NAS JRB Fort Worth is located west of the city of Fort Worth, with almost 1 million inhabitants, one of the largest cities of Texas. The base was founded in 1994 and is the successor of the former Naval Air Station Dallas and incorporates Carswell Air Force Base, a former Strategic Air Command (SAC) base. Currently the base is home of US Navy, US Marines and USAF units and is home to the famous Air Force Plant 4.

Units
The base hosts a variety of different units and different airplanes. Although the US Navy is the owner of the base, its delegation is the smallest. Only VR-59 “Lonestar Express” with the C-40As is stationed at Fort Worth. The US Marines have three stationed squadrons: VMR-1 “Roadrunners” also with C-40As, VMGR-234 “Rangers” with KC-130Js and VMFA-112 “Cowboys” with F/A-18s. The USAF is present with three squadrons. The 181st Airlift Squadron, a Texas ANG unit, with C-130s and the 24^th and 457^th Fighter Squadron. These units are Air Force Reserve Command squadrons, flying the F-16C and D model.

Air Force Plant 4
NAS JRB Fort Worth is also home of Air Force Plant 4, a government-owned aerospace facility operated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and used for manufacturing military aircraft. The B-24 Liberator was the first aircraft Plant 4 produced after the opening in 1941. In the 19sixties the plant started to produce the F-111 ‘Aardvark’. By the time the production ended in 1976 Plant 4 built 562 F-111s. In the 19seventies the plant started the production of the F-16 ‘Falcon’. The first F-16 was delivered to the USAF on 17 August 1978. Over 39 years Plant 4 produced 3620 F-16s for the USAF and numerous other nations. In 2017 the F-16 production moved to a factory at the East Coast. Nowadays, the F-35 Lightning II is produced at Plant 4. More than 70 F-35s were built at Plant 4 in 2017.

A Picture of VMFA-112’s Commander’s jet was published in the June 2017 issue of Combat Aircraft Monthly