These are some of the remains of a once sprawling naval air station, constructed on the eve of WWII and abandoned in 1997. It served a critical role during WWII as part of America’s defense network, providing support for anti-submarine blimp operations, and operated during the postwar era primarily as a Navy and Marine Air Reserve training base.
Filmed/Edited by Jason Allard
Additional Footage by Dave Lawlor | rb.gy/sixwzy
Movie Set Footage by Al the Great | rb.gy/xs7i4e
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Drone: DJI Mini 2 Fly More Combo
Main Camera: DJI Osmo Pocket w/ Freewell lens attachments
Secondary Camera: Sony A7S III w/ Sigma 24-70mm
Editing: Final Cut Pro X w/ custom plugins
Music By:
Elevated Productions | rb.gy/768e90
WaveyyBeats | rb.gy/pcsrlk
DWNLD | rb.gy/v2by3u
Knox | rb.gy/ejkt9s
Unknown Instrumentalz | rb.gy/wopy7g
Malloy | rb.gy/lldbrz
Additional photos by:
Digital Commonwealth - Massachusetts
US Navy Archives
Archives at Boston Public Library
Marc J. Frattasio
Order Marc J. Frattasio’s Book, “NAS South Weymouth: The Defender Of Freedom” | rb.gy/uadf52
Just outside of Boston, Naval Air Station South Weymouth began construction in September 1941, only 3 months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Once the United States entered the war, there was a massive effort to secure the coasts. This site was established March 1st 1942 primarily as a blimp base to monitor the coastline for nazi submarines, while also serving other military functions.
It was one of 17 wartime blimp bases in the United States. There was some overlaps in the patrols, but these guys had every bit of America’s coastline covered. Blimps are often referred to as lighter-than-air craft, or LTAs, and were perfect for patrolling because these airships could fly lower with greater safety and much more slowly and quietly than conventional airplanes could.
The K-type blimps were 251 feet long and were powered by two 425-hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp aircraft engines. They carried a crew of nine or 10 men and were armed with one .50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun and up to four 350-pound Mark 47 depth charges. They could reach a maximum speed of 78 mph and had a range of 2,025 miles. The blimps’ mission was to locate enemy submarines and then call for help; their limited armament was considered too light to directly engage a U-boat.
From 1954 to 1961 the base hosted the Naval Air Development Unit which provided blimps and other types of aircraft, like the Douglas F3D Skyknight, to flight test highly classified electronic equipment developed by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and other defense contractors such as Raytheon. An important research project supported by NADU was the SAGE air defense system, which was supposed to use radar-equipped blimps to throw a defensive barrier around the country to protect against air attack. For that reason, South Weymouth was one of the last places in the country where the Navy operated blimps. But in 1961, NADU was officially demobilized.
For the next 30 years NAS South Weymouth focused on providing training for members of the Navy and Marine Corps reserve. This base saw tens of thousands of reservists and hosted numerous airshows. But in 1995, The Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) directed this station be closed. All personnel and equipment would be transferred to the nearby active Brunswick base, since it was reportedly better suited for operations. So, on September 30th, 1996 the airfield was closed, and on September 30th 1997 the base itself was vacated by the Navy.
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