It has been a sleeping giant along Parkway Avenue for decades. The enormous buildings and structures comprising the Naval Air Propulsion Center, originally built super-tough and strong, slowly deteriorating and being engulfed by rust and vegetation, have silently remained a huge presence in the Township for decades.
But that is now changing, as the current demolition of the property (See story on page 5) and its structures begins to remove the longtime “giant” from its place of seemingly perpetual inactivity.
However, this “giant” was once a critical piece of our nation’s defense and aviation capabilities, a significant employer in the area, and a “claim to fame” for Ewing. In respect, it seems more than appropriate to offer a eulogy – or at least some historical background! So here goes:
When the US entered World War II in December of 1941, the 3-year-old General Motors Inland Fisher Guide manufacturing plant on Parkway Avenue was ordered by the government to quickly reorganize as Eastern Aircraft (a division of GM), and to retool to build the Avenger, the US Navy’s brand new primary torpedo bomber, and the largest single-engine plane in the Navy’s fleet. The Avenger would become the most effective and widely-used WW2 bomber, sinking battleships and submarines. The first aircraft from Eastern/GM was delivered within nine months, and the first 1000 aircraft were delivered within 13 months.
But these new planes needed to be tested before delivery, and the large Avenger needed ample room to be tested. The planes were carried over the neighboring railroad tracks across the street to a field for machine gun testing, and for test flight, and then for flight to the ultimate destination. Eventually the Navy purchased 1000 acres across the street from GM for this purpose.
Fast forward to the end of the war, and several things became apparent:
• Larger, gas turbine engines were needed to improve planes;
• Such turbine engines would need to be tested for behavior at various altitudes and environmental conditions; and
• Such ground-based testing would need to be under controlled and repeatable conditions.
The Bureau of Aeronautics conducted a study, and determined that “there are no laboratories available either in the commercial industry or the government capable of conducting dynamometer tests of large full-scale internal combustion turbines under simulated altitude condition” and “conversion or modification of existing facilities for gas turbine testing would be both uneconomical and unsatisfactory”.
In 1947, the Navy and the Air Force tested engines in the wind and icing conditions on Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Clearly, there needed to be a more convenient place to test engines!
Since the Navy had purchased land in Ewing with ample space to build such a facility, access to railroad and transportation, sufficient electrical power available, and access to cooling water in the Delaware not far away, the decision was made to build a testing facility for jet engines right here in Ewing. The Naval Air Turbine Test Station (NATTS) was commissioned in 1951, activated in 1956, and full scale engine testing started in 1956. The total spent from 1948 to 1956 on this project was $41M.
The Naval Air Systems Command report on the history of the NATTS in Ewing from which I am pulling much of this information (Naval Air Systems Command- The Naval Air Propulsion Center Story, Trenton New Jersey, 1953-1998) then goes into a lot of engineering and technical detail which I readily confess is beyond my understanding, and I don’t want to misrepresent the material. But clearly the NATTS tested turbine engines under a variety of simulated situations, including differing altitudes, temperatures, wind speeds, environmental conditions, etc., and determining how to design and manufacture the best and safest engines possible.
So from the first test of an engine at the facility in November, 1954, through turboprop tests, sea level tests, turbojet altitude tests, turbofan testing and even cruise missiles, the NATTS in Ewing provided a singularly critical step in assuring that each new engine design was safe, and would perform predictably. While the facility merged with other Navy facilities and changed names a few times (including the “Naval Air Warfare Center”), it remained a crucial piece of our defense ability until its last test in 1997, and its closure in 1998.
Thank you for your service, NATTS!
Helen Kull is an advisor with the Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society.
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