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96-594: Patrick Space Force Base ( IATA : COF , ICAO : KCOF , FAA LID : COF ) is a United States Space Force installation located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach , in Brevard County, Florida , United States. It is named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick , USAAC . It is home to Space Launch Delta 45 (SLD 45), known as the 45th Space Wing (45 SW) when it was part of the Air Force. In addition to its "host wing" responsibilities at Patrick SFB,

192-553: A Maritime Commission contract, on 18 June 1942. The escort carrier was laid down on 19 March 1943 under the name Emperor , with the intention of transferring her to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease . She was laid down as MC hull 1104, the thirteenth of a series of fifty Casablanca -class escort carriers. On 28 June 1943, with the Bogue -class escort carrier Pybus having been designated to be transferred in her place, Emperor

288-407: A shakedown cruise in the area between Puget Sound and Astoria , Oregon , conducting tests, evaluations, and training exercises for four weeks. She left Astoria on 20 December, making a stop at Alameda , California on 23 December, and arriving at San Diego on 25 December. There, after conducting some more exercises, she departed for Pearl Harbor on 30 December. On 6 January 1944, she took on

384-418: A blimp squadron detachment, an Aviation Navigation Training School, and an experimental training unit termed Project Baker, a confidential program that developed and tested instrument landing equipment. NAS Banana River hosted a significant aircraft repair and maintenance facility. Later in the war, a small detachment of German POWs from Camp Blanding worked at NAS Banana River on cleanup details. At its peak,

480-492: A contact at a bearing of 70 degrees and some 50 mi (80 km) from the carrier at 10:21. The Avenger proceeded towards the contact, and there was no further word relayed back. In fact, it had spotted the Type IXD2 German submarine  U-860 at 12:21 as it proceeded approximately 575 nmi (1,065 km; 662 mi) south of St. Helena . The Avenger immediately made four attack runs against U-860 , and

576-471: A crew of 860 and an embarked squadron of 50 to 56, the exigencies of wartime often necessitated the inflation of the crew count. Casablanca -class escort carriers were designed to carry 27 aircraft, but the hangar deck could accommodate more, which was often necessary during transport or especially training missions, due to the constant turnover of pilots and aircraft. Her construction was awarded to Kaiser Shipbuilding Company , Vancouver, Washington , under

672-458: A cruising range of 10,240 nautical miles (18,960 km; 11,780 mi) at a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). Her compact size limited the length of the flight deck and necessitated the installment of an aircraft catapult at her bow, and there were two aircraft elevators to facilitate movement of aircraft between the flight and hangar deck: one each fore and aft . One 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber dual-purpose gun

768-579: A downturn in fortunes, and on 1 February 1977, the "Air Force Eastern Test Range" organization was inactivated and its functions transferred to Detachment 1 of the Space and Missile Test Center (SAMTEC) until the activation of the Eastern Space and Missile Center in 1979 on 1 October 1979. In 1990, ESMC was transferred from the inactivating Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) to the newly established Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). On 12 November 1991, ESMC

864-441: A federal government funding cleanup. Discarded material probably included munitions and practice bombs. Contractors bought the land, naming it " South Patrick Shores ". They constructed housing on it from 1956 to 1961. Homeowners had no mandatory solid waste removal until 1982. Residents reported health complaints starting in the 1990s and again in 2018. Responding to these complaints, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigated

960-590: A load of passengers, supplies, as well as dysfunctional aircraft to be taken to the West Coast for repairs or salvage. She left on 9 January, arriving back at San Diego on 14 January. For the rest of January, she conducted battle practices off of southern California. She left San Diego with a load of aircraft on 30 January for the East Coast. As she approached the Panama Canal , her aircraft participated in

1056-475: A month before heading for Staten Island , New York , docking there on 25 September. She took on a load of 150 army airmen along with their P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, and departed on 6 October, on a mission to ferry them to Casablanca , French Morocco . She was back at the East Coast on 7 November, anchored within Narrangansett Bay , Rhode Island . For the rest of 1944, Solomons served as

