Located on the northern edge of the city of New Orleans on the shores of Lake Ponchartrain. This site was in use from 1941 to 1957 at which time the entire air station was moved to a new site located 15 miles south of New Orleans. The lakefront air station was turned over to the city and is the present site of the University of New Orleans.
In the fall of 1940, the Navy began improving its primary flight training facilities by building up its system of Naval Reserve air bases. Construction was initiated at three new reserve air bases at Dallas, Atlanta, and New Orleans. Facilities at the three air stations were identical, including a steel hangar, barracks for 100 cadets, a small assembly and repair shop and storage for 50,000 gallons of fuel. In 1945, the three stations had accommodations for 8,100 personnel.
By January 1942, a rapid expansion of the Naval Reserve Air Base (NRAB) New Orleans was under way. Two million dollars of additional construction funds were provided for two barracks, a ground school and an auditorium. By May of that year, the base possessed 27 N3N-3 (Yellow Peril) primary trainers and 21 instructors.
NRAB New Orleans began to receive prospective Naval Aviation Cadets who had been chosen by selection boards located near the training bases. Prospective cadets who qualified, enlisted as seaman second class (class V-5, aviation) in the Naval Reserve and reported to one of the 16 Naval Reserve Air Bases for preliminary training.
The prospective cadets received approximately 10 hours of dual instruction and one hour of solo time. The balance of the 30-day course was devoted to ground school and military training. Those students who demonstrated an aptitude were then selected for further pilot training.
In November 1942, the New Orleans installation was designated a Naval Air Station (NAS) and assumed the role of a Primary Training Base for student naval aviators. By the end of 1943, the student input stopped and the primary mission of the base was the training of flight instructors. By July of 1946, the air station assumed the mission of training Navy and Marine Corps Air Reservists. In April 1947, the base was training 350 officers, 600 enlisted men and 50 Marines. Squadrons included a light carrier squadron, two fleet maintenance squadrons, a carrier escort squadron and a Marine fighter squadron.
In July 1950, a New Orleans based reserve squadron, Fighter Squadron 821 (VF-821), was called to active duty two months after hostilities began in Korea. Following that cruise, the squadron returned to the U.S. and transitioned to F-9 Panthers. VF-821 then deployed again to Korea.
The squadron flew 1,626 missions in the Korean Combat Zone without losing a single aircraft. This was a remarkable feat considering that more than 50 percent of the missions were conducted as flak suppression sorties.
By the late 1940’s, it was apparent that the lakefront site of the air station would soon be inadequate. Urban growth in the area of the air station made future jet operations unfeasible.
Naval Air Station. New Orleans
N2S-3's
N2S-3's over New Orleans, 1944-45
Cmd. Short, Cmd. Jenkin. Robert Taylor, Naval Air Station, New Orleans, 1944-45
A flight of BT-13's
Lightning strike over airfield, Naval Air Station, New Orleans, 1944-45