Lake City Municipal Airport & Florida Gateway College
Lake City, Florida
Columbia County
904-752-2031
This site is located in the NorthCentral region of the state.
DIRECTIONS
The Lake City Municipal Airport is located on US90, three miles east of Lake City.
Commissioned in December 1942, NAS Lake City was located on the site of the Lake City Flying Club air field east of town. Established as one of several support facilities to NAS Jacksonville, this field was used to train Navy and Marine pilots in PV-1 Venturas and PV-3 Harpoons. Maximum complement at the station reached 290 officers and 1,150 enlisted personnel. As many as 200 WAVES were stationed here later in the war and served in meteorological services, administrative support, and aircraft maintenance. The airfield southeast at Lake Butler served as an outlying field and Cedar Key, Alachua and Gainesville provided auxiliary fields.
Local groups, notably the Woman’s Club and the Presbyterian Church, opened their respective facilities for recreational use by the servicemen during their training in the community.
Operation terminated in March 1946. The former NAS site is today the home of Lake City Municipal Airport, Florida Gateway College, and TIMCO-Lake City aircraft maintenance facility.
The Navy brig, which was used during WWII, remains in use by Florida Gateway College.
