NAS Pensacola trains pilots and crew

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - Naval Air Station Pensacola has the physical size and population of a small city and plays a critical role in the training of naval aviators.

Public Affairs Officer Harry White said, "Every Naval aviator starts here. They start at the Naval Aviation Schools Command then they farm out to other places if they're going to be pilots. Here at Naval Air Station Pensacola, we train all of the Naval flight officers. They are the back seat guys who fly the planes or fly in the airplanes."

White knows just about everything you'd want to know about the Naval Air Station, including the stories behind Building 624, where British aviators lived while secretly training during World War II, or the story behind the old smokestack on base, the only remnant of a building destroyed by Hurricane Ivan.

But there's plenty that's state-of-the-art, including the Naval Air Technical Training Center .

White said, "Right now, at the Naval Air Technical Training Center, we have some 5,000 students going through training, so it's very dynamic in that area".

Aboard NAS, there are Marines in training, a deep water port and even some of the top 10 tourist attractions in Florida like the Naval Aviation Museum . White says it's a blend of everything good.

"It's a beautiful base. We have a good combination of that which is old, that which is new and we certainly enjoy that," he said.