Mustin Field Mustin Field ( ICAO code MUV ) , officially the Henry C . Mustin Naval Air Facility , is a former military airfield located at the United States Navy Naval Aircraft Factory on board the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . It was in service from 1926 to 1963 . History . On 27 July 1917 , Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approved the development of a Naval Aircraft Factory as a Navy - owned aircraft design , production and evaluation facility . The factory opened 17 November 1917 . Production of H - 16 and MF flying boats began in 1918 . Following the Great War , " the factory ' s role was altered from production - focused to evaluation of different aircraft designs , with its production being limited to mainly prototype and small production lots of aircraft . " As the Navy introduced progressively more land based aircraft in the 1920s , the need for a landing field at the Naval Aircraft Factory grew , under the control of the Fourth Naval District . In 1926 the eastern end of the Back Channel of League Island in the Delaware River was landfilled to create space for flight operations , after the training school in Rockaway , New York , was closed . League Island ceased to be one with this change , the western end of Back Channel becoming the Reserve Basin for the Navy Yard , holding a portion of the U . S . Navy reserve fleets . The aerodrome was established as Naval Air Facility Mustin Field on 17 September 1926 , in honor of Captain Henry C . Mustin , Navy Air Pilot No . 3 , and Naval Aviator No . 11 , who recorded the first catapult launch from a moving vessel on 5 November 1915 when he flew off of USS " North Carolina " in a Curtiss Model AB - 2 . The station consisted of 53 enlisted , 16 officers , four seaplanes and seven landplanes . Throughout the 1930s , the field hosted a variety of test operations , conducted by experimental test squadron VX - 3D4 . The Naval Aircraft Factory produced 997 N3N primary training biplanes from 1935 to 1942 . The Status of Naval Aircraft , dated June 1937 , lists the following as assigned at the Naval Aircraft Factory : 1 XRK - 1 , 2 O2U - 3 , 1 XO4U - 2 , 1 XO5U - 1 , 1 SU - 1 , 2 SU - 2 , 1 T4M - 1 , and 1 NT - 1 . The following are listed for NAF Repair , Storage and Test : 1 O2U - 2 ; 4 SOC - 2 for USS " Philadelphia " ; 1 XSOE - 1 ; 1 XSO2C - 1 for Anacostia ; 1 XSBC - 3 for catapult test ; 2 SU - 1 for NAF Operations ; one FF - 2 for vibration test and then transfer to NRAB Kansas City ; 1 XFD - 1 for Norfolk ; 2 BF2C - 1 , 1 for vibration test , 1 for disposition ; 1 XF3F - 2 for Anacostia ; 1 BG - 1 for Norfolk ; 1 BM - 2 for Naval Operations ; 1 TG - 2 for Anacostia ; 1 NS - 1 for vibration tests ; 4 NT - 1 ; 2 N2Y - 1 ; 1 XN3N - 1 for special flight tests . In 1939 the base was redesignated Naval Reserve Air Base Mustin Field and became a primary flight training unit . World War II . With the creation of NAS Patuxent River , Maryland , in 1942 , testing was consolidated there that had been previously done at several locations , including the Naval Aircraft Factory , the U . S . Naval Proving Ground at Dahlgren , Virginia , Naval Air Station Norfolk , Virginia , the Washington Navy Yard , and Naval Air Station Anacostia , both in Washington , D . C . Finding that the worldwide demand for regular production aircraft from the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation outstripped the firm ' s capacity , the U . S . Navy instead ordered the Naval Air Facility to begin production of its own version of the aircraft , which became known as the PBN - 1 Nomad . " Eventually producing 156 of the type by war ’ s end , mainly for lend - lease to the Soviet Union , the Naval Air Facility also built well over 400 other aircraft of various types for use by US Forces by 1945 . Even with such heavy production taking place , the Naval Air Facility maintained its busy schedule of aircraft evaluation on numerous different varieties of aircraft built for US Navy service , and even conducted extensive research into converting the famed P - 51 Mustang into a carrier - capable aircraft . " After satellite fields were added in 1942 due to the pace of instruction , one , Pitcairn Airfield , was to become the replacement for NRAB Mustin on 1 January 1943 , when it was redesignated NAS Hatboro , Pennsylvania . The NRAB was moved to the new air station , but was soon renamed when its mailing address was moved to a new post office at Willow Grove , Pennsylvania . Mustin Field was redesignated an Naval Auxiliary Air Station for flight testing with the Philadelphia Naval Aircraft Factory on 20 July 1943 . The Naval Aircraft Factory was redesignated the Naval Air Material Center in 1943 . " At the end of the war construction program , the Naval Air Material Center occupied 500 acres adjacent to the Philadelphia Navy Yard , and 369 acres at the modification unit at Johnsville . Seven hangars , including two seaplane hangars , three bituminous runways , two seaplane ramps , a quarter of a million square yards of concrete and composite aircraft parking as well as nearly a hundred buildings had been constructed . " It was formally disestablished on 7 October 1958 . Closing . Increased air traffic using near - by Philadelphia International Airport began to severely hinder operations at the Naval Air Facility by the 1960s , and by late 1962 the majority of commands and research groups which occupied the base had been relocated to NAS Lakehurst , New Jersey . " The Navy officially closed the Henry C . Mustin Naval Air Facility in 1963 and signed the land over to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard , which constructed housing on a portion of the former airfield for yard workers but left much of the land unused . After the closing of the shipyard in 1995 , all Naval activity at the site ceased and the land was given to the city of Philadelphia . " Several of the Naval Air Facility ’ s buildings have been repurposed and much of the land is slated for redevelopment .