Anyone who grew up in Miami in the 1940's and 1950's remembers National aircraft crossing LeJeune Road to get to or from National's maintenance base on the east side of LeJeune at NW 32nd Street. Railroad-type gate arms came down to block traffic on LeJeune Road and aircraft taxied under power to or from National's maintenance ramp. The building and ramp was donated to the Dade County Board of Public Instruction for use as an aviation training school when National moved to the west side of LeJeune on the north side of the airport entrance road. The school was named George T. Baker Aviation School and it has produced tens of thousands of quality A&P mechanics and avionics technicians to countless airlines since it opened.

This photo was taken from the west shoulder of LeJeune Road and is looking north with the water tower in the background located at the southwest corner of NW 36th Street and LeJeune Road. When I worked at the Aviation Department at MIA we used cops and ramp cars to block traffic to get aircraft to the Baker School for aspiring mechanics to work on. The state later extended the Airport Expressway (see map for current view) to the airport entrance on airport land just west of LeJeune Road and now aircraft have to be lifted over the expressway by crane to get them to Baker Aviation.