Naval Air Station (NAS) Dallas was decommissioned 26 September 1998. As part of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission’s decision of 1993. It was relocated to the previous site of Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas. The new base is named NAS Fort Worth, Joint Reserve Base (JRB) at Carswell.
As a Joint Reserve Base, they are home to a variety of Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army and Texas Air National Guard units. It was established on October 1, 1994 and was the first Joint Reserve Base in the country. It’s mission is to provide unsurpassed support and quality training for our Reserve and Guard “war fighters” in all branches of the Armed Services. The Navy Fort Worth “team” ensures reservists receive quality training in preparation for mobilization readiness; here to serve the reservists, tenants, and surrounding communities while accomplishing its primary purpose of defense readiness for America.
Location
Fort Worth is part of the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex. NAS Ft Worth is located seven miles North/Northwest of downtown Ft. Worth.
Joint Base History
Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base was first known as Tarrant Field in 1932, but is mostly known as Carswell Air Force Base, a name it held from 1948 to 1993. The base is named after Medal of Honor Recipient and Texan, Major Horace S. Carswell, Jr. The site adjacent to the field was selected in 1941 as a Consolidated Aircraft factory for the production of B-24 Liberator bombers, that site is now Lockheed Martin; the manufacturer of the F-35 Lightning II.
Over the years, the base’s overall mission changed as the aircraft factory rolled out new models. After WWII, the base became one of the few newly-formed Strategic Air Command, or SAC bases. Over the years Carswell saw its bomb wings transition through a number of bombers, like the B-36 Peacemaker, B-52 Stratofortress and the B-58 Hustler.
During the government’s 1991 Base Realignment and Closure announcements, Carswell AFB was recommended for closure. By September, 1993, the base was closed. The base became a Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in October of 1994, and relocated numerous Navy Reserve, Marine Corps, Air Force and Air National Guard commands to the facility.
Under the operational command of the Commander, Naval Installations, NAS Fort Worth JRB is a joint defense facility which plays a pivotal role in the training and equipping of air crews and aviation ground support personnel.
The installation is located within the city limits of Fort Worth, Texas. Fort Worth is part of Dallas/Fort Worth. The DFW Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in North Central Texas. Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas and the 19th-largest in the United States. The city is also large in geographic area, as it covers almost 300 square miles. NAS JRB Fort Worth is located seven miles North/Northwest of downtown Fort Worth.
The Mission and Vision of NAS Fort Worth JRB
To provide joint training capabilities and resources to enable War Fighter readiness while sustaining personnel and families’ needs, future compatibility and a culture of safety.
Command Vision
Through teamwork, ingenuity and dedication, we will continuously improve our support to the War Fighter and the nation.
History of Dallas NAS
The city of Dallas established the Naval Air Station in August 1929. It was a shore installation of the commander of Naval Air Reserve Forces used as a training field for reserve pilots. It was named Hensley Field after Major William N. Hensley. Hensley was the first trans-Atlantic dirigible crossing in 1919 and was a flying instructor near Dallas in the early 1920s.
The site was leased to the United States Army by the city of Dallas for twenty years for $1.00 a year, and the field became the Air Corps Reserve Base in the Eighth Corps Area. The lease was extended to forty years at the beginning of World War II. The United States Navy began maintaining operations there in March 1941 and on May 15 of that year established a naval reserve training base on 160 acres adjacent to Hensley Field. On October 8, 1941, Maj. Thomas D. Ferguson, commander at the field, was made control officer for the Middle West Area of the United States, and on December 23, 1941, Hensley became headquarters of the Midwest Area of the Air Corps Ferrying Command. It served as such until the ferry command became the Fifth Ferrying Group and was so expanded that it had to be moved to Love Field.
The installation became Naval Air Station, Dallas, on January 1, 1943. Its initial mission was to provide primary flight training for naval, marine, and coast guard cadets. Enlisted personnel for aviation duty with the fleet were also trained there, and at one time a number of Free French aviators received flight training at NAS Dallas. During World War II the base also served as a radial engine repair station. Thousands of engines were overhauled there. NAS Dallas handled all air traffic for the adjacent North American Aircraft Company plant. It was also the flight test facility and the receiving station for 4,400 SNJ (Texan) training aircraft manufactured at that plant.
In early 1946 Congress appropriated funds to establish a naval reserve training program at NAS Dallas, and by March of that year the reserves had taken over the field. The United States Marine Air Reserve Training Command also established itself there at that time. Reservists from Texas, Oklahoma, and eastern New Mexico continued to train at NAS Dallas. Hensley Field passed from the command of the Air Force to that of the Navy on September 30, 1949, but the field continued to serve as an air force reserve training center. The air force conducted air operations for its reservists, for the air national guard, and for the USAF Civil Patrol regional office. In 1950 the naval reserve squadron stationed at NAS Dallas was the first air reserve squadron to be called to active service in the Korean War.
The station continued to grow with the installation of new and longer runways. Jet aircraft were assigned to NAS Dallas in 1952. In 1963 the base was the first one to fly the F8 Crusader. The 1980s brought to the installation some of the nation’s most sophisticated aircraft, including the F-14 (Tomcat) and the C-9B. By 1990 there were 2,057 active-duty personnel on the base, with 6,789 reservists assigned to the station. The total economic impact of the base by then was almost $76 million. By the following year, more than 1,700 soldiers, sailors, and marines had been deployed from the base to the Persian Gulf.
In response to the recommendations of the 1993 Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC-93) and to legislative requirements of the 1990 Base Realignment and Closure Act (Pub. L. 101-510), NAS Dallas, Texas was closed and the property to be made available for disposal and reuse. Some of the NAS Dallas property was owned by the Navy; the remaining portion is leased to the US Government by the City of Dallas, and was returned to the city in accordance with the lease agreement.