Immokalee Airport
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Immokalee Regional Airport is a public use
airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
located one 
nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...
(2  km) northeast of the
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
of
Immokalee (your home) , nickname = , settlement_type = Census-designated place , motto = , image_skyline = File:Immokalee-Zocalo Plaza 2018.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption ...
, in
Collier County, Florida Collier County is a county (United States), county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 375,752; an increase of 16.9% since the 2010 United States Census. Its county seat is East N ...
, United States. The airport is owned by the Collier County Airport Authority. Formerly known as Immokalee Airport, it is included in the
National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...
for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
'' facility.


History

It was established as Immokalee Army Airfield, and activated on July 5, 1942. It was assigned to
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
East Coast Training Center (later Eastern Training Command). It was an auxiliary to
Hendricks Army Airfield Hendricks Army Airfield was a World War II United States Army Air Forces base located 6.6 miles east-southeast of Sebring, Florida. History Hendricks Army Airfield is a former United States Army Air Forces base. It was used during World War I ...
and was an AAF Specialized Pilot Training School (4-Engine) for B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers. The airfield also provided flexible gunnery training for
Buckingham Army Airfield Buckingham Army Airfield is an inactive United States Army Air Forces base, approximately 10 miles east of Fort Myers, Florida. It was active during World War II as an Army Air Forces Training Command airfield. It was closed on 30 Septemb ...
near
Fort Myers Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
. It was transferred to
Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in E ...
in July 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program and was a group training facility for replacement personnel. It became an auxiliary of the
Sarasota Army Airfield Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...
replacement fighter pilot training school. The airfield was declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on September 30, 1945. It was eventually discharged to the
War Assets Administration The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Ord ...
and became a civil airport. Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History’s Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC.


Facilities and aircraft

Immokalee Regional Airport covers an area of 1,330
acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...
s (538 ha) at an
elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
of 37 feet (11 m) above
mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
. It has two
asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
paved
runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
s, designated 9/27 and 18/36. 9/27 is 5,000 x 100 feet (1,524 x 30 m) and 18/36 is 5,000 x 150 feet (1,524 x 46 m). For the 12-month period ending October 22, 2013, the airport had 36,500
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...
aircraft operations, an average of 100 per day. At that time there were 60 aircraft based at this airport: 45 single-
engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
, 9 multi-engine, 4
jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...
, and 2
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
.


See also

*
Florida World War II Army Airfields During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Florida for antisubmarine defense in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters, attack planes, and ...


References


External links

*
Immokalee Regional Airport
at Collier County website * brochure fro
CFASPP

Aerial image as of February 1999
from
USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
''
The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...
'' *
{{Florida airports Airports in Florida Transportation buildings and structures in Collier County, Florida Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Florida Airports established in 1943 1943 establishments in Florida