Naval Air Development Center (NADC) Johnsville, located in Warminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was established in 1944 as the Naval Air Development and Material Center, a major Navy aeronautical research and development facility. The center housed the Naval Air Test Facility and conducted decades of research in aircraft systems, propulsion, electronics, and human factors. NADC Johnsville is perhaps best known for its human centrifuge — the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory’s large centrifuge that was used to train NASA’s Mercury and Gemini astronauts in acceleration tolerance and centrifugal force physiological effects during the 1958–1965 era. The center closed in 1996. The WWII-era and Cold War construction of NADC Johnsville’s research laboratories, test facilities, and support buildings used asbestos-containing building materials consistent with military industrial and laboratory construction specifications of the period. Navy personnel and civilian researchers working at Johnsville accumulated asbestos exposure from the facility construction stock throughout the center’s decades of research operations.

Research Facility Construction and Asbestos

NADC Johnsville’s research buildings incorporated asbestos throughout:

  • Laboratory and test facility construction — the aeronautical research laboratories and test facilities at Johnsville used WWII-era and Cold War military-industrial construction with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling products, asbestos-containing pipe insulation, and asbestos-containing construction materials throughout the research facility building stock. Navy engineers, test pilots, and researchers working in these laboratory buildings accumulated asbestos exposure from the asbestos-containing construction in the lab and test building facilities
  • Engine test cell and propulsion test facilities — the aircraft engine and propulsion test cell facilities at Johnsville used high-temperature test facility construction with asbestos-containing thermal insulation and fire protection materials in the test cell structures, where high-temperature test operations required asbestos-containing construction for thermal management
  • Electronics and avionics research buildings — the electronics and avionics research facility buildings used Cold War military-industrial construction with asbestos-containing materials in the research building construction

Centrifuge Facility and WWII-Era Building Construction

The centrifuge and human factors research facilities used asbestos-containing construction:

  • Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory buildings — the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory building housing the famous human centrifuge used WWII-era and Cold War construction with asbestos-containing materials in the building stock, with research personnel and astronaut trainees working in the asbestos-containing facility during centrifuge training operations

VA Claims for NADC Johnsville Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval shore facilities. Navy personnel and military researchers who served at Naval Air Development Center Johnsville and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.