1940s aerial view of Outlying Landing Field Whitehouse in Florida

An outlying landing field (OLF) is a satellite airfield, associated with a seaborne component of the United States military. When associated with the United States Navy (who operate the majority), they are known as naval outlying landing fields (NOLFs) or naval auxiliary landing fields (NALFs); when associated with United States Marine Corps, they are known as Marine Corps outlying fields (MCOFs) or Marine Corps auxiliary landing fields (MCALFs).

Usage

NOLFs were primarily built field carrier landing practice, and to also mitigate noise caused by louder aircraft from existing fields. Having no based units or aircraft, and minimal facilities, an outlying landing field is used as a low-traffic location for flight training, without the risks and distractions of other traffic at a naval air station or other airport.

However, the construction of a NOLF imposed various environmental issues, including bird/animal strike hazards (BASH), which can stress the bird population in the area. The Navy used various techniques to mitigate BASH, such as managing these hazards through the usage of radar detection and habitat management.

List of active OLFs

NOLFs

Field nameFAA IDLocationAssociated air station
BarinNBJFoley, AlabamaWhiting Field
Brewton12JBrewton, AlabamaWhiting Field
CabanissNGWCorpus Christi, TexasCorpus Christi
ChoctawNFJMilton, FloridaWhiting Field
CoupevilleNRACoupeville, WashingtonWhidbey Island
EvergreenGZHEvergreen, AlabamaWhiting Field
GoliadNGTBerclair, TexasCorpus Christi
HaroldNZXHarold, FloridaWhiting Field
HolleyNKLNavarre, FloridaWhiting Field
Imperial BeachNRSImperial Beach, CaliforniaNorth Island
PaceNVIWallace, FloridaWhiting Field
San Nicolas IslandNSISan Nicolas Island, CaliforniaPoint Mugu
Santa RosaNGSMilton, FloridaWhiting Field
SaufleyNUNPensacola, FloridaWhiting Field
Site XNSXJay, FloridaWhiting Field
SpencerNRQPace, FloridaWhiting Field
SummerdaleNFDSummerdale, AlabamaWhiting Field
WaldronNWLCorpus Christi, TexasCorpus Christi
Webster FieldNUISt. Inigoes, MarylandPatuxent River
WhitehouseNENJacksonville, FloridaJacksonville
WilliamsNJWMeridian, MississippiMeridian

NALFs

Field nameFAA IDLocationAssociated air station
FentressNFEChesapeake, VirginiaOceana
Orange GroveNOGOrange Grove, TexasKingsville
ShermanNUCSan Clemente Island, CaliforniaNorth Island

MCALFS & MCOFs

Field nameFAA IDLocationAssociated air station
Atlantic12NCAtlantic, North CarolinaCherry Point
BogueNJMSwansboro, North CarolinaCherry Point
Camp Davis14NCHolly Ridge, North CarolinaNew River
Oak Grove13NCPollocksville, North CarolinaCherry Point

See also

External links

Media related to United States Naval Outlying Fields at Wikimedia Commons

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