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1152-496: A new Lockheed U-2 aircraft operating location at Patrick AFB, Florida, on 29 January 1982. OL-OF was subsequently redesignated as 9 SRW, Detachment 5 on 1 January 1983 and concentrated on reconnaissance operations (to include MIDAS and HICAT) over Central America and the Caribbean basin, replacing an operational capability that had previously been resident at nearby McCoy AFB until that installation's closure in 1975. Detachment 5

1248-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

1344-423: A search and rescue operation. After sunset on 5 December, two PBM Mariner seaplanes from NAS Banana River, originally scheduled for their own training flights, were diverted to perform square pattern searches in the area west of 29°N 79°W/29, -79. One of these aircraft, a PBM-5, Bureau Number (BuNo) 59225, took off at 19:27 Eastern Time from NAS Banana River, called in a routine radio message at 19:30 Eastern Time, and

1440-561: A search for the 14 missing airmen of Flight 19 , as well as the 13 airmen from a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat that went missing after being dispatched to look for Flight 19. On 15 February 1946, Captain Allen Smith Jr. took over command of the vessel. Having finished her qualification duties, Solomons proceeded northwards to the naval shipyard at Boston , Massachusetts , where she was decommissioned, on 15 May, joining

1536-484: A series of three organized attacks were planned, which were launched at 19:46, under the waning evening sun. In the first attack, U-860 was first strafed by the two Wildcats piloted by Ens. T.J. Wadsworth and Ens. R.E. McMahon, whilst the submarine moved in evasive circles, unable to dive. Hits were observed on the submarine's deck, conning tower, and bandstand. As the two Wildcats pulled up from their dive, only about 100 ft (30 m) above U-860 , Wadsworth's Wildcat

1632-542: A simulated aerial attack on the canal in order to test its defenses. She stopped at Balboa , Panama on 9 February, where she embarked passengers, and departed on 11 February, arriving at the naval station in Norfolk , Virginia , on 16 February. At Norfolk, Solomons took on her aircraft contingent of Composite Squadron (VC) 9 , supplies, and aviation stores, before putting out to sea on 21 March for Brazil . She arrived at Recife on 13 April, and upon arriving, joined

1728-541: A training carrier, qualifying Navy and Marine pilots in carrier landings, initially off of Quonset Point . In January 1945, she steamed southwards to Port Everglades , Florida , where she continued to qualify pilots throughout the rest of 1945. At Port Everglades, Captain Richard Stanley Moss raised his flag over the vessel. For a week in December 1945, she was diverted from her mission to participate in

1824-476: A wake about 11 mi (18 km) away. Proceeding closer, he could observe that it was U-860 on a southeasterly course, proceeding at about 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph), whereupon he immediately issued a contact report back to Solomons . Two of Solomons ' s screening vessels, the destroyer escorts Straub and Herzog , were immediately dispatched to Avery's contact. As the Avenger moved closer,

1920-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

2016-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

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2112-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

2208-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

2304-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

2400-683: Is part of the Palm Bay — Melbourne — Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The base also administers the Malabar Annex in Palm Bay. The facility was due to be renamed Patrick Space Force Base in February or March 2020, but this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The facility was finally renamed by Vice President Mike Pence on 9 December 2020. Authorized by

2496-661: Is the only rescue wing in the Air Force Reserve , operating the HC-130P/N "King" variant of the C-130 Hercules and HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, ready for worldwide deployment. In addition to its CSAR mission, the wing also participates in civilian rescue operations, ranging from rescue support for NASA crewed spaceflight operations, to augmentative support to U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue (SAR) operations, to Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA) in

2592-405: Is the sole Department of Defense agency operating and maintaining a global network of nuclear event detection sensors. The 920th Rescue Wing (920 RQW), part of Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), is another tenant command headquartered at Patrick SFB and is the installation's only military flying unit. An Air Combat Command (ACC)-gained combat search and rescue (CSAR) organization, the 920 RQW

