NAVAL AIR STATION JOINT RESERVE BASE FORT WORTH
Joint Navy, Marine, Air Force, and National Guard reserve aviation in north Texas.
OVERVIEW
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth is the U.S. Navy host of one of the largest joint reserve installations in the United States, occupying about 2,300 acres in west Fort Worth, Texas. Created in 1994 from the former Carswell Air Force Base under the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round, the base hosts active-duty, reserve, and National Guard aviation units from the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Army, plus a major aerospace industrial tenant. About 11,000 active-duty, reserve, and civilian personnel work across the joint installation.
NAS JRB Fort Worth's resident units span the spectrum of U.S. military aviation. The Navy as host operates the airfield and base support infrastructure; Navy Reserve patrol and fleet logistics squadrons fly P-8A Poseidon and C-40 transport aircraft from the field. The U.S. Air Force Reserve's 301st Fighter Wing operates F-16C/D Fighting Falcons. The Texas Air National Guard's 136th Airlift Wing operates C-130J Super Hercules transports. Marine Aircraft Group 41, the Marine Forces Reserve aviation command, has a major detachment at the base. The base shares its 12,000-foot runway with the adjacent Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Fort Worth facility — the final assembly site for the F-35 Lightning II — making it one of the most aviation-active installations in the U.S. Navy.
KEY FACTS
- MissionJoint Reserve base supporting Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Army Reserve aviation units
- CompositionCreated in 1994 from the closed Carswell Air Force Base under BRAC 1991
- Resident ServicesNavy, Marine Corps, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, Army Reserve
- RunwayOne 12,000-foot runway shared with Lockheed Martin's adjacent F-16/F-35 production facility
- Industrial TenantLockheed Martin Aeronautics Fort Worth — F-35 Lightning II final assembly
HISTORY
The military airfield in west Fort Worth has had three distinct lives: as a wartime Army Air Forces training base, as a Cold War Strategic Air Command bomber base, and finally as the modern joint reserve installation it is today. The story begins in 1942, when the U.S. Army Air Forces opened Tarrant Field Airdrome on the western edge of Fort Worth to support the wartime expansion of the consolidated B-24 Liberator program; the adjacent Consolidated Aircraft (later Convair, then General Dynamics, and now Lockheed Martin) factory built thousands of B-24s for the war effort. The Army Air Forces used the new airfield primarily for B-24 pilot transition training.
After the war, the airfield was retained by the Army Air Forces and then transferred to the new United States Air Force in 1947. In 1948 it was renamed Carswell Air Force Base in honor of Major Horace Carswell, a Texas-born Medal of Honor recipient killed in 1944. Through the Cold War, Carswell AFB was one of the principal Strategic Air Command bomber bases in the United States, hosting first the massive B-36 Peacemaker intercontinental bomber and later the B-52 Stratofortress. Successive bomb wings flew nuclear deterrent alert from Carswell through the long Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union.
The end of the Cold War brought a major restructuring of the Air Force's strategic bomber footprint. The 1991 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round identified Carswell AFB for closure as part of the broader post-Cold War downsizing of Strategic Air Command. Rather than fully shut down the airfield — which sat alongside the actively producing General Dynamics (later Lockheed Martin) Fort Worth aerospace plant and supported a large reserve component aviation footprint in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area — the BRAC final report directed the airfield to be transferred to the Navy and reopened as a joint reserve installation. NAS Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth formally stood up on October 1, 1994.
In the years since, NAS JRB Fort Worth has grown into one of the most diverse and aviation-active installations in the U.S. Navy. The host Navy presence includes Navy Reserve patrol and fleet logistics squadrons, while the resident Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard, and Marine Forces Reserve aviation units operate F-16, C-130J, and a variety of other aircraft. The base also continues to host the active Lockheed Martin F-35 production line — built on the legacy of the wartime Consolidated B-24 plant — making the airfield one of the most strategically important aerospace industrial sites in the United States.
MAJOR COMMANDS & TENANT UNITS
- Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth (host, U.S. Navy)
- 301st Fighter Wing — U.S. Air Force Reserve (F-16C/D)
- Marine Aircraft Group 41 (Reserve) detachments
- 136th Airlift Wing — Texas Air National Guard (C-130J)
- Navy Reserve Patrol Squadron VP-62 / Fleet Logistics Support Squadrons
LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY
NOTABLE EVENTS
- 1942Tarrant FieldTarrant Field Airdrome opened as a U.S. Army Air Forces training base supporting B-24 Liberator pilot transition.
- 1948Carswell Air Force BaseRenamed Carswell Air Force Base, becoming a major Strategic Air Command B-36 and later B-52 bomber base through the Cold War.
- 1994NAS JRB Fort WorthBRAC 1991 closed Carswell AFB; the airfield reopened as Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth on October 1, 1994.