[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 16, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN RECOGNIZING OF THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF NAVAL AIR STATION WHITING 
                                 FIELD

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF MILLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 16, 2008

  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the 65th 
anniversary of Naval Air Station, NAS, Whiting Field. The anniversary 
was quietly marked by a simple cake-cutting ceremony attended by over 
100 northwest Florida dignitaries, Navy and Marine Corps League 
representatives, military personnel, Government civilians, and other 
base employees on July 16, 2008. This ceremony celebrated a long-
lasting friendship between the base and surrounding community and 
served to further forge their wonderful relationship for many years to 
come. A much larger, formal ceremony will be held on October 25, 2008.
  According to historian and U.S. Navy Retired CDR Doug Seigfried, the 
65-year-old NAS Whiting Field is the busiest field in the Training 
Command and home to Training Wing Five's three T-34C primary/
intermediate maritime prop squadrons, two TH-57B/C Sea Ranger 
helicopter training squadrons and the helicopter and fixed-wing 
instructor instructional units. Eighty-three percent of all student 
Naval aviators conduct a portion of their initial flight training at 
Whiting, which averages over 350 flights a day.
  Construction began on the largest of Pensacola's auxiliary fields in 
early 1943 and was completed in November. The new field, located 35 
miles northeast of Pensacola and 6 miles north of Milton, was planned 
to incorporate two individual fields about a mile from one another with 
base facilities located between them. Both Whiting's North and South 
Fields featured four 6,000-foot runways, a large parking mat and two 
big red-brick, hangars. Despite the fact that construction was not yet 
complete and assigned personnel were temporarily living in tents, the 
field was officially dedicated by RADM George D. Murray, commandant of 
the Naval Air Training Center, Pensacola, on July 16, 1943. In 
attendance at the ceremony was the recent widow of Captain Kenneth 
Whiting, Naval Aviator Number 16, for whom the field was named.
  Fifteen days earlier, SNJs (the Navy's version of the North American 
T-6 Texan) of VN-3A and VN-3B from Chevalier and Saufley Fields had 
arrived at their new South Field home to inaugurate operations in basic 
and radio instrument instruction as part of the intermediate phase of 
the World War II training program. With the two fields comp1eted, VN-8C 
and its large fleet of SNBs (Navy designated Beech Aircraft TC-45s) 
arrived at North Field from NAS Corry in November 1943. The squadron 
moved back to Corry in December 1944 and was replaced by operational 
training squadron VB4 OTU 4, flying Consolidated PB4Y-l Liberators. 
With all the multi-engine and basic instrument instruction conducted at 
the base, a large building was constructed to house the numerous Link 
trainers and six big Link celestial navigation trainers manned by WAVES 
(Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

  After the war, Whiting became a naval air station under control of 
the new Naval Air Advanced Training Command, Jacksonville, Florida. 
Based at Whiting from 1946 to almost the end of 1947 were VB-2 and VB-4 
advanced training units flying Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateers and 
Lockheed PV-2 Venturas; the advanced carrier qualification and Landing 
Signals Officer training unit flying F6F Hellcats, SB2C Helldivers, TBM 
Avengers and SNJ-3/5Cs; and two photo training units flying the PB4Y-IP 
and F6F-5P.
  Over the next several years, Whiting survived through reorganization 
of its missions and promotion of its newer facilities and longer 
runways. The first jets assigned to the Training Command were sent to 
Whiting Field in July 1948. From 1951 to 1956 Whiting Field devoted its 
total efforts to primary instruction. It was during this period that 
the Training Command introduced new aircraft, consolidated bases and 
made major syllabus changes to respond to the Navy's predominantly jet-
equipped air wings and squadrons. In addition, in December 1959, the 
multi-engine training group, METG, the pre-helicopter instrument phase, 
moved its operations to Whiting from Forrest Sherman NAS Pensacola.
  During the 1960s, Whiting concentrated on T-28 basic prop training 
and in January 1965 began parallel T-28 basic instructional programs 
due to the increased number of students required to meet the augmented 
pilot training rate prompted by the Vietnam war. In 1965, the field 
underwent a major facelift as new living spaces replaced old WW II-era 
``splintervilles,'' together with a new training building and upgrades 
to both fields' runways and ramp areas.
  In January 1972, as a result of yet another major reorganization of 
the Training Command, Whiting Field became the home of Training Air 
Wing 5. After 30 years of working with fixed-wing aviators, Whiting 
began rotary-wing activities. In November 1977, the first of the new T-
34C Turbo Mentors arrived at Training Air Wing 5 to replace the 
primary-phase T-34B and the basic-phase T-28. By 1983, the last T-28 
had been retired and all three North Field squadrons conducted primary 
and intermediate prop training. In the 1990s, VT-3's Red Knights were 
designated as the first joint primary training squadron. The era of 
joint Navy/USAF flight training had begun.
  Madam Speaker, no one can deny the honorable and significant 
contributions NAS Whiting Field has made since it was dedicated in 
1943. On behalf of the United States Congress and a grateful Nation, I 
wish to thank the men and women on NAS Whiting Field, both past and 
present, for 65 years of unwavering support of our Nation's defense.

                          ____________________