2688-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

2784-602: The 920th Rescue Wing , the Air Force Technical Applications Center , and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI). Total employment is 10,400. There are 13,099 military, dependents, civilian employees, and contractors on base. The base is a census-designated place (CDP) and had a resident population of 1,642 as of the 2020 census , up from 1,222 at the 2010 census . It

2880-697: The Battle of the Atlantic , as well as in other miscellaneous training and transport missions. Her frontline duty consisted of four anti-submarine patrols, with her third tour being the most notable, when her aircraft contingent sank the German submarine  U-860 during her third combat patrol. She was decommissioned in August 1946, being mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . Ultimately, she

2976-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

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3072-665: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The former ADC site was replaced by a new site near Melbourne, Florida , as part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS), designated by NORAD as Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS) Ground Equipment Facility "J-5", with a new ARSR-4 radar. The 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (9 SRW) of the Strategic Air Command established Operating Location OLYMPIC FLAME (OL-OF),

3168-608: The National Security Agency (NSA), as well as scientific payload launches in support of NASA , weather satellite launches in support of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , payloads in support of international customers such as the European Space Agency , and commercial payloads for various corporate communications entities. Units and individuals from the 45th Space Wing-now-SLD 45 have deployed abroad during wartime, most notably during

3264-640: The United States Fourth Fleet for anti-submarine duties in the South Atlantic , under the command of Vice admiral Jonas H. Ingram . She joined Task Group 46.1, which centered around Solomons , screened by the destroyer escorts Herzog , Trumpeter , Straub , and Gustafson . On 14 April, she began her first anti-submarine patrol. Her first patrol, which lasted until 30 April, proved to be uneventful. The only indications of possible contact were some green flares spotted on

3360-696: The War in Afghanistan (2001-2021) and the 2003 invasion of Iraq . The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) is a tenant command headquartered at Patrick SFB. Previously an activity of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency (AFISRA), AFTAC became a subordinate unit of Twenty-Fifth Air Force (25 AF) and now the Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber), both of Air Combat Command (ACC). AFTAC

3456-527: The 1960s, making it a regular focus of media attention. In the 1960s, a test range office at Patrick AFB with a missile backdrop was used to film scenes for the TV sitcom I Dream of Jeannie , which was set in nearby Cocoa Beach (no cast was present). But by the mid-1970s, the demise of the Apollo space program and the end of land-based ballistic missile development at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station signaled

3552-491: The 2010–2011 time frame and were often mistaken by onlookers for the previously retired VC-137 Presidential aircraft (i.e. Air Force One ), which looks similar. On 17 May 1950, the base was renamed the "Long Range Proving Ground Base" but three months later was renamed "Patrick Air Force Base", in honor of Major General Mason Patrick . On 3 May 1951, the Long Range Proving Ground Division

3648-480: The 45 SW controls and operates Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) and the Eastern Range . It was originally opened and operated from 1940 to 1947 as Naval Air Station Banana River , a U.S. Navy airfield. It was then deactivated as a naval installation in 1947 and placed in caretaker status until it was transferred to the Air Force in late 1948. Additional tenant activities at Patrick SFB include

3744-476: The Air Force to close the heavily used four-lane State Road A1A , which ran immediately in front of the AFTAC Headquarters building. A1A was later reopened to two-lane traffic with car inspections, followed by two-lane traffic without inspections until a barrier was constructed in front of the building, and the building was reinforced with steel and concrete with the windows sealed. In February 2005,

3840-521: The Atlantic, often at night and/or in bad weather. Because the USAF HH-60 can refuel in flight from the USAF HC-130 , MC-130 , or USMC KC-130 , it possesses a much greater range and mission radius versus similar military helicopters lacking such capability. The 920 RQW is a full participant in the Air Force's Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force (AEF) operating concept. Under this concept,

3936-685: The Banana River remain part of modern-day Patrick Space Force Base. NAS Banana River was transferred to the United States Air Force on 1 September 1948 and renamed the Joint Long Range Proving Ground on 10 June 1949. The installation was renamed Patrick Air Force Base in August 1950. From 1966 to 1975, the Space Coast was the second most visited spot by VIPs , after Washington, DC, due to

