Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, also known as Truax Field, is a naval base located six miles (10 km) southeast of the central business district (CBD) of Corpus Christi, in Nueces County, Texas, USA.
CORPUS CHRISTI NAVAL AIR STATION/TRUAX FIELD HISTORY
A naval air station for Corpus Christi had been proposed since the mid-1930s, and the city’s congressman, Richard M. Kleberg, supported it. But it remained a low priority construction project for the U.S. Navy as late as January 9, 1940. (The Kleberg family and Roy Miller both supported Vice President John Nance Garner’s quest for the 1940 presidential nomination.) Rep. Lyndon B. Johnson made himself a key Texas ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s bid for a third term, and the White House told the Navy Department to consult Johnson, and heed his advice, on Navy contracts in Texas. By February 1940, the project was on the Navy’s preferred list. Brown & Root, a Houston firm, shared the construction contract with another New Deal supporter, Henry Kaiser; the president personally signed the (first) cost plus fixed fee contract June 13, 1940. The Roosevelt campaign in Texas no longer had a shortage of cash.
The official step leading to the construction of the Naval Air Station was initiated by the 75th United States Congress in 1938. A board found that a lack of training facilities capable of meeting an emergency demand for pilots constituted a grave situation. They recommended the establishment of a second air training station, and further, that it be located on Corpus Christi Bay. NAS Corpus Christi was commissioned by its first Commanding Officer, CAPT Alva Berhard, on March 12, 1941. The first flight training started on May 5, 1941.
Former President George H.W. Bush was in the third graduating class, June 1943, and the youngest pilot ever to graduate. NAS Corpus Christi also was home to the Blue Angels from 1951-1954. It also served as a Project Mercury Tracking station in the early 1960s.
A T-34C aircraft with two crewmen, Lieutenant John Joseph Houston, 29, of Houston, and Lieutenant Bret Travis Miller, 30, of East Troy, Wisconsin, from VT-28 on a training mission disappeared on October 28, 2009. Bad weather had initially hampered the subsequent search for the aircraft and crew. Unfortunately both pilots were found dead and were buried with full military honors.
CORPUS CHRISTI NAVAL AIR STATION/TRUAX FIELD LOCATION
CORPUS CHRISTI NAVAL AIR STATION/TRUAX FIELD FACTS
ICAO/IATA: KNGP/NGP
Lat: 27°41′33″N
Long: 97°17′28″W
Runway length available: 04/22 4997×200 ft. :: 13R/31L 8003×200 ft. :: 13L/31R 4998×200 ft. :: 17/35 5003×200 ft.
