NAVAL AIR ENGINEERING STATION LAKEHURST

OVERVIEW

Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst is the U.S. Navy's principal site for aircraft launch and recovery equipment (ALRE) research, development, test, and evaluation, occupying about 7,400 acres in Ocean County, New Jersey. The Navy component of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst since 2009, NAES Lakehurst hosts the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst — the Navy command responsible for designing, prototyping, testing, and sustaining the steam and electromagnetic catapults, arresting gear, jet blast deflectors, and other equipment that enable aircraft carrier flight operations across the entire U.S. carrier fleet. About 2,500 active-duty Sailors, civilian engineers, and contractors work at the Lakehurst component.

The base also occupies a unique place in the history of American aviation. NAS Lakehurst was the U.S. Navy's principal lighter-than-air station from the 1920s through the 1960s, hosting the giant rigid airships USS Shenandoah, Akron, and Macon and providing the operating base for transatlantic German passenger airships including the Hindenburg, which crashed at Lakehurst on May 6, 1937 in the world's most famous airship disaster. The historic Hangar No. 1 — built in 1921 to house the rigid airships — still stands at the base and is a National Historic Landmark. Today the base supports a unique combination of cutting-edge naval aviation engineering and historic aviation preservation, all under the joint base host arrangement with the Air Force's McGuire and the Army's Dix.

KEY FACTS

• MissionNavy aircraft launch and recovery equipment (ALRE) research, development, test, and evaluation
• CompositionLakehurst is the Navy component of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (Air Force led)
• Engineering MissionDesigns and tests aircraft carrier catapults and arresting gear used by the entire U.S. carrier fleet
• Historical SiteSite of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster and the historic Lakehurst lighter-than-air program
• Joint BaseEstablished as JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on October 1, 2009 under BRAC 2005

HISTORY

Naval Air Station Lakehurst was commissioned in 1921 as the U.S. Navy's principal lighter-than-air (rigid airship) base, established on the cleared sandy pinelands of Ocean County, New Jersey, where the available land and predictable wind conditions made the site ideal for the giant airships that the Navy then believed would form a major arm of post-WWI naval aviation. The Navy built the massive Hangar No. 1 — at the time among the largest single-room structures in the world — to house the rigid airships, and through the 1920s and early 1930s NAS Lakehurst hosted the U.S. Navy's flagship rigid airships USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), USS Akron (ZRS-4), and USS Macon (ZRS-5).

NAS Lakehurst was also the U.S. terminus for transatlantic commercial airship service from Germany through the 1930s. On May 6, 1937, the German passenger airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed during landing approach at Lakehurst, killing 36 of the 97 people aboard. The disaster — captured on newsreel film and broadcast worldwide — effectively ended the era of commercial passenger airships and marked the beginning of the Navy's gradual disinvestment in the rigid airship program. The Navy continued to operate non-rigid airships (blimps) from Lakehurst through World War II, when the base hosted blimp anti-submarine patrol squadrons protecting Atlantic convoys.

After the war, NAS Lakehurst transitioned to a new mission as the U.S. Navy's principal site for aircraft launch and recovery equipment engineering. The base became the home of the Naval Air Engineering Center (later Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst), responsible for the design, development, test, and evaluation of every steam catapult, arresting gear system, and jet blast deflector installed on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers from the 1950s through the present day. The base hosts an instrumented full-scale catapult and arresting gear test facility — the only one of its kind in the United States — where every Navy carrier launch and recovery equipment design is proven before it goes to sea.

The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round directed the consolidation of NAES Lakehurst with the adjacent Air Force McGuire AFB and Army Fort Dix into a single joint installation. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst was established on October 1, 2009, under Air Force lead service host arrangement, with NAES Lakehurst preserved as the Navy component of the joint base. The base today continues to support cutting-edge ALRE engineering — including the development and at-sea integration of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) used aboard the new Ford-class aircraft carriers — alongside the preservation of its remarkable lighter-than-air aviation heritage.

MAJOR COMMANDS & TENANT UNITS

• Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst
• Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) catapult and arresting gear engineering
• Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) test site
• Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (joint host arrangement, U.S. Air Force lead)
• U.S. Army Support Activity Dix (Dix component, separate site)

LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY

NOTABLE EVENTS

1. 1921
   Naval Air Station Lakehurst

   Naval Air Station Lakehurst commissioned as the Navy's primary lighter-than-air (rigid airship) base, including the giant Hangar No. 1.
2. 1937
   Hindenburg Disaster

   The German passenger airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed during landing approach at NAS Lakehurst on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people and effectively ending the era of commercial passenger airships.
3. 2009
   Joint Base Established

   BRAC 2005 created Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, combining the Air Force's McGuire AFB, the Army's Fort Dix, and Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst under Air Force lead.

NEARBY BASES

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

SOURCES

• Wikipedia: Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst
• Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (official)
• Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division