Bader Field , also known as Atlantic City Municipal Airport, was a city-owned public-use

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 ...

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 surfa ...

located in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

, in Atlantic County,

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 Delawa ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It was approximately one mile from the terminus of

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America, is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid-Atlantic States. As with most routes wh ...

and

U.S. Route 322 U.S. Route 322 (US 322) is a long, east–west United States Highway, traversing Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The road is a spur of U.S. Route 22 and one of the original highways from 1926. A portion of it at one time was concurrent with ...

. The city purchased the land for the airfield in 1922. It was named after the former mayor of Atlantic City,

Edward L. Bader Edward Lawrence Bader (June 8, 1874 – January 29, 1927) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey for much of the Roaring Twenties, when the city was arguably at the peak of its popularity as a vacation sp ...

. Bader Field permanently closed on September 30, 2006. The field as of 2016 was for sale. The first use of term of "air port" anywhere was used in 1919 to describe this field. Located less than a mile across the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following t ...

from the landmark original Convention Hall, it was Atlantic City's principal airport during the city's

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

golden age. Every United States president from

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

flew to the airport during their terms. Its decline began in 1958 when the former Naval air station was converted to joint civilian/military use as

Atlantic City International Airport Atlantic City International Airport is a shared civil-military airport northwest of Atlantic City, New Jersey, in Egg Harbor Township, the Pomona section of Galloway Township and in Hamilton Township. The airport is accessible via Exit 9 o ...

. It is about 9 miles further inland. Private planes had continued to use the airport until 2006. The airport land, which has a scenic view of Atlantic City's Boardwalk casinos has long been considered prime real estate for luxury usage or casino, but efforts to develop it have so far not succeeded.

History

Bader Field was opened in 1910 and was authorized to provide passenger service in 1911 (with

Glenn Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

piloting the first passenger). It was the first U.S. municipal airport with facilities for both

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

s and land-based airplanes. In October 15, 1910,

Walter Wellman Walter E. Wellman (November 3, 1858 – January 31, 1934) was an American journalist, explorer, and aëronaut. Biographical background Walter Wellman was born in Mentor, Ohio, in 1858. He was the sixth son of Alonzo Wellman and the fourth by ...

launched the

blimp A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hy ...

America 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 territori ...

'' from the field in an attempt at the first

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing air ...

. Wellman and the crew abandoned the blimp in the Atlantic off the North Carolina coast in less than 72 hours from takeoff. The first known usage of the term "air-port" appeared in a newspaper article in 1919, in reference to Bader Field. The term was coined by Robert Woodhouse and referred to the "Flying Limousines", a seaplane passenger service between Atlantic City and New York. In 1933 Albert Ernest Forsythe and C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson became the first black men to make a round trip transcontinental flight (to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

). Bader Field was the founding location of the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a congressionally chartered, federally supported non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CAP is a volunteer organization with an aviation-minded mem ...

in 1941. Most of the commercial service moved in 1978. It had a brief revival in the early 1980s when casinos began using it for charters. Scheduled commercial airline service at the airport ended in 1990, when

Allegheny Airlines Allegheny Airlines was a regional airline that operated out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1952 to 1979 with routes primarily located in the eastern U.S. It was the forerunner of USAir that was subsequently renamed US Airways, which itself me ...

moved to the larger

. The

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

was removed in the late 1990s and some of the former airport property was used to build a minor-league baseball stadium.

Accidents and incidents

On May 15, 2005, the

Cessna CitationJet The Cessna CitationJet/CJ/M2 (also known as the Model 525) are a series of light business jets built by Cessna, and are part of the Citation family. Launched in October 1989, the first flight of the Model 525 was on April 29, 1991. Federal A ...

525A registered OY-JET overran the runway when attempting a 10 knots tailwind landing, ending up in the adjoining

. An eyewitness video captured the accident from the

final approach In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of ...

to the rescue of the plane's occupants by local boaters and the subsequent inadvertent operation of the aircraft as an "airboat". The

NTSB 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 inci ...

report of the accident noted, "...the airport diagram...observed attached to the pilot's control column after the accident...read, 'airport closed to jet aircraft'".