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4032-819: The Florida coast using PBY Catalina and PBM Mariner seaplanes based at this facility. PBMs returned to training duty in March 1942 when replaced on patrol by OS2U Kingfisher seaplanes. Landing strips were constructed in 1943, allowing shore-based aircraft to operate concurrently. The Free French Naval Air Service officers also trained in PBMs at NAS Banana River. Various military-related activities took place at NAS Banana River, including maritime patrol aviation operations against German U-boats, air search and rescue operations, patrol bomber bombardier training, seaplane pilot training, and communications research. Other activities included

4128-620: The Naval Expansion Act of 1938, Naval Air Station Banana River was commissioned on 1 October 1940 as a subordinate base of the Naval Air Operational Training Command at Naval Air Station Jacksonville , Florida. The Navy bought 1,900 acres (770 ha) of scrub land south of Cocoa Beach. With the advent of war with Japan and Germany in December 1941, the Navy began anti-submarine patrols along

4224-483: The Patrick AFB Officers Club was destroyed by an accidental fire. In 2010, the Air Force announced its intention to replace the existing AFTAC building in front of State Road A1A with a new facility costing $ 100 to $ 200 million. At the time of this announcement, this constituted the largest single military construction (MILCON) project in the United States for the Air Force. Completed in 2014,

4320-849: The South Housing area, and Seaside Chapel (Building 440). A "45th Space Wing Chapel" travels with the Wing when it is deployed. The Catholic Group is called "St. George Parish" and meets in Chapel One or Two. While the buildings are owned by the Space Force, the Catholic Parish is under the spiritual direction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA . In 2009, base housing

4416-687: The Space Coast Inn for visiting personnel, dormitories for permanent party single enlisted personnel, quarters for families in three separate housing areas, recreational housing on the beach, beach access, combined officers and enlisted clubs, Commissary , a large AAFES base exchange (BX), library and numerous Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) facilities. Facilities are used by 4,000 military men and women, 11,500 civilian workers, contractors, and dependents, 43,000 military retirees, and 82,000 members of retirees' families. There are several chapels, including Chapel One, Chapel Two, South Chapel at

4512-599: The Space Program. A protocol officer was assigned to Patrick to coordinate these visits, about three weekly, consisting of 10 to 150 people. In 1971, the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) was established at Patrick AFB. Five of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996 were home stationed at Patrick AFB as part of the 71st Rescue Squadron (71 RQS). The 71 RQS relocated to Moody AFB , Georgia, in 1997. The 9/11 attacks prompted

4608-711: The U-boat just to the starboard fore of the conning tower. Avery's Avenger, flying from the fore, fired six rockets from 600 yd (550 m), all of which connected with the front of the U-boat, some 20 ft (6.1 m) in front of the conning tower. Following this attack, U-860 started to slow down, and turned southwards. At 17:51, two more aircraft arrived on the scene, two Avengers, one piloted by Lieutenant, junior grade W.F. Chamberlain, and one piloted by Lieutenant, junior grade D.E. Weigle. The two aircraft immediately engaged U-860 , with McMahon's Wildcat making another strafing run to try to suppress antiaircraft fire. In

4704-453: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . USS Solomons USS Solomons (CVE-67)

4800-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

4896-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

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4992-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

5088-478: The base complement included 278 aircraft, 587 civilian employees, and over 2800 officers and enlisted personnel. Three months after the end of World War II, on 5 December 1945, NAS Banana River had an ancillary role in the search for Flight 19 , five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers that had departed Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale , Florida on a routine over-water training mission. When the flight failed to return to home station, multiple air and naval units undertook

5184-507: The bilges of PBM series aircraft and associated no-smoking regulations, which were reportedly well-posted and rigidly enforced aboard all PBMs. Although the board's report is not a verbatim record and no accusations were made, there seems to be enough inference present to cause one to suspect that the board was aware of the PBM's nickname as "the flying gas tank." As such, it is possible that the PBM-5

