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Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress

airport in Virginia, United States of America

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ3015527
Source-derived summary

Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress (ICAO: KNFE, FAA LID: NFE) is a military use airport located in Chesapeake, Virginia. This military airport is owned by the U.S. Navy and is under the operational control of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. The airfield primarily supports day and night Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) operations by US Navy and US Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet, and US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, E-2 Hawkeye and C-2 Greyhound aircraft based in Virginia and the Carolinas.

Although many U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, this airport is assigned NFE by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA.

Facilities

Fentress NALF has one operational runway designated Runway 5/23 with an asphalt surface measuring 8,004 by 175 feet (2,440 x 53 m). Four additional shorter paved runways dating from the airfield's original construction during World War II are located in the airfield's northern quadrant. These additional runways are closed to aircraft.

On 5 July 2011, it was announced that NALF Fentress would close in January 2012 for 9 months for major repairs. Touch and go maneuvers would move to Naval Air Station Oceana and Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field. As of 15 October 2012 the airfield was reopened.

Encroachment issues

At the end of June 2014 the Chesapeake City Council voted unanimously to use city and state funds, who plan to put up about $1 million each, to buy property near the Fentress Naval airport in order to prevent encroachment onto the airfield.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress” as airport in Virginia, United States of America. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Naval, Auxiliary and Landing.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2011, 2012, 2014—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Naval, Auxiliary and Landing providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress”, the useful work is to connect “airport in Virginia, United States of America” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3015527. The first chronological checks are 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress primary sources, Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress archive and Naval research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress” 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.