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WASHINGTON – Radar was accidentally discovered at a Navy base in the nation’s capital. Today, that base is home to many of the nation’s important military and federal commands, units and agencies.
The Navy's 239th birthday gives occasion to look back on its broad and proud history, and a little known facet of its history - that of Naval Air Station (NAS) Anacostia.
With the transition of the base to what is now known as Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB), after it was merged with the former Bolling Air Force Base, many military and civilian personnel who live, work or visit it today are unaware of its role (as NAS Anacostia) as an operational naval air station or its prominence in naval and world military history.
Naval aviation got its start at JBAB in 1917, when the War Department authorized the drained swamp area along the east side of the Anacostia River, known as the "Anacostia Flats," for Navy seaplane testing.
In 1918, the Navy's first year at the site, it built two runways and two hangars, which it shared with the Army Air Corps (predecessor of the U.S. Air Force), and began testing seaplanes.
By 1926, the location was officially designated as a naval air station, which by then, was supporting conventional aircraft. To the northeast, the Army was operating from Bolling Field (later renamed, Bolling Air Force Base).
During World War II, NAS Anacostia expanded considerably, becoming a primary training base for naval aviation. During this expansion, the Navy paved the runways and made the station the home of Navy Flight Test Operations.
In June 1933, Douglas Aircraft Company tested its first fighter at JBAB, a U.S. Navy prototype biplane, designated the XFD-1. In 1941, the Navy tested a rare photographic reconnaissance aircraft, the BD-1, which was the naval version of the Army Air Corps’ XF-3. Flight test operations continued at Anacostia until overcrowding caused the Navy to move the mission to NAS Patuxent River in 1943.
RADAR – AN ACCIDENT!
The history of radar began with experiments in the 19th century, but it wasn't until the early-20th century that practical testing began, which discovered something new, quite by accident.
In the autumn of 1922, Cmdr. Albert H. Taylor and Mr. Leo C. Young, both working for the U.S. Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory at NAS Anacostia, were conducting communications experiments. During their tests, they noticed that a wooden ship in the Potomac River was interfering with their high frequency radio transmissions between Anacostia and a receiver, across the river at Hains Point. The observation and analysis of the phenomenon was a basic step in the chain of events that led to the U.S. Navy's invention of radar.
By 1930, Lawrence A. Hyland began working with Taylor and Young at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, which is located on the contiguous Navy property to the south of JBAB. He used a similar arrangement to detect a passing aircraft. The three men ran several tests, varying antenna shape and radio frequencies.
They drove a receiver around in a car, to simulate the motion of a ship as it might try to detect an airborne plane. Since aircraft evolved as a serious weapon of war, recognition of Hyland's role surpassed that of Taylor's and Young's.
This spectacular technological development rapidly evolved for several military applications and resulted in the Navy’s deployment of radar antenna prototypes, including that seen on USS New York (BB 34) in 1938.
From its accidental discovery in the 20th century, radar has since become an important part of our daily lives and has many applications beyond the military arena, including weather and civil aviation.
TRANSITION TO JBAB
NAS Anacostia remained in service as an active naval air station until 1962. In that year, its runways were deactivated for fixed-wing aircraft, at the same time as those of Bolling Air Force Base, due to traffic pattern issues with nearby Washington Reagan National Airport.
In 1962, the NAS was re-designated as Naval Support Facility (NSF) Anacostia. By then, its place was forever secured in naval and military history.
NSF Anacostia was a direct subordinate of Naval District Washington, before it, and the Naval Research Laboratory became components of the Naval Support Activity Washington (NSAW).
On Oct. 1, 2010, the former NSF Anacostia was detached from NSAW, and along with Bolling Air Force Base and Bellevue Navy Housing Area, were combined as part of a Congressionally-mandated Base Realignment and Closure Commission initiative to eliminate duplicative Air Force and Navy base operating support services, in an effort to improve efficiency, effectiveness and be better stewards of taxpayer funding.
Today, thousands of people live or work at JBAB. It is home to many DOD commands and units. JBAB’s mission is to provide exceptional support and base services to those DOD entities.
As the nation’s premier joint base, JBAB supports presidential, ceremonial, homeland security, defense support to civil authorities and national security missions, conducted by all five of the nation’s armed forces, the National Guard and federal agencies.
| Date Taken: | 10.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.08.2014 10:16 |
| Story ID: | 144583 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DC, US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Radar accidently discovered at DC Navy Base, by LCDR Jim Remington, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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