Ocean City Municipal Airport is the only

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 on a

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

barrier island. Named Clarke Field after a naval commander, the public airport is located two

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 ...

s (3.704 km) southwest 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 Ocean City, in

Cape May County Cape May County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Much of the county is located on Cape May bound by Delaware Bay to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and east. Adjacent to the Atlantic coastline are fiv ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is owned by the City of Ocean City. It was built between 1934 and 1935 with funds from the

Civil Works Administration The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. The jobs were ...

History

In October 1929, Ocean City officials purchased of land between 22nd and 28th street, west of Bay Avenue, for $87,000 (1929

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

). The city planned on building a municipal airport, replacing the grassy field at 18th and Bay. A week after the city purchased the land, the

Wall Street Crash of 1929 The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

occurred, which halted plans due to lack of money. On September 7, 1932, then-

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Harry Headley named the undeveloped airport as ''Clarke Field'', after Vincent A. Clarke, Jr., commander of the USS Los Angeles

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

. On January 5, 1934, Mayor Headley announced that the city received a $100,400 grant (1934 USD) from the

to construct the new airport – about 75% would go toward labor, employing about 400 people, while the remainder of the cost was for materials. On January 15, 1934, the future airport had its

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...

ceremony. The airport was designed by Erwin L. Schwatt, and was originally intended to have three

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, with material dredged from the

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

. On July 4, 1935, the airport opened, after delays due to weather and broken equipment. The airport opened to the public in November 1937, making it the only airport on a New Jersey

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of Dune, dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything fro ...

. In February 2018, the city of Ocean City proposed spending $2.3 million to rebuild the airport, replacing the small building that currently houses the airport operation center and a small diner.

Facilities and aircraft

Ocean City Municipal Airport covers an area of . It contains one

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

(6/24) measuring in length, and wide. For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2018, the airport had 22,218 aircraft operations, which averages to 61 per day, with 40% local

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 ...

and 60% itinerant general aviation. There are 14 aircraft based at this airport: 12 single-engine and 2 multi-engine. On the airport premises is the Ocean City Municipal Golf Course. The Airport Diner, formerly housed in the airport building, closed during the

covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Incidents

Several incidents have occurred at the airport, warranting investigations by the

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

(NTSB). *On March 24, 2002, a Cessna 172P veered off the runway upon landing due to high crosswinds. *On July 4, 2002, a Mooney M20J crashed and sustained heavy damage upon landing on the runway and veering into nearby marsh. *On May 19, 2003, a Cessna 175a left the airport and lost engine power. After turning the plane around, the pilot landed the plane in the ocean about south of the airport. A day later on May 20, a Cessna 172G encountered severe turbulence upon landing at the airport. The pilot attempted to abort the landing, but due to insufficient speed, the plane traveled off the runway and crashed into a nearby swamp, which severely damaged the plane and injured the two occupants. *On August 29, 2004, a Piper PA-24-180 collided with a wind marker due to pilot error, causing severe damage to the plane, but no injuries to the four occupants. *On July 4, 2009, a

Lancair Lancair International, Inc. (pronounced ''"lance-air"'') is a U.S. manufacturer of general aviation aircraft kits. They are well known for their series of high-performance single-engine aircraft that offer cruise speeds that surpass many tw ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

flew from

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

to Ocean City Airport, and struck two

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...

while landing. The plane veered off the runway and struck a light. The accident damaged the plane's propeller, the right-main landing gear, and the frame. The NTSB credited the incident to the lack of a wildlife management program at the airport; as a result, the airport began warning pilots of wildlife. Subsequently, workers captured and removed over 40 geese from the airport. *On May 3, 2011, a 1980 Cessna A185F was blown off the runway during takeoff, causing the plane to crash, but no injuries to the pilot. *On August 10, 2017, a CASA 1.131 plane veered off the runway during landing, which damaged the left wing and the landing gear. *On August 10, 2018, a

Robinson R22 The Robinson R22 is a two-seat, two-bladed, single-engine light utility helicopter manufactured by Robinson Helicopter Company. It was designed in 1973 by Frank D. Robinson, and has been in production since 1979. Development The majority of fli ...

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 ...

crashed near the runway, involving a student and a flight instructor; the two occupants were taken to nearby Shore Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

References

External links

* {{Ocean City, New Jersey Airports in New Jersey Ocean City, New Jersey Transportation buildings and structures in Cape May County, New Jersey Civil Works Administration New Deal in New Jersey 1935 establishments in New Jersey Transportation in Cape May County, New Jersey

History

Facilities and aircraft

Incidents

See also

References

External links