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NAS Barbers Point – P-3 Orion

Barbers Point – P-3 Orion poster art.

Naval Air Station Barbers PointOahu Hawaii also called John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport) is a former United States Naval airfield closed in the 1990s. It was later reopened as Kalaeloa Airport in 1999.

NAS Barbers Point was closed by Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action in the 1990s, with Naval aircraft, primarily P-3C “Orion maritime patrol aircraft. It is currently home to Naval Air Museum Barbers Point which preserves the history of the naval base presence on Barbers Point and in the state of Hawaii.

The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Naval Forces and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily recognizable from the Electra by its distinctive tail stinger or “MAD Boom”, used for the magnetic detection of submarines.