Naval Air Station Atlanta

Anticipating America´s involvement in a second world war, the government returned to the site of Camp Gordon in October 1940 and over the next seven months constructed a 400-acre Naval Reserve Aviation Base at the DeKalb County Airport. Commissioned in March 1941, the field´s chief mission was primary flight training of Navy and Marine Corps aviators. Expanding to meet war needs, the base added training for instrument flight instructors and in January 1943 was designated Naval Air Station Atlanta. Training some 3,000 pilots and over 4,000 instructors, NAS Atlanta supported the vast expansion of naval aviation that proved decisive in the Pacific War against Japan. Following World War II, NAS Atlanta became a Reserve Naval Air Station with nine squadrons (F4U Corsairs, F6F Hellcats, TMB Avengers, and PBY Catalinas) and trained reservists to meet the Korean War emergency of 1950-1953. The evolution of jet fighters and large patrol bombers prompted the relocation of NAS Atlanta to the longer runways of Dobbins Air Force Base, Marietta in 1959. Donated by Veterans of NAS Atlanta.