Boca Raton Airport

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Boca Raton Airport
IATA: BCT - ICAO: KBCT
Summary
Airport type		General Aviation
Operator		Boca Raton Airport Authority
Serves		Boca Raton, Florida
Elevation AMSL		13 ft (4 m)
Coordinates		26°22′44″N, 80°06′25″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
5/23	6,276	1,912	paved

Boca Raton Airport (IATA: BCT, ICAO: KBCT) is a general aviation airport located in the city of Boca Raton, Florida. The airport is immediately adjacent to Florida Atlantic University and to Interstate-95. It has a control tower which is manned from 0700 to 2300. The airport has two full service fixed base operators, Avitat Boca Raton and Boca Raton Aviation. The Burton D. Morgan School of Aeronautics of Lynn University and a flight training school are located at the airport. The Boca Raton Airport is publicly owned and is designated as a general aviation transport facility governed by a seven member Authority appointed by the City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County Commission.^[1]

[edit] History

The Boca Raton Airport was established in 1936. When the United States entered World War II the Army Air Corps started establishing training bases throughout Florida. The Corps took over and expanded the Boca Raton airport. Part of the land taken for the air base belonged to Japanese farmers who had originally immigrated to the area as part of the Yamato Colony. The air base eventually covered 5,860 acres, much of the present City of Boca Raton.

The Boca Raton air base was used for radar training, for anti-submarine patrols along the Florida coast, and as a stop-over point for planes being ferried to Africa and Europe via South America. It had a troop strength of 16,000 men, with approximately 1,200 civilian workers. By 1945, 100 planes were regularly assigned to the base.

The air base continued to be used for radar training after the end of World War II on a reduced basis. The base received severe damage from the September 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane, and in 1948 the air base was transferred to the (then) Town of Boca Raton. In the 1950's part of the air base was developed into Florida Atlantic University, and other parts were returned to private ownership and developed. Only 200 acres were retained for airport use.^[2]