Chapman Field (Florida)
Chapman Field is a former airport and wartime military training airfield located 4.7 miles south of South Miami, Florida. It was closed AbOUT 1948.
Today part of the former airport is the USDA Chapman Field Subtropical Horticulture Research Station
History
The airport was established in 1917. During 1918, the army subsequently dredged a portion of the bayside marsh to create a marl landing field, a lagoon for water landings, and channels to Biscayne Bay. Roads were cut through the palmettoes and slash pines on the limestone ridge a mile inland. Water was pumped from underground, stored in three tanks of 20,000 to 100,000 gallon capacity, and distributed across the base by underground piping with hydrants for fire fighting. Electricity was provided by lines to Miami, and steam was generated for heat. The base was completed in September, 1918.
The camp was a model town with electricity, waterworks and a sewage system. Constructed on a rock ridge, the base buildings were situated among pine trees and had a view of the bay to the east. A medical contingent had already arrived to man a hospital complete with operating room, a large airy public ward, and several private rooms. Nearby, officers' quarters and mess halls and the home of the commanding officer were built around an oval field higher up and perpendicular to the original Ingraham Highway off which the enlisted quarters and mess were built. A row of hangers sat along the western edge of the filled landing field just east of a road parallel to Ingraham Highway on which were situated maintenance shops, the headquarters building, and entertainment centers provided by the Y.M.C.A. and the Knights of Columbus. Off to the side of the station a target range had been dug out of the rock, and the material was used for constructing the network of roads.
On November 15 the airfield was formally named the Victor Chapman Military Reservation by Major Kenly, head of the aeronautical division, in honor of the first U. S. flier to be killed in France during World War I. Three days after the renaming ceremony, World War I ended, and construction at Chapman Field Military Reservation ceased November 25. The base was declared surplus in 1921 by the War Department. However no clear title to the property could be conveyed, and part of it was leased to the Department Of Agriculture for a plant research station in 1923. On a portion of the remaining land outside the USDA station, the government maintained an airfield used by army reservists who practiced bombing runs over Biscayne Bay during the winter months.
During the Depression years of the early 1930s interests in Miami were hoping the War Department would develop a major air facility on the site, which would provide a considerable number of new jobs. In 1938, because of fears of possible war, Congress passed the Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program, providing free ground school to college students and free flight training for the upper 10% scholastically. Eventually the War Department leased the army air facilities at Chapman Field to the Embry-Riddle Corporation in early 1942, which was contracted to train civilian and military pilots.
Civilians, including potential WASPS (Women Airforce Service Pilots) were taught at the Seaplane Base on MacArthur Causeway (named County Causeway until 1942) while written exams and Navy flight training were conducted at Chapman Field. Women seeking additional flying time for WASP approval also took training at Chapman Field. These women attended the Riddle program to build up flying time and to get ratings prior to their formal training at Sweetwater AAF, Texas. University of Miami coeds were also trained as WASP pilots.
With the end of the war, the GI Bill of Rights made available technical training to returning vets, and a contract was given to Embry-Riddle to provide training based at Chapman Field. In the fall of 1945 a hurricane hit the Miami area and destroyed almost all of the wooden buildings used for the school. In 1947 a request was made by Embry-Riddle to make Chapman Field a commercial airport, but this was denied by Dade County, and the company eventually moved to Opalocka Airport when the field was subsequently closed. The aifield was eventually divided between the University of Miami, the USDA and to private developers.
From the air, the outline of the drainage canals can still be seen, otherwise the land has been completely redeveloped over the years, including the construction of a golf course on the site, complete with water retention ponds.
See also
- Florida World War II Army Airfields