Suburban Parks: NAS Jacksonville Heritage Park

[Metro Jacksonville]

Suburban Parks: NAS Jacksonville Heritage Park



Located just east of the NAS Jacksonville main gate, Heritage Park is home to several static displays of decommissioned aircraft.

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-mar-suburban-parks-nas-jacksonville-heritage-park

[Cliffs_Daughter]

Thanks! Seeing the HS-3 heli brings back memories of my dad way back when. I'm gonna bring my family there next week to see them all.

[Bill Ectric]

Interesting! This brings back memories of when I worked with A7 Corsairs back in the 70's, doing preflight inspections and fueling them.

[deathstar]

NAS Jax, my home, born January 20th 1982 in the hospital on base.

(Don't know how I managed to press enter before typing more, hmm)

I used to love going to this park as a kid, and would brag to all my classmates about getting to see all the jets and planes up close. I remember some of the pilots coming up and taking to us kids and graciously answering all our little kid questions.

[Ocklawaha]

Wow, military subject, military town, military history and not ONE SINGLE MILITARY yarn to tell? You people have disappointed Ocklawaha!  Furthermore I was going to do a story on 2 more "modern" warfare public museums, one an incredible collection of photos, relics and information open to the public and built as a labor of love. The other museum will knock your freaking socks off, it dwarf's the display at NAS and it's right in our backyard! Oh well, guess if nobody pipes me on deck, I'll stay below with my notebook and camera, "contraband" you understand!


OCKLAWAHA

[BridgeTroll]

The article left off the history of the best aircraft on display...  P-3 Orion... And still going strong after 40 years...  It is currently deployed in every theater of US military operations... From Afghanistan to the Persian Gulf to to the Arctic and Antarctic to the Atlantic, Med, Pacific, SOJ, South China sea, and Indian Ocean.  P-3 crews are often first on the scene in any given crisis and are often in places too sensitive to even acknowledge their presence...



http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=1100&tid=1400&ct=1

P-3C Orion long range ASW aircraft 
 
Description
Four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft.
 
Features
Originally designed as a land-based, long-range, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrol aircraft, the P-3C's mission has evolved in the late 1990s and early 21st century to include surveillance of the battlespace, either at sea or over land. Its long range and long loiter time have proved invaluable assets during Operation Iraqi Freedom as it can view the battlespace and instantaneously provide that information to ground troops, especially U.S. Marines.
The P-3C has advanced submarine detection sensors such as directional frequency and ranging (DIFAR) sonobuoys and magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment. The avionics system is integrated by a general purpose digital computer that supports all of the tactical displays, monitors and automatically launches ordnance and provides flight information to the pilots. In addition, the system coordinates navigation information and accepts sensor data inputs for tactical display and storage. The P-3C can carry a mixed payload of weapons internally and on wing pylons. 
 
Background
The P-3 Orion has been the Navy’s frontline, land-based maritime patrol aircraft since the 1960s. The most capable Orion version is the P-3C, first delivered to the Navy in 1969. The Navy implemented a number of major improvements to the P-3C (Updates I, II, II.5 and III) during its production run. P-3C aircraft communication, navigation, acoustic, non-acoustic and ordnance/weapon systems are still being modernized within several improvement programs to satisfy Navy and joint requirements through the early part of the 21st century.

Primary Function: Antisubmarine warfare(ASW)/Antisurface warfare (ASUW).
Contractor: Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Company.
Date Deployed: First flight, November 1959; Operational, P-3A August 1962 and P-3C August 1969.
Unit Cost: $36 million.
Propulsion: Four Allison T-56-A-14 turboprop engines (4,600 hp each) 
Length: 116.7 feet.
Height: 33.7 feet.
Wingspan: 99.6 feet.
Weight: Maximum takeoff, 139,760 pounds
Airspeed: Maximum, 411 knots; cruise, 328 knots
Ceiling: 28,300 feet.
Range: Mission radius, 2,380 nautical miles; for three hours on-station at 1,500 feet, 1,346 nautical miles.
Crew: (P-3C) three pilots, two naval flight officers, two flight engineers, three sensor operators, one in-flight technician.
Armament: 20,000 pounds of ordnance, including AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-84E SLAM, AGM-84H/K and AGM-65F Maverick missiles, Mk46/50/54.

[rjp2008]

How terrible this park is tucked away from the public spotlight! What fantastic planes to tell the story of Jacksonville. The Tomcat looks awesome. Can we move some of these planes for a downtown outdoor museum?? That would rock! JEA site anyone?

[acme54321]

Bridgetroll... make that 50 years.

rip, you can get out there.  Just show the guards your ID and tell them whats up and they should let you in.  You may have to park at the front and walk in though.  As long as you don't look sketchy it shouldnt be a problem.

They'e also added an H-60 out there since this article was written.

[rjp2008]

I know - just saying bring the planes where more people are - the riverbank.

[heights unknown]

As a retired Navy man, seeing most of these aircraft, especially the H-3 Sea King, S-3 Viking, F-14 Tomcat, F-8 Crusader, A-4 Skyhawk, C-3 cod, brings back memories of my days at NAS Jax and NAS Cecil, and when we had to deploy onboard Aircraft Carriers with those aircraft.  I did two tours of duty at NAS Jax, and two tours of duty at NAS Cecil.  Those were the days!

"HU"