NAVY OUTLYING FIELD (NOLF) BARIN FIELD

In this 1940's photograph of Barin Field, both the East and West Fields are clearly visible.The four hangars located between the two fields are no longer there, but the parking ramp remains. A new highway is being built through the old West Field site.

After the outbreak of World War II, the Navy needed an additional field for intermediate training to supplement the training activities at NAS Pensacola. A small, municipal airport 23 miles west at Foley, Alabama, was leased by the Navy, along with the purchase of 650 adjoining acres. Temporary buildings went up and the field was commissioned NAAS Barin field on December 12, 1942. The field was named in honor of Lt. Louis T. Barin, Naval Aviator No. 56, who lost his life in a crash. Lt. Barin also was the co-pilot of the giant NC-1 seaplane on the attempted flight from Newfoundland to the Azore Islands in 1919. NC-1 went down at sea on the 1300 mile leg from Newfoundland to the Azore Islands, but one of its companions, the NC-4 completed the flight and went on to become the first aircraft to fly across the North Atlantic.

Barin training at first consisted of torpedo bomber and fighter instruction. But in 1943, the torpedo training moved to Corry field, leaving Barin to concentrate on the fighter program. SNJs were the primary trainer used.

During its first two years, Barin trained nearly 6,000 flight students, but unfortunately there were 40 fatalities—one of the highest accident rates at that time in either the Navy or the Army flight training. No reason for this was ever determined. National Newspaper Columnist Drew Pearson, whose nephew trained at Barin, dubbed the field "Bloody Barin", a label that would stick.

Barin had two fields (East and West) both with four asphalt runways, the longest 4,000 feet. The base also used several outlying fields in the Alabama countryside. For a brief period in 1945, some 150 German POWs were at Barin doing manual labor.

In 1947 Barin closed, but it was re-opened in 1952 during the Korean War to train pilots in TBMs, ADs, F8Fs, and F6Fs. Later, training units at Barin prepared students in gunnery using SNJ aircraft. Barin closed for a second time in 1958, but kept some aircraft for day field training--mainly simulated carrier landings, for pilots shuttled to Barin from Saufley Field.

In 1962, the Navy sold the former barracks and administration building to a private individual. Barin became an outlying field for Whiting Field. Barin’s "West" field, the original Foley Municipal Airport, was returned to the City of Foley. So, while officially known today as Foley Industrial Park, the old Barin West Field property is essentially unused today. The runways, still in evidence, are surrounded by trees.

(Excerpted from U.S. Naval Air Stations of World War II, by M. L. Shettle, Jr.).

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