NAVAL AIR STATION CECIL FIELD, A LOOK BACK.

from Summer 2022 Liberty Life

by libertylifemedia

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Pro-Military History Naval Air Station Cecil Field, A Look Back

Throughout its history, the former Master Jet Base served naval aviation well.

by Glenn Cook

Cecil Field’s former front gate sign. (POW/MIAMemorial.Org)

The Liberty Coast is home to a diverse collection of active military installations serving the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Florida Air National Guard, Florida National Guard, even the Customs and Border Patrol.

Glenn Cook, a former lieutenant commander and naval aviator, shares some of Cecil Field’s impact and history, the former Navy Air Base on the far west side of Duval County that closed in 1999. The former Cecil Field property is now the Cecil Airport, Cecil Spaceport and the Cecil Commerce Center.

It’s fitting to look back at Cecil’s significant military impact as a former Master Jet Base as the current facilities take off as a focal point of logistics, aerospace development and space operations.” Today, as you enter the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field, you are more likely to hear the sound of the wind blowing through the tall pine trees rather than the roar of jet engines. It wasn’t always this way. When I first stepped foot onto the Master The Chapel Of The High-Speed Pass at the former NAS Cecil Field. (POW/MIAMemorial.Org) Jet Base in 1980, the mighty sound of jet power on the ground and overhead filled the air. It was an exciting time to be a naval aviator assigned at one of America’s premier military bases – Naval Air Station Cecil Field.

Cecil served as the last stop for Navy and Marine Corps pilots before their tours in the Atlantic or Pacific fleets. When I reported aboard VS-31, “NAS Cecil” was the most extensive acreage-wise military base in Jacksonville. Throughout its history, the land served naval aviation well. After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Fidel Castro was seeking a way to protect Cuba from another American attack. Operation Blue Moon saw Cecil-based RF-8 Crusaders, equipped with high-tech panoramic cameras, flying low-level missions over the new missile installations in Cuba. The planes captured enough aerial evidence of the nuclear missile launch installations to allow Ambassador Adlai Stevenson to address the United Nations and confront the Soviets about their promise that no missiles were there. The crisis ended with the removal of the missiles from both Cuba and Turkey. As the 1960s rolled on, a conflict in Southeast Asia arose, and Cecil continued to play an essential role in America’s defense. Squadrons flying the A-4 Skyhawk and A-7 Corsair routinely flew combat missions from aircraft carriers off the shores of Vietnam. In 1967, a young Lieutenant John McCain, attached to VA-76 and flying from the USS Oriskany, was shot down and held captive for five-and-a-half years in Hanoi. Besides McCain, thirteen other Cecil Field-based pilots became POWs or MIA during the Southeast Asia war. As a condition of the Paris Peace Accords signed in 1973, North Vietnam released the POWs, ending America’s involvement in the conflict.

During the late 1970s, the S-3 Viking appeared at Cecil Field. The Viking was a jet-powered Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) aircraft that combined searchand-destroy capabilities into a single carrier-based platform. In the mid-1980s, the F-18 Hornet replaced the A-7 at Cecil. Since their arrival, the Vikings and Hornets have participated in just about every major world event, from Granada to Iraq and Afghanistan. In January 1991, the Gulf War, in reaction to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait began. The impact of the war was immediately felt at Cecil as the first reported casualty was a Jacksonville resident, FSU graduate and Cecil Field-based aviator, Michael “Scott” Speicher. Then Navy Lieutenant Commander Speicher’s F/A18 was shot down during his mission to suppress enemy radars in advance of air raids. His true fate and impactful odyssey were not known until 2009 when his remains were located and returned to Jacksonville.

NAS Cecil Field has indeed responded over the years to its nation’s calls. Today, although it now serves in different capacities, Cecil Field still stands as a reminder of our nation’s proud military history and a source of pride for all that served there.

Although not as active as it once was, the now Cecil Airport and Spaceport holds on to the remnants of aviation and provides a home for the National Guard, Coast Guard, Homeland Security and aerospace firms like Boeing and Northrop Grumman, among others. From the remnants of the former base, new institutions and organizations are arising. Most notably is the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum. The memorial and museum greatly expand upon the simple ‘Hero’s Walk’ to remember the aviators lost during the Vietnam and Desert Shield/Storm eras. It pays tribute and remembrance to the more than 140,000 Americans that are prisoners of war or missing in action. The museum, like Cecil Field, will capture the essence of the energy and sacrifice of the men and women that served our nation.

Author. Glenn Cook served as a Naval Aviator for ten years and then flew as an airline pilot for 34 years, retiring as a captain on the Boeing 777. He and his wife, Wendy, live in Jekyll Island, Georgia. Full Story. Scan the QR code to read Glenn’s full reflections about Cecil’s past, including its secret nuclear weapons storage facility, the emerging Spaceport and many local Veteran leaders who were stationed at Cecil.