Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton

Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, Calverton (NWIRP) was a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility which had the mission of designing, fabricating, and testing prototype aircraft from 1956 until 1996, located in Riverhead, New York.

History
In 1956 the United States Navy purchased about 6000 acre on the Peconic River by New York Route 25 for the facility. Among the properties purchased was a mansion belonging to the grandson of F.W. Woolworth.

The Navy was to build among other things a 10000 ft runway. It is labeled on topographic maps as Grumman Peconic River Airport with an FAA code of CTO.

The unit is most associated with test, assembly and retrofitting the A-6 Intruder, E-2 Hawkeye, EA-6B Prowler and F-14 Tomcat. Older U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft such as the F9F Panther, F-9 Cougar, and F-11 Tiger were also tested at the facility.

The Grumman site consisted of "Plant Six," where final assembly of F-14s, A-6s, EA-6Bs, and E-2Cs took place, and "Plant Seven," Flight Test.

During the Space Race, Grumman built a mock up of the lunar surface to test its proposed Lunar Roving Vehicle. Many of the lunar astronauts were said to have visited the plant then.

In 1965, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed converting the airport into the fourth New York City metropolitan airport joining Laguardia Airport, John F. Kennedy Airport and Newark Airport. The proposal was abandoned following opposition from both Grumman and local residents.

In 1974, when the two other National Cemeteries on Long Island (Cypress Hills National Cemetery and Long Island National Cemetery) were running out of space, the Navy was approached about donating its undeveloped land north of Route 25 for a cemetery. On December 7, 1977, a 902 acre tract was donated to form Calverton National Cemetery. More land would be donated by the Navy in 2000 bringing the total to 1045 acre making it the largest national cemetery in the United States (and also the busiest).

Grumman merged with Northrop Corporation in 1994, forming Northrop Grumman Corporation and the new firm eliminated almost all operations on Long Island. Grumman vacated the site on February 14, 1996. The airport has since been developed into Calverton Executive Airpark.