Redevelopment and later uses

Bader Field is considered a prime redevelopment site. In 1998,

Bernie Robbins Stadium Surf Stadium is a 5,500-seat baseball stadium in Atlantic City, New Jersey that opened in 1998 and has been mostly closed since 2009, although some renovation was performed in 2011 and 2012. The stadium was officially renamed as Surf Stadium in Ap ...

, a 5,500-seat baseball stadium, opened on the site, housing the

Atlantic City Surf The Atlantic City Surf were a professional minor league baseball team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Surf was most recently a member of the Can-Am League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The Surf played its home games ...

minor league baseball team until it discontinued operations in 2009. An indoor ice skating rink,

Flyers Flyer or flier may refer to: *An aviator, a person who flies an aircraft *Flyer (pamphlet), a single-page leaflet Music * ''Flyer'' (album), by Nanci Griffith * Flyer (band), a Croatian pop band Sports *Flyer, a position in cheerleading stunt ...

Skate Zone, also opened up at the Bader Field site. The South Jersey Region of the

Sports Car Club of America The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

hosts

autocross Autocross (also called "Solo", "Auto-x" or "Autoslalom") is a timed competition in which drivers navigate one at a time through a defined course on either a sealed or an unsealed surface. It is a form of motorsports that emphasizes safe competitio ...

events at Bader Field during the non-winter months. The SJR SCCA has been using the site for a few years to date. In March 2011, the

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

announced that Bader Field would be the first of four sites for the

Dave Matthews Band Caravan Dave Matthews Band Caravan was a series of concert festivals headed by the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). The four festivals, occurring during the summer of 2011, took the place of DMB's usual summer tour, after the band announced its intentions to t ...

, a three-day music festival featuring an eclectic group of musical acts, with the Dave Matthews Band being the headlining performer for each night. The Atlantic City event was to take place June 24–26, 2011. In announcing the location of the event, the Dave Matthews Band cited Bader Field's proximity to several major metropolitan areas in the northeastern seaboard and its accessibility via several modes of public transportation. Improvements to the site prior to the event included burning overgrown brush as well as improvements to the long-neglected Bernie Robbins Stadium, which would house VIP seating for special ticket holders as well as host a later music festival featuring rapper

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Diddy's Bad ...

. Improvements would also make way for other events, such as motorsports events on the runway strips. In April 2011, Bader Field was included in the new state-run Tourism District controlled by the

Casino Reinvestment Development Authority The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority or CRDA is a New Jersey state governmental agency that was founded in 1984 and is responsible for directing the spending of casino reinvestment funds in public and private projects to benefit Atlantic C ...

. The site's large parcel and potential for redevelopment led to its inclusion, which received much scrutiny from mayor

Lorenzo Langford Lorenzo Tyrone Langford (born c. 1955) is an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party politician from Atlantic City, New Jersey, Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is a former Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey and was the resort cit ...

, who cast the lone "no" vote on the formation of the district, citing the inclusion of Bader Field as his reasoning. In February 2012,

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

announced that their two-day

Orion Music + More Orion () may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology * Orion (spacecraft), NASA crew vehicle first launched in 2022 Arts and media Fictional ent ...

Festival would be staged at Bader Field on June 23 and 24, 2012. The popular

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational " jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often ...

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike G ...

performed a three-day run at Bader Field, June 15–17, 2012. Bader Field was scheduled to host a round of the

Global Rallycross Championship The TitansRX International Series (formerly known as Red Bull Global Rallycross or Global Rallycross) is a group of rallycross series, currently organised by racing driver Max Pucher and businessman Chip Pankow. The initial series was series ru ...

in 2016.

Facilities and aircraft

Bader Field covered an area of 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 § ...

of 8 feet (2.4 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ...

. It had 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 ...

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 ...

s: 4/22 measured 2,595 by 100 feet (791 × 30 m) and 11/29 measured 2,948 by 100 feet (899 × 30 m). For the 12-month period ending January 4, 2001, the airport had 10,683 aircraft operations, an average of 29 per day: 81%

and 19%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

References

External links

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD) ...