Miami and South Florida AVIATION Historical Photos Gallery - Airports, Airlines, Aircraft - All Years - click on image to view Photo Gallery by Don Boyd at pbase.com

Miami and South Florida AVIATION Historical Photos Gallery - Airports, Airlines, Aircraft - All Years - click on image to view

Miami was probably the premier pioneer city, and Florida the premier pioneer state, in America when it came to commercial, civil and military aviation thanks to early aviation pioneers like Glenn Hammond Curtiss who built flying schools locally, developed Miami Springs and Opa-locka, and co-developed Hialeah. Curtiss built a large variety of aircraft over the years and all of the models can be viewed at < http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/a_curtiss.html . Arthur "Pappy" Chalk and his Chalks Airlines, Aeromarine Airways, Charles Lindbergh and Pan American World Airways were also instrumental in making Miami one of the few aviation pioneer cities in America.

A large percentage of our population owed their livelihoods to aviation, mostly in commercial aviation working for Eastern Air Lines, National Air Lines and Pan American World Airways. It seemed like there were airline employees on every block when we were growing up. I had two Eastern mechanics on my block, two Pan Am mechanics on the next block, plus pilots in the neighborhood. Miami Springs was full of pilots and other airline employees due to the close proximity to the airport.

These galleries are dedicated to everyone who worked in aviation in South Florida and to those who love aviation. There are thousands of other aviation photos on display on our aviation stock photo site at < http://www.AviationStockPhotos.com

A great slide show of airlines in the past is at < http://www.funstufftosee.com/airlineempires.html

For those of you who are new to computing and/or surfing the internet, this is just one page of many pages of photos on this site. The home page for our Old Hialeah/Old Miami galleries is at < http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/memories and all the oldie galleries spin off from that page. You can also click on the yellow colored >>Memories of Old Hialeah, Old Miami and Old South Florida Photo Galleries << at top of any page to get back to the main oldies page to search other galleries.

Hopefully you will enjoy seeing the many old images on this page and in the many other historical photo galleries on this website. Perhaps the images and comments have brought back many fond memories of good times for you in the past and have helped you jog your memory of places and people you may have forgotten.

If you have enjoyed this site, as many people say they do, please consider making a financial contribution so I can continue building the site and spending my time working on photos for the enjoyment of many instead of spending my time making money from other endeavors like most other people do. Thank you for your consideration.

