In 1927, the US Navy floated a small tin hanger down the Detroit River, planting it on a grass airfield at the southern tip of Grosse Ile, Michigan. This established one of the nation's largest and most important bases for training young officers in the art of flight and aerial combat. Nestled among the farms and lavish estates of the small island, Naval Air Station Grosse Ile (NAS GI) was home to thousands of Navy officers earning their wings before leaving to fight in World War II . Their story is told through photographs taken by the airmen who flew and lived there, from its beginnings to its decommissioning more than 40 years later. This is the story of men such as Pres. George H.W. Bush, who learned to fly in fragile biplanes at NAS GI. And this is the story of the ZMC-2, the Navy's only all-metal blimp, constructed at NAS GI. Finally, this is the story of NAS GI today. Spared the fate of many decommissioned bases, Cessnas, Pipers, and Mooneys rest in the same hangars where Corsairs and Phantoms once prowled. Private pilots take flight and land via NAS GI's unmistakable triangle of runways. And students can still earn their wings on the same concrete strips where young airmen trained before fight the Battles of Midway, Coral Sea, and Leyte Gulf.