Naval Air Station Barbers Point, established in 1942 on the southwestern coast of Oahu, Hawaii, served as a major Navy maritime patrol aviation installation throughout WWII and the Cold War. The station’s location on Oahu’s western shore provided access to both the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific submarine patrol areas critical to Cold War anti-submarine warfare (ASW) surveillance. NAS Barbers Point operated VP (Patrol) squadrons flying P-2 Neptune and P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft in sustained Pacific ASW surveillance missions throughout the Cold War, complementing the ASW patrol operations of NAS Moffett Field and NAS Barbers Point’s WESTPAC deployment cycle. The station’s WWII-era hangars and Cold War-era maintenance facilities were built using military construction materials that incorporated asbestos-containing products in the hangar and facility construction.

WWII and Cold War Facility Construction and Asbestos

NAS Barbers Point’s construction incorporated asbestos throughout:

  • WWII-era maritime patrol hangars — the large patrol aviation hangars at Barbers Point built during the WWII expansion used wartime military construction with asbestos-containing roofing products, asbestos floor tile in the hangar areas, and asbestos pipe insulation in the hangar mechanical systems. VP squadron aviation maintenance ratings performing P-2 and P-3 maintenance in these hangars accumulated asbestos exposure from the WWII-era and Cold War hangar construction
  • Cold War maintenance and overhaul facilities — the aviation maintenance shops, propulsion test cells, and overhaul facilities at NAS Barbers Point built during the Cold War used military construction with asbestos floor tile, asbestos ceiling materials, and asbestos pipe insulation in the shop building mechanical systems
  • Support buildings and barracks — the barracks, administrative buildings, and support facilities at Barbers Point used WWII-era and Cold War military construction with asbestos-containing floor tile, ceiling products, and pipe insulation in the residential and support facility construction. VP squadron personnel assigned to Barbers Point for shore duty tours lived in these asbestos-containing residential facilities

VA Claims for NAS Barbers Point Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval air stations. Navy personnel who served at NAS Barbers Point and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.