capacity to include reserves from the US Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Pennsylvania National Guard, Air National Guard, US Army and became Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove. Of the many units who were stationed at Naval Air Station Joint Willow Grove Base were the 111th Fighter Wing (operating the A-10 Thunderbolt II) and Detachment I of the 201st Red Horse Squadron.
For years — the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove hosted the annual Naval Air Show — one of the largest on the US East Coast. The Air Show even had an appearance from the Blue Angels of the US Navy. During one of the shows in the year 2000 — an F-14 Tomcat lost an engine during a turn and plummeted into a forested area near the base.
In 1995 — contaminated groundwater was identified on the site — and PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) were discoveredin 2011 and in the public water for drinking on the base in 2014. Additional tests revealed that the soil and natural water was also contaminated.
In 2005 — the Commission for Base Realignment and Closure recommended closure for the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove as well as a combination of the inactivation of a tenant unit as well as the relocation of other units to other area bases. Six years later — and just six months after the airfield closed — the base would also ceaseoperations. A portion of the land was turned over to Horsham Township and a proposal was put forth for a commercial airport on the site that was not pursued.
Today — the Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum still operates on the site sponsored by the Delaware Valley Historical Aircraft Association (DVHAA) — whose mission is to preserve the aviation history of the Delaware Valley and displays a myriad of historic aircraft — some of which are outside of the grounds of the Naval Air Station.
If you drive up Route 611 past the former Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove today — with the backdrop of the runways that once operated daily for decades going back to that first airstrip that Harold Frederick Pitcairn utilized to help to test the Mailwing almost a century ago and the dormant former military housing still looming with an unmistakably impressive display of American Naval Base History.
Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, PA.
