DeLand Municipal Airport
Encyclopedia
DeLand Municipal Airport , also known as Sidney H. Taylor Field, is a city-owned public-use airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 located three miles (5 km) northeast of the central business district
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

 of DeLand
DeLand, Florida
DeLand is the county seat of Volusia County, Florida. In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 24,375. It is part of the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 436,575 in 2006...

, a city in Volusia County
Volusia County, Florida
Volusia County is a county located in the state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2010 official county's population was 494,593 . Its county seat is DeLand, and its most populous city is currently Deltona....

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier
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 manned air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programming, weather reports, and related services.-ICAO...

 for the FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 and IATA
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association is an international industry trade group of airlines headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where the International Civil Aviation Organization is also headquartered. The executive offices are at the Geneva Airport in SwitzerlandIATA's mission is to...

, DeLand Municipal Airport is assigned DED by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA (which assigned DED to Jolly Grant Airport
Jolly Grant Airport
Jolly Grant Airport , also known as Dehradun Airport, is an airport serving Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.-Overview:The airport is located about southeast of the city of Dehradun. Nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas, the airport, after a runway extension to accommodate larger aircraft,...

 in Dehradun
Dehradun
- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

).

Facilities and aircraft

DeLand Municipal Airport covers an area of 1289 acres (521.6 ha) which contains two asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...

 paved runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...

s: 12/30 measuring 6,000 x 100 ft (1,829 x 30 m) and 5/23: 4,300 x 75 ft (1,311 x 23 m).

For the 12-month period ending May 7, 2002, the airport had 77,710 aircraft operations, an average of 212 per day: 99% general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

, 1% air taxi
Air taxi
An air taxi is an air charter passenger or cargo aircraft which operates on an on-demand basis.-Regulation:In the United States, air taxi and air charter operations are governed by Part 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations , unlike the larger scheduled air carriers which are governed by more...

 and <1% military. There are 162 aircraft based at this airport: 70% single-engine, 23% multi-engine, 2% jet, 4% helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

 and 1% ultralight.

Military use

The city first began developing the airport in the 1920s with the first asphalt runway laid around 1936. In 1942, the City of DeLand donated the facility to the U.S. Navy and it was renamed Naval Air Station DeLand
DeLand Naval Air Station
Naval Air Station DeLand was a United States Naval Air Station located in DeLand, Florida from 1942-1946. After the war, the airfield and associated infrastructure was redeveloped into DeLand Municipal Airport-Official Opening:...

 on 17 November 1942.
Following extensive military construction, NAS DeLand's primary focus was advanced training for Navy flight crews in land-based PBO Ventura
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...

 and PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bombers, and carrier-based SBD Dauntless
SBD Dauntless
The Douglas SBD Dauntless was a naval dive bomber made by Douglas during World War II. The SBD was the United States Navy's main dive bomber from mid-1940 until late 1943, when it was largely replaced by the SB2C Helldiver...

 dive bombers. Several of the U.S. Navy's former and present day maritime patrol and reconnaissance (VP) squadrons operating the P-3 Orion
P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The aircraft is easily recognizable by its distinctive tail stinger or...

 trace their squadron lineage to being initially established at NAS DeLand during World War II.

In 1944, training in the carrier-based F6F Hellcat
F6F Hellcat
The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a carrier-based fighter aircraft developed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat in United States Navy service. Although the F6F resembled the Wildcat, it was a completely new design powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800. Some tagged it as the "Wildcat's big...

 fighter was also added to NAS DeLand's mission.

As many as 331 officers and 1,140 enlisted men were stationed at NAS DeLand by early 1944. NAS DeLand also maintained an outlying field at Spruce Creek (OLF Spruce Creek) for use in carrier landing training, and boat facilities were maintained on Crescent Lake and at DeLeon Springs for use in rescuing downed pilots. Generally, pilots in trouble would rather crash land on water than land. Nine Mile Point on Lake George was also under NAS Deland's control and was used as a practice bombing site with a Navy PBY Catalina
PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...

 seaplane stationed nearby in the event of an aircraft mishap on the lake. This Lake George site is still used today as part of the Navy's Pinecastle Electronic Warfare and Bombing Range managed by NAS Jacksonville.

NAS DeLand was decommissioned following the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, its control tower closed, and control of the airfield returned to the City of DeLand. Numerous former military buildings remain standing as part of the airport's industrial park and the Naval Air Station DeLand Museum.

Current use

Today, the airport serves as an uncontrolled general aviation reliever airport to commercial operations at Daytona Beach International Airport
Daytona Beach International Airport
Daytona Beach International Airport is a public county-owned airport located three miles southwest of the central business district of Daytona Beach, adjacent to the Daytona International Speedway, in Volusia County, Florida, United States. The airport has 3 runways, a six-gate domestic terminal,...

 (DAB), Orlando Sanford International Airport
Orlando Sanford International Airport
Orlando-Sanford International Airport is a public commercial air service airport in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. It was originally constructed as a military installation known as Naval Air Station Sanford that was in operation as a Master Jet Base for carrier-based attack and reconnaissance...

 (SFB) and Orlando International Airport
Orlando International Airport
Orlando International Airport is a major international airport located southeast of the central business district of Orlando. It is the second busiest airport in Florida, after Miami International Airport...

 (MCO). In 2007, an analysis was completed for the possible establishment of an FAA Level 1 air traffic control tower at DED under the FAA's Contract Tower Program.

External links

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