An A-4 Skyhawk became the last jet aircraft to fly out of NAS Anacostia on 25 January 1962 with the transfer to Andrews AFB being complete in December 1961.

Captain Frank D. Heyer transferred his command from Anacostia to Andrews, concurrent with the commissioning of the new Naval Air Facility (NAF), Washington D.C.[1] Throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s, Navy and Marine Reservists flew the AD-5 Skyraider, FJ-4B Fury, F-8U Crusader, RF-8G Photo Crusader, C-54 Skymaster and C-118 cargo aircraft, SP-2 Neptune aircraft and a variety of others.

This 'aircraft custodian' practice, common throughout the Naval Air Reserve, required tenant squadrons to "rent" the aircraft from the NAF on their respective drill weekends.

[1] In April 1972, the Naval Air Reserve was reorganized into two tactical carrier wings (CVW-20 and CVW-30) with supporting transport and patrol squadrons.

The merger was effective from 1 October 2009, when the joint base was established, with the US Air Force being the lead organization providing management and support services for both installations.

Its mission is training and readiness support for twelve Navy and US Marine Corps commands aboard NAF Washington in order to deploy forces globally.