Naval Air Station Grosse Ile Naval Air Station Grosse Ile was a Naval air station located on the southern tip of Grosse Ile , Michigan . It operated from 1927 until late 1969 , and is now a township airport . During World War II NASGI was one of the largest primary flight training stations for Naval aviators , and RAF pilots . Among the many thousands of Navy pilots who began their careers at NASGI were former President George H . W . Bush , and game show host Bob Barker . Early years . Naval Air Station Grosse Ile was commissioned 7 September 1929 as Naval Reserve Air Base Grosse Ile at Grosse Ile , Michigan . Though that was the official beginning , the air station traces its roots back to July 1925 when four US Naval reservists started an aviation unit near Detroit . At first they had no aircraft , and for over a year had to operate using only classroom instruction . The first aircraft assigned to the Detroit Naval Air Reserves was a single Consolidated NY - 1 , and would remain their sole aircraft for another year . The base at Grosse Ile began with a single tin hangar floated down the Detroit River from the unit ' s former home near downtown Detroit . By 1927 a large hangar had been built on Olds Bay at the southern tip of the island for use by Navy seaplanes . By 1935 the Navy had acquired all the property formerly owned by The Detroit Aircraft Corporation and a Curtiss - Wright flying school , and had occupied the former Curtiss - Wright hangar , which became the base ' s primary hangar . ZMC - 2 . The airship ZMC - 2 , the Navy ' s only all - metal airship , was constructed on the site from 1925 to 1929 by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation . The hangar where the airship was constructed measured 120 ' high , 120 ' wide and 180 ' long , and remained the largest structure on the base until it was disassembled in 1960 , and its roof reused in the construction of a bowling alley in nearby Trenton , Michigan . 1930s . During the depression money was hard to come by , but NRAB Grosse Ile , MI continued to grow , many of its reservist drilling without pay . By the end of 1930 the first Marine unit had been commissioned and based at Grosse Ile . World War II . World War II would come only 30 years after the Navy had acquired its first aircraft and 14 years after naval aviation had come to Grosse Ile , it would face a war that would change the world and base forever . During the war over 5 , 000 pilots received training at Grosse Ile , mostly Navy cadets , along with over a thousand British RAF pilot trainees . With this rapid expansion the base gained the new designation of Naval Air Station . The primary aircraft stationed at Naval Air Station Grosse Ile during the war years were Consolidated PBY Catalina , Vought F4U Corsairs , Curtiss SB2C Helldiver s , and Grumman TBM Avenger s . Training was conducted using SNJ , and Boeing Stearman . Immediately following the end of WWII the base was equipped with several squadrons of the huge Martin AM Mauler s , and for a short time six McDonnell FH - 1 Phantom s , the only jets ever based on the island . Postwar . After the war the base ' s runways were too short for use by the new generation of Navy jet fighters , and efforts to expand their lengths were met with disapproval by township citizens , so in the 1950s the base would see use as an ASW training base , which would continue until the base closed . During this time the base was principally supplied with A - 1 Skyraider s , S2F anti - submarine warfare aircraft , as well as Marine Corps Reserve R4Q and R5D cargo aircraft . Nike site D - 51 . In 1956 the Army came to NASGI . A Nike site designated D - 51 was built on the base , armed with three Nike Ajax SAM ' s to defend Detroit against Soviet strategic bombers . The Nike site was operated by U . S . Army personnel who were housed and fed alongside the Navy crews . The Nike site closed in 1963 , and was never upgraded to the nuclear - armed Nike Hercules . The Nike missile site is now a conservation area and bird sanctuary controlled by the U . S . Fish & Wildlife Services . Helicopters . The base would also receive a small number of helicopters in the late 1950s , beginning with the Piasecki H - 25 , also known as the HUP - 1 . Later the crews converted to the larger HSS - 1 Seabat . With no Coast Guard station nearby , the helicopters were a highly useful addition to NASGI , and were soon earning their keep performing rescue operations for stranded boaters on Lake Erie and along the Detroit River . On one occasion the base ' s HUP - 1 ' s retrieved 17 fishermen stranded on an ice flow during a snowstorm . 1960s . The air station entered the 1960s on a installation training over 2 , 000 Naval and Marine Reservists . For the Navy , the principal aircraft remained the A - 1 Skyraider and S - 2 Tracker , while the Marines converted to the OV - 10 Bronco . Many of the men stationed at Naval Air Station Grosse Ile would serve in Vietnam . On 1 October 1960 , future Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld , who was a Naval Aviator and a Lieutenant in the Naval Reserve , was designated as an aircraft commander with Air Antisubmarine Squadron 731 ( VS - 731 ) , where he flew the S2F Tracker . The base closed in the fall of 1969 , with its function and squadrons being moved to the newly established Naval Air Facility Detroit , located north of the city of Detroit as a tenant organization at what was then Selfridge Air Force Base , now Selfridge Air National Guard Base . Grosse Ile Township Airport . Immediately following its closing the base was transformed into the Grosse Ile Municipal Airport . There are still some signs of the old naval air station , with the former Hangar 1 now serving as the Township Hall and offices . A museum is located in the township offices and a memorial garden dedicated to the old base and the men and women that served there is located on the old flight line ramp adjacent to Hangar 1 . The original Curtiss - Wright flying school hangar still remains and is used to house civilian aircraft and a dance studio . Even the original tin hangar floated down the Detroit River in 1927 still stands , though it ' s on land controlled by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and not accessible to the public . As of 2011 , the airport was averaging 24 , 000 takeoffs and landings a year .