Naval Air Station Kingsville, located 3 miles east of Kingsville, Texas, is commanded by Captain Phillip J. Waddingham. NAS Kingsville primarily operations smaller-engine aircrafts, and flies primarily over land. They are not as well-equipped for over-water flights as larger bases such as NAS Corpus Christi, but they are great at what they do. NAS Kingsville is also famous for the Wings Over South Texas Air Show, which is held annually.
The base was built on July 4, 1942, and has been in use ever since. Today, NAS Kingsville is used primarily to train navy aviators. In fact, the base is one of the Navy’s premier training facilities for jet aviation. NAS Kingsville trains student Naval Aviators from the US Navy and US Marine Corps. The NAS is home to Training Air Wing TWO, as well as many tenant commands. The base is fairly small, especially in terms of population. There are around 300 officers, 200 enlisted, 350 civilians, and 625 maintenance personnel stationed at NAS Kingsville. The base is by no means a high-volume training facility, but the students who graduate from the bases training program are skilled and dedicated.