Naval Air Station Olathe Naval Air Station Olathe is a former United States Navy base located in Gardner , Kansas . On its grounds at one point was Olathe Air Force Station . After it was closed , it was redeveloped into New Century AirCenter . History . Navy use . The airport opened as Naval Air Station Olathe on October 1 , 1942 and was referred locally as the Gardner , Kansas Navy Base because it was to be used for the Naval Air Transport Service ( NATS ) and Naval Air Primary Training Command ( NAPTC ) which had been operating out of Fairfax Airport . Future astronaut John Glenn was in the first class to be trained at the base and he was to make his first solo flight in a military plane from the base . Glenn described the airport in its early days : After World War II , NAS Olathe was used for flight operations by units of the Naval Air Reserve and Marine Air Reserve , as well as a Naval Air Technical Training Center Olathe ( NATTC Olathe ) , a training center for active duty USN and USMC enlisted personnel . During the Korean War , NAS Olathe - based Naval Reserve Fighter Squadron 774 ( VF 774 ) was recalled to active duty for two years , including six months of action aboard the aircraft carrier USS Boxer ( CV - 21 ) . NAS Olathe ' s runways were lengthened in 1951 to accept the first tactical jets , North American FJ - 1 Fury s , to be based at NAS Olathe . By 1954 , a Jet Transition Training Unit ( JTTU ) was established at NAS Olathe for propeller pilots transitioning to jet aircraft . F4D Skyray fighters were later operated at NAS Olathe by Naval Air Reserve and Marine Air Reserve squadrons until 1966 . World War II hero , then - Captain , later Vice Admiral , James H . Flatley , Jr . , commanded NAS Olathe for about a year . The base was renamed NAS Olathe ( Flatley Field ) for him in 1962 . For over 20 years , Naval Air Reservists and Marine Air Reservists from across the Midwest honed their skills and maintained their readiness with squadrons and support units at NAS Olathe . However , budgetary pressures of the Vietnam War forced NAS Olathe to close . The base was decommissioned on October 29 , 1969 and the air station was officially closed in July 1970 with the understanding that the Navy could retain thirteen buildings for non - flying Naval Reserve aviation programs as Naval Air Reserve Center Olathe . The airport was acquired by Johnson County in 1973 and renamed Johnson County Industrial Airport to reflect a new mission of being an industrial park ( including the Fred Allenbrand Criminal Justice Complex for Johnson County ) . On September 28 , 1994 the name was changed to New Century AirCenter so as not to minimize its aviation component . In 1995 , the Base Realignment and Closure Commission ( BRAC ) voted to close NAVAIRESCEN Olathe and consolidate its units and functions at other Naval Air Reserve activities , with all Navy activities ceasing in 1996 . The base was featured in a segment on the A & E Network entitled “ Haunted America ” in which it is claimed the base is the site of paranormal activity after a pilot crashed into an aircraft hangar next to the airport control tower in the 1950s . Air Force use . From 1950 to 1955 , the Air Force Reserve ' s 442d Troop Carrier Wing was temporarily based at NAS Olathe prior to its relocation to Grandview Airport , Missouri , later renamed Richards - Gebaur AFB . In 1951 , the United States Air Force ' s Air Defense Command selected NAS Olathe as a site for one of twenty - eight radar stations built as part of the second segment of the permanent ADC general radar surveillance network for the United States . Prompted by the start of the Korean War , on July 11 , 1950 , the Secretary of the Air Force asked the Secretary of Defense for approval to expedite construction of the second segment of the permanent network . The NAS Olathe site was to provide air defense radar coverage of the Kansas City area . Receiving the Defense Secretary ’ s approval on July 21 , the Air Force directed the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with construction of a radar station on the western part of the ground station , about a mile from the runway and ramp / hangars being used by the Navy . Additional housing units were also constructed at NAS Olathe to accommodate the Air Force personnel .