5280-530: The bulk of the wing deployed to Iraq in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom . Subsequent AEF deployments have included Djibouti and Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . The U.S. State Department 's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Air Wing helps foreign countries combat drugs and narcotics criminals. The Bureau operates a fleet of aircraft, primarily former USAF and USMC OV-10 and former USAF C-27 aircraft at Patrick SFB to help detect and interdict

5376-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

5472-863: The construction of a new 74,000 square feet (6,900 m) medical clinic was started. It was expected to cost $ 18.5 million. IATA airport code The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

5568-444: The depth charges only 50 ft (15 m) over the submarine. The explosions rocked his aircraft, starting a fire in the bomb bay and in the central cockpit. Chamberlain maintained a semblance of control, and came to a relatively soft landing 500 yd (460 m) to the starboard of the sinking U-boat. U-860 sank after this last attack, at 19:53, with 42 of her crew going down with the ship. Straub and Herzog arrived during

5664-598: The drug trade in Bolivia , Colombia , Peru and Afghanistan. Units marked GSU are Geographically Separate Units, which, although based at Patrick, are subordinate to a parent unit based at another location. See Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for units of the 45th Space Wing permanently based there. Space Operations Command (SpOC) Air Combat Command (ACC) Air National Guard (ANG) Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs The base has

5760-789: The end of that year. Pan American operated under contract to the Air Force for the next 34 years (until early October 1988). In 1988, the old range contract was divided into the Range Technical Services (RTS) and the Launch Base Services (LBS) contracts. The RTS contract was awarded to Computer Sciences Raytheon (CSR) in June 1988, and the LBS contract was awarded to Pan American World Services (later known as Johnson Controls ) in August 1988. The Eastern Range supported various missile, crewed, and uncrewed space programs in

5856-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

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5952-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

6048-425: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

6144-545: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

6240-492: The front half of its patrol chasing several signature reports, including one about a Japanese flying boat , but with no results. However, high-frequency direction finding had picked up a lead of a U-boat off of southwestern Africa heading on a northwesterly course on 9 June. Thus, the task group went to the northeast, in a direction to possibly intercept. In the midst of her patrol, on 15 June, one of VC-9's Avenger torpedo bombers , piloted by Ens. G.E. Edwards, reported

6336-409: The gunners on U-860 threw up a screen of flak, convincing Avery to wait for reinforcements. As Avery was transmitting his contact report back, two Wildcat fighters and one Avenger were preparing to land on Solomons , having been unsuccessful in spotting any targets. Upon receiving the news, the three aircraft turned around and headed to join Avery. The three aircraft rendezvoused with Avery, and

6432-430: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

6528-429: The morning of 22 April, as well as some unsuccessful Hedgehog attacks on a signature that might have been German submarine  U-196 Her second patrol, from 4 May to 20 May, had even less activity. Solomons departed Recife for her third patrol on 30 May. A submarine had been spotted off of Salvador proceeding to the northeast, and the task group was dispatched after it, without any results. The task group spent

6624-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

6720-503: The new facility is a 276,000-square-foot (25,600 m) multistory command and control building with a 38,000-square-foot (3,500 m) radiochemistry laboratory, 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m) central utility plant and a 600-space 180,000-square-foot (17,000 m) parking garage located approximately .25 miles (0.40 km) west of the original AFTAC headquarters building. US Navy Boeing E-6 Mercury aircraft, part of Operation Looking Glass , were sometimes seen at Patrick AFB during

6816-495: The night. Under the darkness, the two destroyers were forced to rely heavily upon Solomon ' s aircraft, which fired starshells and dropped flares. First, they attempted to recover Chamberlain and his crew, but were unable to find any trace of them. They then proceeded to the submarine's wreck, where Straub began rescuing survivors, whilst Herzog provided a screen. Straub eventually recovered 21 crewmen, including U-860 ' s commander, Fregattenkapitän Paul Büchel. One of

