Commissioned on 12 July 1941, and encompassing what was once Camp Dyer, NAS Quonset Point was a major naval facility throughout World War II. Beginning in 1943, pilots of the Royal Navy‘s Fleet Air Arm were trained at Quonset Point to fly the Vought F4U Corsair, which was then brought into service on British aircraft carriers. Squadrons such as VS-33 flew anti-submarine patrols from NAS Quonset Point.^[4]

NAS Quonset Point continued as a major naval facility well into the Cold War. Prior to its closure, it had been home to numerous aviation squadrons, primarily those land-based patrol squadrons operating the P-2 Neptune and carrier-based antisubmarine and airborne early warning squadrons operating the S-2 Tracker, the E-1 Tracer, SH3D Sea King helicopters and various modified versions of the A-1 Skyraider.

NAS Quonset Point was also the off-season home of Antarctic Development Squadron Six (VX-6, later VXE-6) during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, operating the LC-47 Skytrain, LP-2J Neptune, C-54 Skymaster, C-121 Constellation, and eventually the LC-130F and LC-130R Hercules, as well as a variety of helicopters.

In 1950, Coast Guard Air Detachment Quonset Point was established as a sub unit of CGAS Salem, Massachusetts.

In addition to flying squadrons, the air station was also home to a major aircraft overhaul and repair (O & R) facility, later renamed Naval Air Rework Facility (NARF) Quonset Point. O & R Facilities, and their later incarnation as NARFs, are the predecessor of the present day Fleet Readiness Centers (FRCs), previously known as Naval Aviation Depots (NADEPs).

Boasting a deepwater port, NAS Quonset Point was also homeport to several Essex class aircraft carriers, including the USS Essex (CV-9), USS Intrepid (CV-11), USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Leyte (CV-32), USS Antietam (CV-36), USS Lake Champlain (CV-39), and USS Tarawa (CV-40), as well as their respective carrier air groups (CAGs or CVSGs). In September 1945, Air Wing Eighteen became Air Wing Seven here.

NAS Quonset Point was decommissioned on 28 June 1974 as part of a series of defense cutbacks which resulted in a nationwide reduction in bases following the end of the US engagement in Vietnam.

Quonset Point Air National Guard Station is the home base of the Rhode Island Air National Guard 143rd Airlift Wing.  Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point was a United States Naval Base in Quonset Point, Rhode Island that was deactivated in 1974. Next to NAS Quonset Point was Camp Endicott at Davisville, home of the Naval Construction Battalions known as the Seabees. Quonset Point also gave its name to the Quonset hut, a standardized temporary structure used by the U.S. military starting in World War II.

https://www.flyquansetairport.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quonset_Point_Air_National_Guard_Station