Naval Air Station Norfolk, located adjacent to Naval Station Norfolk in Hampton Roads, Virginia, is the primary shore base for Atlantic Fleet carrier air wing squadrons — Carrier Air Wing (CVW) components that deploy aboard Atlantic Fleet carriers returning to NAS Norfolk between deployments. NAS Norfolk is the largest naval air station by acreage on the East Coast, with extensive hangar facilities, maintenance shops, and support infrastructure serving multiple carrier air wings simultaneously. Aviation maintenance personnel at NAS Norfolk encountered asbestos across multiple exposure pathways throughout the Cold War.

Carrier Air Wing Aircraft Component Asbestos

Aviation maintenance personnel at NAS Norfolk performed organizational and intermediate maintenance on the full range of carrier air wing aircraft types with asbestos-containing components:

  • Aircraft brake assemblies on F-4 Phantom II, A-6 Intruder, A-7 Corsair II, F-14 Tomcat, S-3 Viking, and other carrier air wing aircraft used asbestos friction material in brake assemblies serviced by Aviation Structural Mechanics (AM/AME) during landing gear maintenance
  • Engine gaskets and high-temperature components in all Navy jet engines — Pratt & Whitney J57, J52, J75, TF30; General Electric J79; General Dynamics TF41 — used asbestos-containing gaskets on high-temperature sections serviced by Aviation Machinist’s Mates (AD)
  • Aircraft firewall materials in multiple carrier air wing aircraft types incorporated asbestos cloth and board in firewall and heat shield construction, disturbed during engine changes and major airframe maintenance operations at NAS Norfolk’s extensive maintenance facilities

Older Station Building Infrastructure

NAS Norfolk was established in 1917 — one of the oldest naval air stations in the country — and its building inventory spans more than a century of construction. Older buildings contain extensive asbestos:

  • WWII-era and early postwar hangars built in the 1940s and 1950s used asbestos-containing overhead construction and structural steel fireproofing
  • Historic base buildings from the 1917-1940 period containing asbestos-laden building materials in their fabric
  • Base steam heating and utility systems serving older NAS Norfolk buildings using asbestos-insulated pipe throughout the base utility distribution

NAS Norfolk was the location of NADEP Norfolk — a Naval Aviation Depot performing depot-level overhaul on carrier-based aircraft — with the same asbestos exposure categories as other NADEP facilities: aircraft brake overhaul, engine component overhaul, and facility infrastructure containing asbestos.

VA Claims for NAS Norfolk Veterans

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure at naval air stations. Veterans who served at NAS Norfolk in aviation maintenance ratings or at NADEP Norfolk before the early 1980s asbestos phase-down and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.