6912-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

7008-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

7104-482: The same position and time. No wreckage of PBM-5 BuNo 59225 was ever found. During a board of inquiry investigation regarding the entire Flight 19 incident, attention was given to the loss of the NAS Banana River-based PBM. Several witnesses from both NAS Banana River and other PBM Mariner operating locations were questioned concerning occurrences of aviation gasoline (AvGas) fumes collecting in

7200-506: The second attack, Weigle, running in from the fore, fired eight rockets, six of which connected in the area to the fore of the conning tower. Following this run, U-860 slowed down to just a crawl, at only 3 kn (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph). In the third, and final attack, Chamberlain, charging from the port, dropped two depth charges directly forward of the conning tower whilst Lt. Cdr. Avery strafed U-860 to suppress antiaircraft fire. However, Chamberlain proceeded much too low, dropping

7296-457: The site to determine whether a cleanup was necessary. NAS Banana River closed in September 1947 after a gradual deactivation and was placed in a caretaker status. In September 1948, the facility was transferred to the U.S. Air Force. Several of NAS Banana River's original structures, including runway segments, particular hangars, support buildings, seaplane parking areas and seaplane ramps into

7392-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

7488-408: The survivors was resuscitated only after twenty minutes of artificial respiration. Solomons continued her third patrol until 23 June, when she returned to Recife to refuel and to disembark the captured German sailors. Following a fourth anti-submarine patrol, as well as a stop at Rio de Janeiro , Solomons sailed back north to Naval Station Norfolk, arriving on 24 August. She moored at Norfolk for

7584-568: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

7680-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

7776-436: The wake of major disasters. Most notable is the 920th's role in crewed spaceflight support to NASA , providing Eastern Range monitoring and having provided search and rescue support for Space Shuttle launches originating from Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Additional operations have included searching the Caribbean for downed aircraft, as well as retrieving critically ill sailors and passengers from ships hundreds of miles out in

7872-452: Was broken up in 1947. Solomons was a Casablanca -class escort carrier, the most numerous type of aircraft carrier ever built, and was designed specifically to be rapidly mass-produced using prefabricated sections, in order to replace heavy early war losses. By the end of their production run, the time taken between laying down the hull and launching the ship had been cut down to nearly one month. Standardized with her sister ships , she

7968-611: Was 512 ft 3 in (156.13 m) long overall , had a beam of 65 ft 2 in (19.86 m), and a draft of 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m). She displaced 8,188 long tons (8,319  t ) standard and 10,902 long tons (11,077 t) with a full load . She had a 257 ft (78 m) long hangar deck and a 477 ft (145 m) long flight deck . She was powered with two Skinner Unaflow reciprocating steam engines , which drove two shafts, providing 9,000 horsepower (6,700 kW), thus enabling her to make 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). The ship had

8064-564: Was assigned to the newly created Air Research and Development Command (ARDC). The following month the division was redesignated the Air Force Missile Test Center (AFMTC). Cost comparison studies in the early 1950s indicated the desirability of letting contractors operate the station. Pan American World Services signed the first range contract on 31 December 1953. The Air Force Missile Test Center began transferring property and equipment to Pan American World Services at

8160-540: Was damaged by flak in a wing tank, forcing him to return to Solomons . The two Avengers, piloted by Avery and Ens. M.J. Spear, followed up with rockets as the Wildcats were being harried by flak. The pilots of VC-9 had been trained to aim their rockets to hit to the fore of the conning tower, where the most vulnerable systems laid. Spear's Avenger, flying from the aft of the submarine, fired eight rockets from 800 yd (730 m), six of which were observed connecting with

8256-418: Was destroyed by an explosion resulting from either (a) violation of the no-smoking regulations in the aircraft or (b) a stray electrical spark in the lower aircraft hull that may have ignited AvGas fumes in the bilges. The Navy buried its solid waste southeast of the base, on private land, from 1942 to 1947. The dump was estimated at up to 52 acres (21 ha), of which 25 acres (10 ha) may be eligible for

