- NAWC, Aircraft Division, Warminster
Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster Airport codes|NJP|KNJP was a former
U.S. Navy military installation located in Warminster,Pennsylvania and Ivyland,Pennsylvania . For most of its existence, the base was known as theJohnsville Naval Air Development Center , NADC, or simply, Johnsville.The
U.S. Navy purchased the grounds to establish this facility from theBrewster Aeronautical Corporation following its bankruptcy in the 1940s. The Brewster F2A Buffalo fighter ofBattle of Midway fame was produced by Brewster at this location. It was renamedJohnsville Naval Air Station . It was renamed a Naval Air Development Center after most of the work and personnel were transferred from thenaval laboratory atLakehurst, New Jersey .The facility played an important role in
Project Mercury . Since Johnsville possessed the world's largest centrifuge, capable of spinning a man to at least 16g, it was used for astronaut training. [citebook|title=The Mercury 13|last=Ackmann|first=Martha|page=57]The base was closed by the federal government
Base Realignment and Closure action in the 1990s and its operations were transferred toNaval Air Station Patuxent River in Lexington Park,Maryland .One of the key operations of this large, dome-shaped, underground facility was the engineering of Navigational Equipment, including gyroscopes, used for inertial navigation systems on military aircraft and submarines.
The 8,000 foot long runway at the base was able to accommodate the
C-5 Galaxy military cargo aircraft.It is now home to an industrial park, Warminster Community Park, a housing development, the new
Bucks County morgue and crime lab and Ann's Choice, a senior citizens' housing complex. "Stormtracker6", theDoppler weather radar forWPVI is also located there.Footnotes
References
External Links
* [http://www.vpnavy.com/nadc.html VPNavey - NADC]
* [http://www.everywheremag.com/articles/65 Everywhere Story: NADC]
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