Opa-locka Airport
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| Opa-locka Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: OPF - ICAO: KOPF | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | General Aviation | ||
| Operator | Miami-Dade County | ||
| Serves | Opa-locka, Florida | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 9 ft (2.9 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 9L/27R | 8,002 | 2,439 | asphalt |
| 12/30 | 6,800 | 2,073 | asphalt |
| 18/36 | 4,394 | 1,339 | asphalt |
| 9R/27L | 4,306 | 1,312 | asphalt |
Opa-locka Airport (IATA: OPF, ICAO: KOPF), also known as Opa-locka Executive Airport, is a general aviation airport located in Opa-locka, Florida and 12 miles northwest of Miami, Florida. It has a control tower which is manned from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. The airport has four fixed base operators. The airport is owned by Miami-Dade County and operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department.[1]
[edit] History
Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss retired from aircraft development and manufacturing in the 1920s and became a real estate developer in Florida. In 1927 he founded the City of Opa-locka, naming it Opa-tisha-woka-locka, a Native American name that translates into the high land north of the little river on which there is a camping place. Realizing neither the name nor its translation would easily roll off the tongue, Curtiss simply snipped the four middle syllables off and in 1926 he incorporated Opa-locka.
Adjacent to the city he created the Florida Aviation Camp on a large tract of land, and moved his Glenn Curtiss Aviation School there from its former location close to Biscayne Bay in Miami. He transferred part of the land to the City of Miami, and it became the Miami Municipal Airport. This airport was also known as Glenn Curtiss Field. In 1937 Amelia Earhart started her attempt to circumnavigate the world from this airport.[2] A larger area to the east of Miami Municipal Airport was developed during the 1930's as All-American Airport. The All-American Airport was acquired by the City of Miami around 1938 and renamed "Miami International (Master) Airport".[3] Miami Municipal Airport and Miami International (Master) Airport were purchased from the city by the Federal government in 1942 and added to NAS Miami as Miami Municipal Field and Master's Field (later shortened to Masters Field), respectively. Miami Municipal Field was connected to Masters Field by a taxiway that crossed the railroad tracks which separated the two fields. Miami Municipal Field was renamed Amelia Earhart Field in 1947.[4] The All-American Air Races were held at Miami Municipal/Amelia Earhart Field or All-American Airport/Miami International (Master) Airport from 1929 until 1935, and the All-American Air Maneuvers from 1935 until 1941 and from 1946 to 1950.[5][3]
Shortly before he died in 1930, Curtiss transferred the rest of his Florida Aviation Camp property to the United States Navy. This property became a Naval Reserve Training Base. This station supported both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air craft. The dirigible USS Akron stopped at what became NAS Miami on both legs of its 1933 trip to the Panama Canal Zone, and departed the station less than two weeks before its fatal crash in April, 1933. The base was one of the stops on the triangular Germany-Brazil-United States-Germany route of the Graf Zeppelin[6]. Major expansion of the base began in 1939, and it was commissioned as Naval Air Station Miami (NAS Miami) in 1940.
During World War II, NAS Miami was headquarters for the U.S. Naval Training Command, with six training bases.[2] NAS Miami consisted of the original training base, known as Mainside or Opa-Locka, Miami Municipal Field and Masters Field. At its peak, the base employed 7,200 officers and men and 3,100 civilians.[4] Activity continued on a reduced basis after the war. Masters Field became Marine Corps Air Station Miami (MCAS Miami).[7]. MCAS Miami was closed in 1959, the property was transferred to Dade County, and the Dade County Junior College opened there in 1961. In 1962 the remainder of the NAS property, except for a portion reserved for the U. S. Coast Guard, was transferred to Dade County, and became Opa-locka Airport. In 1965 Coast Guard Air Station Miami transferred its operations from Dinner Key to the Opa-locka airport. Some of the 911 hijackers trained at the airport. [1]
Fire protection at the airport is provided by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department[8] Station 25[9].
[edit] References
- ^ Official Opa-locka Airport site - URL retrieved April 8, 2006
- ^ a b La Floridiana - Opa-Locka Field - URL retrieved August 16, 2006
- ^ a b Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Florida - Northern Miami Area - All American Field / Master Airport - URL retrieved August 16, 2006
- ^ a b Florida's World War II Memorial - NAS Miami Opa-Locka Airport - URL retrieved August 16, 2006
- ^ ALL THE WORLD’S AIR RACES - URL retrieved August 16, 2006
- ^ Miller, Alicia Momsen. From Rio to Akron aboard the Graf Zeppelin, 1933: A flight aboard a dirigible, as seen through the eyes of an eight year old girl. - URL retrieved April 8, 2006
- ^ *History of Marine fighter squadron stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miami - URL retrieved April 8, 2006
- ^ Airport Fire Rescue Division. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Miami-Dade County. Retrieved on August 30, 2006.
- ^ Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Stations. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Miami-Dade County. Retrieved on August 30, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Resources for this airport:
- AirNav airport information for KOPF
- ASN Accident history for KOPF
- FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
- NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
- SkyVector aeronautical chart for KOPF
- FAA current OPF delay information