8352-649: Was inactivated at Patrick AFB in 1992. Reference for history summation, major commands assigned and major units assigned The host wing for Patrick SFB is the Space Launch Delta 45 , whose personnel manage all launches of uncrewed rockets at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) 12 miles to the north. These rockets include satellites for the Department of Defense , including the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and

8448-493: Was inactivated, and the 45th Space Wing (45 SW) assumed its remaining functions. In 1961, Patrick AFB began hosting a joint Federal Aviation Administration / Air Defense Command (later Aerospace Defense Command ) joint-use radar site featuring an AN/FPS-66 general surveillance radar set for air defense of the Patrick AFB/Cape Canaveral area. Designated site "Z-211" (FAA J-05), the 645th Radar Squadron

8544-655: Was mounted on the stern. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by eight Bofors 40 mm (1.6 in) anti-aircraft guns in single mounts, as well as twelve Oerlikon 20 mm (0.79 in) cannons , which were mounted around the perimeter of the deck. By the end of the war, Casablanca -class carriers had been modified to carry thirty 20 mm (0.79 in) cannons, and the number of Bofors 40 mm (1.6 in) guns had been doubled to 16, by putting them into twin mounts. These modifications were in response to increasing casualties due to kamikaze attacks. Although Casablanca -class escort carriers were designed to function with

8640-601: Was never heard from again. At 19:50 Eastern Time, the tanker SS  Gaines Mills reported seeing a mid-air explosion, then flames leaping 100 feet (30 m) high and burning on the sea for 10 minutes. The position was 28°35′N 80°15′W / 28.59, −80.25. Captain Shonna Stanley of the SS ; Gaines Mills reported searching for survivors through a pool of oil but found none. The escort carrier USS  Solomons  (CVE-67) reported losing radar contact with an aircraft at

8736-667: Was privatized and, in addition to active duty personnel and their families, also became available for lease by members of the Reserve and Guard, military retirees, Department of Defense civil service employees, and DOD contractors. In 2010–2012, the 74,000 square feet (6,900 m) medical clinic underwent a major remodel project. It was estimated to cost $ 18.5 million. In 2020, the Satellite Pharmacy and Dental Clinic were remodeled to bring current with today's standard of care under DHA (Defense Health Administration), and

8832-417: Was reactivated on 28 June 1962 to operate the radar, feeding data to Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Data Center DC-09 at Gunter AFB , Alabama. Aerospace Defense Command (ADC) operated the radar until 25 April 1976, when it was replaced by a detachment of the 20th Air Defense Squadron (OLA-A). The USAF radar was removed around 1988. After its closure by the Air Force, the facility was turned over to

8928-493: Was redesignated as an auxiliary aircraft carrier and therefore received the hull symbol ACV-67 , indicating that she was the sixty-seventh escort carrier to be commissioned into the United States Navy . As a part of this change, she was also renamed to Nassuk Bay , as part of a tradition which named escort carriers after bays or sounds in Alaska. On 15 July, with the handover of Pybus having been completed, she

9024-525: Was redesignated as an escort carrier and received her final hull symbol of CVE-67 . She was launched on 6 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. F. J. McKenna; transferred to the Navy, renamed to Solomons as part of a new naval policy which named subsequent Casablanca -class carriers after naval or land engagements, and commissioned on 21 November 1943, with Captain Marion Edward Crist in command. Upon being commissioned, Solomons underwent

9120-445: Was shot down by antiaircraft fire on the fourth run, killing all three of the Avenger's crew. However, the Avenger had managed to inflict enough damage on the submarine such that it could not safely dive, something that would later prove fatal for U-860 . It was not until 14:00 that a group was cobbled together on Solomons to investigate Chamberlain's report. At 17:22, VC-9's commanding officer, Lieutenant commander H.M. Avery, spotted

9216-674: Was the thirteenth of fifty Casablanca -class escort carriers built for the United States Navy during World War II . She was the first Navy vessel named after the Solomon Islands campaign , a lengthy operation that most famously included the Guadalcanal campaign , albeit she was not the first named Solomons . The ship was launched in October 1943, commissioned in November, and served in anti-submarine operations during

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