January 22, 2022 - Jacksonville Naval Air Station

We drove up to Orange Park to visit some old friends.  While there, we stopped by to visit the house we lived in for two years, while I was doing my department head tour in VP-45.

We rented this house at the time.  It was the first time we had not lived in base housing.  The house was great: large with low rent ($1,000) and most of all, a pool in the backyard!
   
Then we drove over to Naval Air Station Jacksonville.  I hadn't been on the base in 20+ years.
 
We drove down Yorktown Avenue, the main drag, which is parallel to the main runway.  All the big hangars are accessible from this road.
 
 
   

We drove up Yorktown to the end then made a U-turn and came back down, heading due west.  Hangar 1000, named after Mr. P-3, Jay Beasley, is the hangar I remember.  It's in the shape of a hexagon.  In the early 90s, all the Jax P-3 squadrons, including the RAG, VP-30, operated out of this hangar.   But now it is the home of the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, whatever that is.  Actually, a quick search of the internet reveals that it is a aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul depot-level facility.

Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) is the largest tenant command aboard Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fl., with several offsite locations. Established in 1940, the facilities at FRCSE have turned out almost every type of Navy aircraft - fighter and attack planes, patrol, antisubmarine, reconnaissance, transport, trainer, special configuration and helicopters. The overall workload for FRCSE has expanded to include the rework of engines, components, and ground support equipment, plus other support functions vital to the Fleet.  FRCSE employs approximately 5,000 civilian, military and contract workers.

Who knew?

 
   
A better look at one of the six sides of the Jay Beasley Hangar.
   
Passing by some Navy maritime patrol aircraft.  Now, all the 12 active-duty patrol squadrons are flying the P-8 Poseidons.  Essentially, a modified 737 jet airliner.  I was surprised to see a couple of old P-3 Orions parked on the ramp. 
   

Continuing west along Yorktown Ave.  Later, I looked at an aerial picture of NAS Jacksonville from the early 90s, and saw there was nothing -- no buildings, hangars or parking lots to the west of the Jay Beasley hangar. 

So everything coming up on the right was put in after I left, probably as part of the introduction of the new P-8 Poseidons to the fleet.
   
This hangar is new to me.  It is the home of the Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS, better known as the RAG):  VP-30.  I'm guessing the new P-8s didn't fit in the Jay Beasley hangar.  So they had to build new hangars.
   
Coming up on the right is another hangar which is new (to me).
   

This huge hangar houses all the fleet squadrons.  Just right of center is a sign for my old squadron:  VP-45.  The Pelicans!

The Wing, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing Elevent, also works out of this hangar.
   
Also new to me, a static aircraft display area -- Heritage Park -- at the end of Yorktown Avenue, just inside the main gate.
 
Other than the new hangars, Heritage Park, and new locations for the Exchange and Commisary, pretty much everything else about NAX Jax was as I remembered it.  We drove by the Navy Lodge, Officers Club, Golf Course, BOQ and Naval Hospital (where our youngest daughter was born).  Brings back memories.  Glad we stopped.
   
Visiting our friends Jack and Amy.  Jack and I are 19th Company shipmates from the Naval Academy Class of 1981.
   
Living it up at a Fish Camp in Orange Park!
   
 
   
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