page_title: Naval Air Station Cecil Field
section_title: Commands
hierarchical_section_title: Naval Air Station Cecil Field / Commands
caption_attribution_description: U.S. Navy Captain M.H. Kennedy, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60) leads a flight of McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet aircraft to Naval Air Station Cecil Field. The 21 aircraft from Cecil Field's own Strike Fighter Squadrons VFA-81 and VFA-83 were returning home from Saratoga´s last deployment to the Mediterranean Sea before decommissioning.
context_page_description: Naval Air Station Cecil Field or NAS Cecil Field was a United States Navy air base, located in Duval County, Florida. Prior to October 1999, NAS Cecil Field was the largest military base in terms of acreage in the Jacksonville, Florida area.
  NAS Cecil Field consisted of four separate facilities, the NAS Cecil Field Complex, Outlying Field Whitehouse, the Yellow Water Weapons Department and the Pinecastle [Pine Castle] Electronic Warfare Target Area / Warfare Range. Including nearly 2,500 acres at OLF Whitehouse, the NAS Cecil Field complex consisted of 22,939 acres; in addition, the base leased another 8,379 acres. By late 1999, approximately 17,200 acres were transferred to the civilian sector in the form of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority, while the remainder was transferred to Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
  As directed by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission and the U.S. Congress pursuant to BRAC 1993 and BRAC 1995, NAS Cecil Field was decommissioned as an active naval installation on 30 September 1999. It is now a civilian, public-use, joint civil-military airfield and industrial park known as Cecil Commerce Center and Cecil Airport.
context_section_description: Numerous commands operated from NAS Cecil Field over its lifetime.  
  The first weather observations were recorded at NAS Cecil Field in May 1949, with the first meteorological equipment installed in December of the same year. In those days, weather observing and forecasting services were provided by the Meteorology Division of the Air Operations Department. The "weather guessers" of Cecil Field first became a detachment, as Naval Weather Service Environmental Detachment (NWSED), Cecil Field when, in an effort to centralize control of support from the Navy's shore-based meteorological units, the CNO established the Office of the Naval Weather Service on 29 December 1965. In September 1979, almost 14 years later, the name changed to Naval Oceanography Command Detachment (NOCD), Cecil Field.
  Squadrons from NAS Cecil Field were aboard every Atlantic Fleet aircraft carrier deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. During this period, thirteen NAS Cecil Field pilots were listed as POW or MIA. The POW/MIA memorial located behind the base chapel has become the chosen site for many retiring officers and enlisted personnel to hold their retirement ceremonies. 
  The first Atlantic Fleet Squadrons to fly the A-7 Corsair II, the F/A-18 Hornet, the S-3A and S-3B Viking, and the ES-3A Shadow were all based at NAS Cecil Field.
  NAS Cecil Field squadrons again made history during the Gulf War, marking the final combat deployment for the A-7E Corsair II and the first combat operations for the S-3B Viking.
  During the 1980s and 1990s, in addition to the station leadership of NAS Cecil Field, the principal tenant commands were:
  Commander, Light Attack Wing ONE  / renamed Commander, Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic (December 1992)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 13 (VF-13)
  Attack Squadron 12 (VA-12) decommissioned as an A-7 Corsair II Light Attack Squadron
  Strike Fighter Squadron 15 (VFA-15)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 37 (VFA-37)
  Attack Squadron 46 (VA-46) {disestablished as an A-7 Corsair II light attack squadron, June 1991}
  Attack Squadron (([VA-66]])
  Attack Squadron 72 (VA-72) {disestablished as an A-7 Corsair II light attack squadron, June 1991}
  Strike Fighter Squadron 81 (VFA-81)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 82 (VFA-82)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 83 (VFA-83)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 86 (VFA-86)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 87 (VFA-87)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 105 (VFA-105)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 106 VFA-106 {F/A-18 Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron}
  Strike Fighter Squadron 131 VFA-131
  Strike Fighter Squadron 132 VFA-132 {disestablished as an F/A-18 Hornet strike fighter squadron, June 1992}
  Strike Fighter Squadron 136 (VFA-136)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 137 (VFA-137)
  Attack Squadron 174 (VA-174) {disestablished as an A-7 Corsair II light attack squadron/A-7 Fleet Replacement Squadron, June 1988}
  Strike Fighter Weapons School, Atlantic
  Commander, Air Antisubmarine Wing ONE / renamed Commander, Sea Strike Wing ONE (May 1987) / renamed Commander, Sea Control Wing Atlantic (October 1992)
  Sea Control Squadron 22 (VS-22)
  Sea Control Squadron 24 (VS-24)
  Sea Control Squadron 27 (VS-27) {disestablished as an S-3 Viking sea control squadron/S-3 Fleet Replacement Squadron, September 1994}
  Sea Control Squadron 28 (VS-28)
  Sea Control Squadron 30 (VS-30)
  Sea Control Squadron 31 (VS-31)
  Sea Control Squadron 32 (VS-32)
  Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 6 (VQ-6)
  Commander, Carrier Air Wing THREE (CVW-3)
  Commander, Carrier Air Wing SIX (CVW-6) {disestablished as a carrier air wing, April 1993}
  Commander, Carrier Air Wing SEVENTEEN (CVW-17)
  Commander, Carrier Air Wing Reserve TWENTY (CVWR-20)
  Strike Fighter Squadron 203 (VFA-203); based at NAS Cecil Field
  Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 142 (VMFA-142); based at NAS Cecil Field
  other CVWR-20 squadrons based at NAS Atlanta, NAS Dallas (later NAS JRB Fort Worth), NAS New Orleans, NAS Norfolk and NAF Washington
  Commanding Officer, Marine Aviation Training Support Group (MATSG) Cecil Field
  Naval Air Reserve Jacksonville, Detachment NAS Cecil Field
  Naval Branch Medical Clinic, Cecil Field
  Naval Air Maintenance Training Detachment
  Naval 
caption: F/A-18 Hornets from CVW-17 returning to NAS Cecil Field, 1994.
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