The
above footage,which is
representative of the mission of NAS Richmond during the 1940's, is courtesy of
the 1945 MGM movie "This Man's Navy"
Before
NAS Richmond
and at the
beginning of World War II, German U-boats roamed freely off the coast
of Florida playing havoc in the busy shipping lanes off Miami and in
the Florida Straights between Key West and Cuba. Old
Timers tell of watching
helplessly from Miami Beach as tankers burned in the distance ... an
all too common scene during the early years of WW II. The
Hangars at NAS
Richmond housed the blimps that patrolled the
sea lanes off Miami and the Gulf of Mexico looking for Nazi submarines. By
1943, NAS Richmond and other
anti-submarine warfare expert facilities had put a stop to this carnage.
