Virginia

Straight from the archives of the Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation comes this visual history dating back over the installation's more-than 100 year history.

Naval Station Norfolk is the world's largest naval station, supporting the Navy ships, submarines, and aircraft of the US Fleet Forces Command with a multitude of facilities and services.

This shore establishment, located on the historic harbor of Hampton Roads, Virginia, has remained vital to the Navy since its foundation in 1917. Once established, the naval station focused on serving the fleet in four areas: aviation, recruit training, a submarine base, and a supply base. Men and women of the station continued to work on these and other activities through the pressures of World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Throughout its incredible history, Naval Station Norfolk made sure that ships and aircraft were successfully deployed to the far reaches of the globe--the nation's indispensable response to international conflicts. Nowadays, the station is the hub for Navy logistics supporting the defense of the entire Atlantic area, from the North Pole to the South Pole. A must-have for fans of United States Naval and military history.

In March 1921, Major John G. Thornell and his crew were detailed to Italy to procure a new experimental airship for the United States Army Air Service. Stationed at Langley Field in Hampton, the ROMA never lived up to expectations despite being heralded as the future of military innovation. Tragically, it crashed and erupted in a ball of fire in 1922, claiming the lives of thirty-four of the brave men aboard.  Author Nancy E. Sheppard reveals the forgotten, harrowing story of one of the last great airships and those who sacrificed for the promise of a new era in aviation.

In 1910, an awestruck crowd at the Roanoke Fair got its first glimpse of powered flight when a Curtiss biplane soared overhead. Within the next decade, gliders were lifting off from hills in South Roanoke and cow pastures were being converted into airstrips. Once Roanoke Municipal Airport was developed in 1929, earlier local airfields such as Cook, Trout, and Horton Fields were rendered inactive. Then in 1941, when—with federal assistance— the municipal airport became Woodrum Field, the region's air travel transitioned into the modern era and brought services from major airlines to the area. Roanoke's aviation reputation continued to grow when the city played a critical role in military air travel and training during World War II, leading its airport to become one of the busiest on the East Coast. Aviation in Roanoke tells the stories of early airfields, the growth and transformation of Woodrum Field, and the adventures of Roanoke's aviation pioneers.

In 1972, two pilots--one a federal career engineer, the other the pastor of a prominent church in Washington, D.C.--discovered a common passion for flying airplanes and serving people. One day over lunch, the men conceived a flight plan, one that would undergo many changes before becoming Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, as it is known today. Ed Boyer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Dr. Louis Evans, pastor of the National Presbyterian Church, discussed how to pool their interests and qualifications. From its beginnings as a charitable shuttle service for religious leaders and dignitaries, to full-scale charitable air ambulance operations, to Angel Flights for ambulatory patients, the initial vision has grown into a network of over 1,500 volunteer pilots in the Mid-Atlantic region who use their private planes to fly people in need to specialized treatment. Angel Flight coordinates missions of mercy from its offices in Virginia Beach, helping patients to find "the shortest distance between home and hope."

On December 31, 1862, 16 men perished that stormy New Year's Eve when the USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The United States Navy's first ironclad warship rose to glory during the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, but there's much more to know about the USS Monitor. Historian John Quarstein has painstakingly compiled bits of historical data gathered through years of research to present the first comprehensive picture of the lives of the officers and crew who served faithfully in an iron ship unlike any vessel previously known.

The Monitor Boys, a moniker the men gave themselves, is a reflection of how these hundred-odd souls were bound together through storms, battles, boredom and disaster. Just living aboard the ironclad took uncommon effort and fortitude. Their perseverance through the heat, stress and unseaworthiness that defined life on the ship makes the study of those who dared it a worthy endeavor. Many recognized that they were part of history. Moreover, the Monitor Boys were agents in the change of naval warfare.

Following Quarstein's compelling narrative is a detailed chronology as well as appendices including crew member biographies, casualties and statistics and dimensions of the ship. Readers can dive into the world of the Monitor and meet William Flye, George Geer and the rest of the men who risked everything by going to sea in the celebrated cheesebox on a raft and became the hope of a nation wracked by war.