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After WW II

Damaged Hangar RoofActivity at the Naval Air Station Glynco was sharply reduced after World War II.  The station was reclassified as a Naval Air Facility in July 1945, and eventually reduced to a maintenance status.  The giant blimps were transferred to the Navy’s home base for east coast LTA activity in Lakehurst, New Jersey.  The two large airship hangars became airplane storage units for surplus aircraft.  By 1949, the aircraft stored at Glynco returned to active duty as tensions escalated with Korea. 

Much to local people’s delight, it was announced in March 1950 that Glynco Naval Air Facility would house a maintenance and overhaul detachment for a new airship squadron based in Key West, Florida.  The station was reclassified as an active naval facility on January 4, 1951.  Along with the addition of new personnel, this status entailed a resumption of LTA weather, photography and communications services.

With the outbreak of the Korean conflict, the airships returned to Glynco from Lakehurst, NJ, beginning with Airship Squadron Two in August 1951.  With its arrival, the base personnel numbered 600, including civilian employees.  Squadron Two also included a mongrel dog named Black Dog who remained the canine mascot at Glynco until his death in 1957.  Black Dog assisted the ground handing officers in retrieving the lines for landing LTAs and relinquishing them for take-off.  He once became entangled in one of the lines and was left dangling in the air for some time before his rescue.  Black Dog's image was used in safety posters for many years thereafter.Demolition of Hanger 2

Glynco underwent several administrative and physical changes during the 1950s and 60s, including several re-designations of its official military status, the combined presence of both LTA and heavier than air aircraft, and new construction.  A multi-million dollar construction program included an 8,000 foot jet airstrip, a five-story control tower, an operations building, new barracks, a new Bachelor Officers' Quarters, a boiler plant, and the $10 million dollar Combat Information Center (CIC) Training Building.  Many of these permanent buildings replaced W. W. II-era temporary structures.  In 1955, the base became a CIC school which trained Navy personnel to receive, evaluate, and transmit intelligence information throughout a ship or task force.  This marked the beginning of the “training era” at Glynco which coincided with the gradual diminishing of the blimp presence at the base. 

The two airship squadrons assigned to Glynco were dissolved in October 1959, and the blimps were transferred to Lakehurst, New Jersey.  It was the first full absence of the airships in the station's 16 year history.