New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport , also known as Jack Bolt Field, is a public

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 three miles (5 km) northwest of the central business district of

New Smyrna Beach New Smyrna Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States, located on the central east coast of the state, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its population is 30,142 in 2020 by the United States Census Bureau. The downtown section o ...

, a city in

Volusia County Volusia County (, ) is located in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Florida, stretching between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2020 census, the county was home to 553,543 people, an increase of 11.9% from the 2 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

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 territori ...

. It is owned by the City of New Smyrna Beach. This airport is assigned a three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programm ...

of EVB by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

, but it does not have an

International Air Transport Association (IATA) airport code An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier, IATA station code, or simply a location identifier, is a three-character alphanumeric geocode designating many airports and metropolitan areas around the world, defined by the I ...

History

Prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the present airport site was home to both a golf course and a grass airstrip. In 1942, the site was taken over by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

and the present paved runway complex constructed. Designated as Navy Outlying Field New Smyrna Beach, it operated as an auxiliary field to advanced naval flight training operations being conducted at nearby Naval Air Station Daytona Beach,

Naval Air Station Sanford Naval Air Station Sanford was a naval air station of the United States Navy in Sanford, Florida, approximately 20 miles north of Orlando, Florida. Opening less than a year after the start of World War II, NAS Sanford's initial function was as ...

and Naval Air Station DeLand. In 1947, NOLF New Smyrna Beach was decommissioned and the facility conveyed back to the City of New Smryna Beach for use as a civilian airport. As a Navy airfield, the facility originally incorporated four intersecting asphalt runways. Although all paved areas remain, only three of the runways remain operational today. Prior to 2004, the airport was an uncontrolled facility. In October 2004, a Level I contract control at the airport became operational, changing the airport's status to that of a controlled field. Today the airport serves the needs of charter airlines and general aviation activities, to include flight training and corporate air travel. In 2006, the City of New Smyrna Beach added the additional name to the airport of Jack Bolt Field in honor of the late Naval Aviator, Lieutenant Colonel John "Jack" Bolt, USMC. A former New Smyrna Beach resident, Bolt was both an aerial ace and a recipient of the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...

. While flying the

F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

with

VMF-214 Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 214 (VMFA-214) is a United States Marine Corps attack squadron consisting of Lockheed Martin F-35B STOVL jets. It is currently in the process of transitioning from its fleet of AV-8B Harrier ( V/STOL) jets. The ...

, Bolt shot down six Japanese

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usual ...

fighters during

. During the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, while on an exchange assignment with the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

's 39th Fighter Interceptor Squadron flying the F-86 Sabrejet, Bolt also shot down six North Korean

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

jet fighters. A military aircraft propeller and a plaque commemorating Bolt's accomplishments was erected at the airport in 2006.

Facilities and aircraft

New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport covers an area of which contains three

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, concre ...

s: *Runway 2/20: 4,000 x 100 ft (1,219 x 30 m) *Runway 7/25: 5,000 x 75 ft (1,524 x 23 m), Lighted without PAPI *Runway 11/29: 4,319 x 100 ft (1,316 x 30 m), Lighted with PAPI For the 12-month period ending May 7, 2002, the airport had 140,554 aircraft operations, an average of 385 per day: 99.6%

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 ...

, 0.3%

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) ...

and <0.1% military. There are 159 aircraft based at this airport: 86% single-engine, 13% multi-engine 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 ...

. The

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

on field, Epic Aviation, offers 100LL Avgas and Jet-A fuel and pilot amenities.

Epic Flight Academy Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

is a

flight school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

offering a full range of flight training in response to the pilot shortage and aircraft mechanic training. Airgate Aviation is a full service fixed-base operator, with Hertz rental cars on site. Airgate operates Island Hopperz restaurant, which is open daily, from 8:00 am until 6:00 pm. Airgate offers single point and overawing Jet-A fuel as well as 100LL Avgas.

Accidents and incidents

On August 1, 1980, a

Douglas R4D The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

, civilian registration number N45864, crashed at New Smyrna Beach, Florida shortly after take-off on a ferry flight to

Queen Beatrix International Airport Queen Beatrix International Airport ( nl, Internationale luchthaven Koningin Beatrix; pap, Aeropuerto Internacional Reina Beatrix), colloquially known as Aruba Airport , is an international airport located in Oranjestad, Aruba. It has flight s ...

, Aruba. The unqualified pilot had been drinking.

References

External links

* brochure fro
CFASPPBiplane FunflightsEpic AviationEpic Flight AcademyAirGate Aviation
* *
{{Use mdy dates, date=November 2016 Airports in Volusia County, Florida Buildings and structures in New Smyrna Beach, Florida 1947 establishments in Florida