On 17 January 1941, almost 11 months before the United States entered World War II, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations asked the Commandant of the 13th Naval District to find a location to re-arm and refuel U.S. Navy patrol planes defending Puget Sound.

Within ten days, the commanding officer of Naval Air Station Seattle recommended the site of Saratoga Passage on the shores of Crescent Harbor and Forbes Point as a base suitable for seaplane takeoffs and landings under instrument conditions.

Dredging, filling, and running water and power lines to the city were underway at the end of November when the word came to find a land plane site.

[citation needed] On December 8, three workers started a topographic survey of what would become Ault Field, about 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north.

The first plane landed there on 5 August, when Lieutenant Newton Wakefield, a former civil engineer and airline pilot, who later became the air station's Operations Officer, brought his SNJ single-engine trainer in with little fanfare.

On 21 September 1942, the air station's first commanding officer, Captain Cyril Thomas Simard, read the orders placing the field in use as a Navy facility.

Following the recommendation of the Interdepartmental Air Traffic Control Board, an area 2.5 miles (4.0 km) southeast of Coupeville was approved as an auxiliary field to serve NAS Seattle.

In 1944, Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bombers became the predominant aircraft at Ault Field, while at the Seaplane Base, several Consolidated PBY Catalina and Martin PBM Mariner seaplanes were aboard in the summer of 1944, augmented by a few land-based Martin B-26 Marauders that arrived earlier that year to be used for towing targets.

The aircrewmen assigned to SAR were initially told this would be a two-year trial period during which time it would be decided if it would be permanent.

Whidbey was now the West Coast training and operations center for these all-weather, medium attack bomber squadrons.

NASWI SAR primarily serves military aircrews, but missions to help civilians in distress are often approved and executed.

[4] Over 50 tenant commands are at NAS Whidbey Island to provide training, medical and dental, and other support services, including a United States Air Force (USAF) squadron (390th ECS) which is an administrative unit supporting USAF officers assigned to some U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler squadrons.

The base also continues its longstanding role as a center of activity for Naval Air Reserve operations and training in the region.