History
Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss retired from aircraft development and manufacturing in the 1920s and became a real estate developer in Florida. In 1926, he founded the City of Opa-locka, naming it Opa-tisha-woka-locka (quickly shortened to Opa-locka), a Native American name that translates into the high land north of the little river on which there is a camping place.
In late 1925, he moved the Florida Aviation Camp from Hialeah to a parcel west of the city. This small airfield was surrounded by the Opa-locka Golf Course. In 1929, he transferred this land to the City of Miami, and the city erected on it a World War I surplus hangar from Key West. This field became known as the Municipal Blimp Hangar. The following year, the Goodyear Blimp started operations out of this hangar.
In 1928, Curtiss made a separate donation of land south of Opa-locka for Miami's first Municipal Airport. The Curtiss Aviation School later moved from Biscayne Bay to this airport. In 1937, Amelia Earhart started her attempt to circumnavigate the world from this airport. A larger area to the east of Miami Municipal Airport was developed during the 1930s as All-American Airport. The All-American Airport was acquired by the City of Miami around 1938 and on this land the city of Miami built the first "Miami International (Master) Airport".
After Curtiss died in 1930, his estate transferred a parcel of land north of the golf course and the Florida Aviation Camp to the city of Miami. The city then leased it to the United States Navy. Curtiss had been lobbying for the establishment of the Naval Reserve Base in Miami since 1928. This property became a Naval Reserve Aviation Training Base (NRATB).
In 1932, the U.S. Navy leased from the city of Miami what is today the west half of Opa-locka airport. On this land the Navy erected a dirigible mooring mast. The dirigible USS Akron stopped at this mast on both legs of its 1933 trip to the Panama Canal Zone, and departed the station less than two weeks before its fatal crash in April 1933. The base was one of the stops on the triangular Germany-Brazil-United States-Germany route of the Graf Zeppelin. Major expansion of the base began in 1939, and it was commissioned as Naval Air Station Miami (NAS Miami) in 1940.
The Naval Reserve Air Base, the Municipal Blimp Hangar, the U.S. Navy's Dirigible Mooring Mast, the city of Miami's Municipal Airport and the All-American Airport existed as separate facilities until their land became incorporated into NAS Miami.
Miami Municipal Airport and Miami International (Master) Airport were purchased from the city by the federal government in 1942 and added to Naval Air Station Miami (NAS Miami) as Miami Municipal Field and Master Field (later referred to colloquially as "Masters Field"), respectively. Miami Municipal Field was connected to Masters Field by a taxiway that crossed the railroad tracks which separated the two fields. Miami Municipal Field was renamed Amelia Earhart Field in 1947. The All-American Air Races were held at Miami Municipal/Amelia Earhart Field or All-American Airport/Miami International (Master) Airport from 1929 until 1935, and the All-American Air Maneuvers from 1935 until 1941 and from 1946 to 1950.
During World War II, NAS Miami was headquarters for operations of the U.S. Naval Air Training Command, with six training bases. NAS Miami consisted of the original training base, known as Mainside or Opa-Locka, Miami Municipal Field and Master Field. At its peak, the base employed 7,200 officers and men and 3,100 civilians. Activity continued on a reduced basis after the war.
Following the departure of U.S. Navy, but retention of U.S. Marine Corps Reserve flying and aviation support units, Master Field became Marine Corps Air Station Miami (MCAS Miami) circa 1955. With the transfer of Marine Air Reserve squadrons and support units to NAS Jacksonville, Florida in 1958 and 1959, MCAS Miami was marked for closure and the air station closed as a Department of the Navy installation in 1959. Former military property was transferred to Dade County and the Dade County Junior College opened on the site in 1961.
In 1962, the remainder of the former NAS Miami property, except for a portion reserved for the United States Coast Guard, was transferred to Dade County, and became Opa-locka Airport. In 1965, Coast Guard Air Station Miami transferred its aircraft and operations from its Dinner Key installation to the Opa-locka Airport, re-establishing CGAS Miami on site. CGAS Miami continues to operate on site with HU-25 Guardian and HC-144 Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft and HH-65 Dolphin helicopters.
For the year 1963, Opa-locka was the 42nd busiest civil airport in the country by total operations count. In 1964 it was #18, in 1965 #3, and in 1966 and 1967 it was #2 behind O'Hare. In 1971, it was down to #17. In 1979, there were 551,873 operations recorded; the seventh busiest airport in the nation.
Some of the 9/11 hijackers trained at the airport.
Read more about this topic: Opa-locka Airport
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