Naval Air Station Whidbey Island
U.S. Navy airbase
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) (IATA: NUW, ICAO: KNUW, FAA LID: NUW) is a naval air station of the United States Navy located on two pieces of land near Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, in Island County, Washington.
The main portion of the base, Ault Field, is about three miles north of Oak Harbor. The other section, called the Seaplane base for the PBY Catalina flying boats once based there, holds most of the island's Navy housing as well as the air station's main Navy Exchange and DeCA Commissary. The NASWI commanding officer also has command of a satellite airfield, Naval Outlying Landing Field (NOLF) Coupeville, on central Whidbey Island at 48°11′24″N 122°37′48″W, roughly nine miles south of Ault Field. Primarily used for Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) by carrier-based jets, this field has no permanently assigned personnel.
NASWI supports the EA-18G Growler, MH-60S Seahawk, P-8 Poseidon, and C-40 Clipper aircraft.
History
1940s
On 17 January 1941, almost 11 months before the United States entered World War II, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations asked the Commandant of the 13th Naval District to find a location to re-arm and refuel U.S. Navy patrol planes defending Puget Sound. Lake Ozette, Indian Island, Keystone Harbor, Penn Cove and Oak Harbor were considered and rejected because of mountainous terrain, bluff shore front, inaccessibility, the absence of sufficient beaches, and lee shores. Within ten days, the commanding officer of Naval Air Station Seattle recommended the site of Saratoga Passage on the shores of Crescent Harbor and Forbes Point as a base suitable for seaplane takeoffs and landings under instrument conditions. A narrow strip of land tied Oak Harbor to what is now Maylor's Point Capehart Housing.
The public source identifies “Naval Air Station Whidbey Island” as u.S. Navy airbase. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Naval, Station and Whidbey.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q224558. VIAF identifies the subject as 315526693. Authority coordinates are 48.352, -122.656. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941.
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This entry incorporates text from “Naval Air Station Whidbey Island” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.