NAS Sanford
Orlando Sanford Airport
Sanford, Florida 32773
Seminole County
This site is located in the Central region of the state.
DIRECTIONS
Designated as a base for Naval Air Operational Training Command, commissioning occurred November 3, 1942. Operating in PV-1 Venturas, PBO Hudsons, and SNB Kansans, the station’s mission was to check out pilots in handling and flying of these planes. In addition to navigational flights, bombing and gunnery techniques were refined here as well. In addition, the Venturas were used in search and destroy missions against German U-boats operating in the Atlantic. Peak wartime complement reached approximately 360 officers and 1,400 men with 150 WAVES during the years 1943-1945. Fighter pilot training began in 1944 using FM-1 Wildcat and F6F Hellcat carrier-based aircraft.
In addition to conventional facilities, NAS Sanford provided fresh and frozen vegetables to other Navy facilities by virtue of a large cold storage plant on the base. The Sanford municipal field, as well as fields at Osceola and Titusville saw duty as outlying fields to Sanford.
Decommissioned in May 1946, NAS Sanford became the Sanford Airport and later the Orlando Sanford International Airport.
LINK:
The Orlando Sanford Airport Homepage
http://www.orlandosanfordairport.com/
