Naval Air Station Lee Field

History of Naval Air Station Lee Field

Naval Air Station Lee Field was a U.S. Navy air base established on September 11, 1940, in Green Cove Springs, Florida, to support World War II efforts. Situated along the St. Johns River in Clay County, the base spanned 1,560 acres. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps utilized the facility to train pilots on four 5,000-foot asphalt runways. The Grumman F6F Hellcat was the primary aircraft used at the station for Navy training, while Marine Corps trainees commonly flew the Vought F4U Corsair.

The base was named in honor of Ensign Benjamin Lee II, a United States Naval Officer who perished at the Naval Air Station in Killingholme, England, on October 28, 1918, during World War I, when the plane he was piloting crashed into the River Humber; the second pilot was rescued, but a mechanic who was also on board, Raymond G. Fisher was also reported missing. In August 1943, the air station was renamed Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs. Following the war, it was reorganized as a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) under Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The NAAS was ultimately decommissioned in June 1962.

The Mothball Fleet

After World War II, in 1946, the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida—also known as the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Green Cove Springs—was established alongside the Naval Air Station Green Cove Springs on the St. Johns River. As part of the United States Navy reserve fleets, commonly called mothball fleets, it served as a storage site for the surplus ships accumulated after the war. The freshwater environment provided ideal conditions for long-term ship preservation. At its peak, the fleet housed 600 vessels, including destroyers, escorts, troop ships, and U.S. Navy auxiliary ships. Some of these ships were later reactivated for service in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

In reality, the decommissioning of NAAS Green Cove Springs was announced in 1961 by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. The move was part of a larger military reorganization plan by the Department of Defense under John F. Kennedy as 73 other domestic and foreign military bases closed at the time. Some of the ships from the mothball fleet were sold off to foreign countries, but most made it to Orange, Texas, where they were scrapped. In June 1962, both the reserve fleet and the air station were closed, and the land was deeded to the City of Green Cove Springs.

Reynolds Industrial Park

In 1965, Julian Louis Reynolds of Reynolds Metals Company, known for Reynolds Wrap foil, purchased the site and established Reynolds Industrial Park, which included 1,700 acres served by rail, highway, water, and private airport. One of the original runways remains in use as Reynolds Airpark Airport. Additionally, portions of the former airfield were repurposed as a test track for anti-lock brake systems by Kelsey-Hayes/TRW Automotive. The site still features remnants of its naval past, including the original Naval Air Station Lee Field air traffic control tower and aircraft hangars.

Other historical relics and abandoned projects litter the former naval air station. By the airfield sits the empty shell of a hovercraft built by Atlas Hovercrafts, which aimed to establish a river transport system using hovercraft technology. After two years of developing a prototype, the company ceased operations in May 2008 due to a lack of funding.

Nearby is the remains of a P-3B Orion used by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in September 1979. The NRL is the United States government’s research and development laboratory for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The aircraft was used to test radar and electronic warfare systems carried in three equipment pods below the weapons bay and an additional three pods on the standard wing hardpoints.

The aircraft was later reassigned to the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 30 (VX-30) and redesignated as NP-3C, nicknamed “Bloodhound-357.” it was used in conjunction with the testing on the Sea Test Range for surveillance and clearance and providing telemetry data during missile testing. It was also used during five NASA Space Shuttle missions to monitor re-entry. It was reassigned to the United States Border Patrol and used for three months before being deemed obsolete, ending up in a scrapyard in the former Lee Field.

A 154-foot-long, 75,000-pound external fuel tank from NASA’s Space Shuttle Program used for testing purposes sits near the port. Transported by barge along inland waterways, it was en route to the Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum in Starke, Florida. However, after being unloaded in Green Cove Springs, the tank proved too large to transport the remaining 55 miles by truck due to low-hanging power lines. As a result, it remains at the exact location where it was offloaded. The Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum has since closed down.

Photo Gallery