Military

Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field [MCALF] Bogue Field

MCALF Bogue Field is the primary location for AV-8B practice operations. It is also used by other locally based USMC aircraft. It supports about 3500 FCLPs per training year. Training squadron aircraft take priority over normal traffic; exercises take priority over all other users, including training. One reference specifically stated that it was unlikely that this facility would be used to provide additional capacity for conventional (i.e. non-AV-8B) FCLPs.

This 875-acre landing field fronts Bogue Sound. It is primarily used for field carrier landing practice, and pilots perform many of these landings at night to simulate landing on an aircraft carrier. It also serves as the Marines' only East Coast site for such training, to include the maintenance and operation of an expeditionary airfield. This capability helps ensure success for the Corps. It provides the force with the means to forward deploy its aviation assets in order to have a more readily accessible aviation punch for the Marine Air Ground Task Force commander on the battlefield.

Bogue Field (officially Marine Corps Auxiliary Landing Field Bogue) consists of a runway constructed of aluminum panels which can, in theory, be disassembled and reconstructed anywhere in the world in a matter of days by a specialty construction battalion. Bogue Field has no aircraft permanently assigned. It serves as a training facility primarily for AV-8 Harriers from Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. However, it is also used for practice approaches by C-130 transports from Cherry Point, F-18 fighters from Beaufort, SC, and helicopters from New River MCAS.

The communities of Emerald Isle and Bogue are near the Bogue facility. MCAS Cherry Point has enjoyed a comfortable relationship with these communities and the counties, although Emerald Isle residents have formed a committee to evaluate the impact that MCALF Bogue has on their community. That there is a noise impact on Emerald Isle's lifestyle is obvious. Citizens who live close to normal flight patterns find it very offensive. Tourists who visit the area are probably mixed in their opinions, but there is anecdotal evidence that tourists favor the quieter sections of Bogue Banks. No survey has specifically been aimed at our visitors. The Town of Emerald Isle's economic engine is tourism, not government spending. In this respect, it is different from much of the rest of Carteret County.