Naval Outlying Landing Field Barin is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

airfield An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

located in Foley, a city in Baldwin County,

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History

An auxiliary airfield for

Naval Air Station Pensacola Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United Sta ...

and

Naval Air Station Whiting Field Naval Air Station Whiting Field is a United States Navy base located near Milton, Florida, with some outlying fields near Navarre, Florida, in south and central Santa Rosa County, and is one of the Navy's two primary pilot training bases (the ...

, NOLF Barin originally consisted of twin airfield complexes. The West Field was established on the site of the original Foley Municipal Airport that was constructed in the mid-1930s and leased by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

in 1942. An adjoining parcel of 656 acres was also purchased by the Navy for construction of a similar, but not quite reverse, mirror image runway complex that would become known as the East Field. On 2 July 1942, the new facility was designated Naval Auxiliary Air Station Barin Field (NAAS Barin Field) in honor of Lieutenant Louis Theodore Barin (20 August 1890 – 12 June 1920), a Navy test pilot and one of the pilots of the

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

NC-1 during the Navy's

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, bal ...

in May 1919. Today, the East Field is still used as NOLF Barin, a satellite airfield for Training Air Wing FIVE (TRAWING 5) at NAS Whiting Field and Training Air Wing SIX (TRAWING 6) at NAS Pensacola. Two runways and the original centerfield flight line complex are still maintained, although the original 1940s/1950s-era hangars and control tower have been demolished and removed. The West Field of four runways remains abandoned, with a 4-lane highway, the Foley Beach Express, having been built through the center of the West Field's runways. The City of Foley signed a letter of intent with the Navy in January 2024 to continue an agreement that allows the city to maintain the field. The following December, the city announced plans for an aviation museum to recognize the history of the airfield.

Facilities

NOLF Barin has two

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paved

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 9/27 is 4,012 by 300 feet (1,223 x 91 m) and 15/33 is 4,000 by 150 feet (1,219 x 46 m). In 2010, officials from NAS Whiting Field announced plans to expand the runways for several NOLFs they operate (including NOLF Barin) to facilitate the use of the

T-6 Texan II The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine turboprop aircraft built by Textron Aviation. It is a license-built Pilatus PC-9, a trainer aircraft. The T-6 replaced the United States Air Force's Cessna T-37B Tweet and the United States Navy' ...

training aircraft, which had replaced the aging fleet of

T-34C Turbomentor The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is an American propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston ...

s in TRAWING 6 and was replacing those in TRAWING 5. Those plans subsequently came under heavy opposition by some residents who were worried about aircraft noise or losing homes and land in the process. In November 2011, starting with negotiations with the Foley City Council, the Navy began acquiring land parcels to expand NOLF Barin Field and military construction subsequently commenced in 2012. In November 2014, the Baldwin County Commission unanimously approved a land deal to enable the Navy to finally complete the expansion of the NOLF Barin Field runway lengths. Both runways at NOLF Barin were subsequently lengthened to their current length of 5,000 feet.

References

External links

Barin Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NBJ), Foley, ALAerial image as of 17 February 1997
from

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'' {{AL Airport Airports in Baldwin County, Alabama Barin 1942 establishments in Alabama