AVIATION IN MIAMI - The First 100 Years Exhibit - now running at HistoryMiami - click on image to view	Brown's Airport / Aero Country Club Photo Gallery - click on image to enter	Glenn Curtiss Field, Miami Municipal Airport, Amelia Earhart Field, Master('s) Field Photo Gallery	Opa-locka Airport (NARB Miami, NAS Miami, MCAS Miami etc.) Historical Photo Gallery	Pan American Field - MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (MIA) - Wilcox Field Historical Photo Gallery - click on image to enter
Other Historical South Florida Airports Photo Gallery (Hialeah, Viking, Sunny South, Homestead, Homestead AFB, Tamiami, etc.)	1959 List of Airports in Dade County - click on image to enter	Steve McDonald's Memories of South Florida Aviation and Airports - click on image to enter	Historical Eastern Air Lines (later Airlines) Photo Gallery - click on image to enter	Historical National Air Lines and National Airlines Photo Gallery - click on image to enter
Historical Pan American Airways System and Pan American World Airways Photo Gallery - click on image to enter	1917 - aircraft hangars at U. S. Naval Air Station Miami at Dinner Key, Miami	1918 - U. S. Marine Corps aircraft at Marines Flying Field in Miami	1918 - the Navy's first Aerial Photography class held at Naval Air Station Miami at Dinner Key	1919 - the Curtiss NC-4, first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic
1922 - Aeromarine Airways model 75 flying boat "Columbus"	1922 - Aeromarine Airways Cuban airmail service	1928 - First flight from Havana to Miami first day cover to George T. Street	1929 - Dornier DO-X Flying Boat in Biscayne Bay, Miami	1929 - the U. S. Navy's 655 foot USS LOS ANGELES ZR-3 flying over Miami
1930s - Chalk's Airlines Loening C-2C Air Yachts NC133-H and NC134-H along Biscayne Boulevard	1932 - the Goodyear Blimp flying over County Causeway, Miami	1933 - article about Charles Lindbergh and wife returning to the USA at Miami's Seaplane Base	1933 - the U. S. Navy's 785-foot USS AKRON ZRS-4 flying over Miami	1934 - the Goodyear Blimp on Watson Island with the County Causeway and Port of Miami in the background
1935 - Muster of officers and men at Coast Guard Air Station Miami at Dinner Key, Miami	1930's - Air Guide for Miami, depicting airfields in Dade County at the time	Late 1930's - early 1940's - U. S. Navy N3N trainer biplanes from NAS Miami over Government Cut, Miami	Late 1930's - early 1940's - U. S. Navy N3N trainer biplanes from NAS Miami passing by downtown Miami	1941 - NAS Miami Northrop BT-1 torpedo bombers north of downtown Miami
1941 - Navy dive bombers from NAS Miami at Opa-locka flying past downtown Miami	1942 - BGEN H. Wooten, USAAF, BGEN Junius W. Jones, USAAF, Mr. John Paul Riddle and MGEN Walter R. Weaver, USAAF (story below)	1940's - Embry-Riddle Technical School at the Coliseum in Coral Gables during World War II	1940's - military aircraft maintenance during World War II inside the Coral Gables Coliseum	1940's & 50's - The Aviation Building, formerly the Fritz Hotel, home of Embry-Riddle School of Aviation
1940's - U. S. Navy enlisted air crew members posing with a Navy Martin PBM-5 Mariner bomber at NAS Key West Trumbo Point	1945 - Army Air Corps pursuit planes over Miami	1947 - workers installing aerial signage on the side of the Goodyear Blimp Ranger NC-1A at Watson Island, Miami	1948 - the 36th Street Terminal at Miami International Airport	1948 - Byron Creel working on a Lockheed Lodestar at Aerodex in the MIAD section of Miami International Airport
1940's - two Goodyear blimps and a U. S. Navy blimp over downtown Miami	Late 1940's - United Air Lines Air Mail label	1950 - Byron Creel receiving an award for having the cleanest shop at Aerodex in the MIAD section of Miami International Airport	1950- Byron Creel, leadman in the sheet metal shop at Aerodex in the MIAD section of Miami International Airport	1951 - badge for Mike Ramis from Havana who participated in the Florida Air Pilots Association Miami Air Show
Early 1950's - the Goodyear Blimp L-Ship Enterprise N3A on the northeast side of Watson Island	1952 - the center of Miami International where the new terminal was built in the late 1950's	1952 - a postcard depicting a Delta Air Lines DC-6 flying off of Miami Beach enroute to Atlanta, Cincinnati and Chicago	1955 - Ted Crownover's dad's Stinson in the front yard	1957 - the Northwest corner of Miami International Airport
1958 - Ted Crownover with his dad's completed Stinson	Late 1950s / Early 1960s - USAF F-104 Starfighters over Miami Beach	1960 - senior Eastern Air Lines captains Merle Moltrup and Jack Little decry the FAA's age 60 rule	1960 - the Goodyear Blimp L-Ship Ranger N1A on Watson Island, Miami	1960 - the Goodyear Blimp L-Ship Ranger N1A on Watson Island, Miami
1961 - Concourse 3 at MIA, viewed from the public observation deck at Concourse 4	1962 - the Goodyear Blimp GZ-19 Mayflower N4A lifting off from Watson Island, Miami	1962 - Cuban Antonov An-2M crop duster hijacked to Miami International Airport	1963 - USCG HU-16 Albatross #CG-1315 taxiing up the ramp at Coast Guard Air Station Miami, Dinner Key	1964 - USCG HH-52A Guardian #CG-1384 on the ramp at Air Station Miami at Dinner Key
1960's - the Goodyear Blimp GZ-19 Mayflower N1A over Biscayne Bay	1960's - the Goodyear Blimp GZ-19 Mayflower N1A on Watson Island	1965 - Coast Guard HH-52A #1383 rescuing a surfer at South Beach after Hurricane Betsy	1966 - TWA Skyliner article about the 1966 Interline Spring Festival on Miami Beach	1967 - NASA/Air Force XB-70A Valkyrie #1 landing - not Miami-related
1970's - Lockheed Constellation L-1049G mounted on top of the Oasis American gas station and gift shop on Tamiami Trail	1972 - Delta stewardesses Susan Lowden (now Jacobs) from Miami and Hialeah, Debbie Booth and Cindy Rutherford at ATL airport	1972 - 3 Delta stewardesses with Susan Lowden (now Jacobs) from Miami and Hialeah on the right side at ATL	1972 - the fine employees of Goodyear Airship Operations and the GZ-19 Mayflower N1A	1970's - the Goodyear Blimp flying past downtown Miami
1978 - the Goodyear Blimp GZ-19A N38A "Mayflower" on Watson Island	2011 - Former Dade County Aviation Director Richard H. Judy passes away - Photo Gallery - click on image to enter

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Rob MacNeill/Coconut Grove		05-Oct-2010 22:12
I was mistaken in my previous post about Emelia Earhart. The person who accompanied her on the fishing trip with my grandparents, was George Putnam, her husband, not Fred Noonan(navigator). I found 3 pictures from the trip on the George Putnam Photographic Archives(Purdue University). Unfortunately, they don't have the one with my grandmother and Emelia sitting side by side on the stern of the boat facing the bow. My grandparents were at the airport the following morning at 5:00am, to wish Emelia and Fred Noonan, "bon voyage." They were the last Americans(mainland) to shake her hand before her fatal flight...

Rob MacNeill/Coconut Grove		05-Oct-2010 21:37
I'm a little surprised that there are no pictures of Emelia Earhart, as Miami was the last U.S. city she took off from in her famous around the world flight in 1937. She spent a couple of days in Miami because of a repair needed on her Lockeed Electra. She wanted to go deep sea fishing and asked if there was anybody who could take her out. My grandparents, W. Bruce & Lilly MacIntosh of Miami Beach, took her and Fred Noonan(navigator) out for a day of fishing on their 40 ft. boat. My mom has some framed pictures of Emelia sitting next to my grandmother, Lilly MacIntosh, on the outing. There is also a letter from her husband, George Putnam, thanking my grandfather, Bruce MacIntosh, for his condolence letter on Emelia.

Don Boyd		28-May-2010 02:35
Lisa, there is a photo of the Aviation Building, where Embry-Riddle was located, on 27th Avenue at: http://www.pbase.com/image/78548931 There is also a link to more history of Embry-Riddle under the photo. Good luck in your search. Don

Guest		27-May-2010 21:35
Does anyone remember Embry Riddle on, I think, N.W. 27th Avenue? Does anyone remember Clarence (Bo) Hoffman who was an instructor there? He was the father of my late husband, Bruce Hoffman, Class of MHS 1971. Thank you, Lisa Hoffman

Jake Jacobson		28-Jan-2010 16:29
Don you have great Gallery here. ck the one I did for Tucson Az http://www.tucsonrodeoparade.com/Pages002/Tucson%20Municipal%20Airport.htm some of the same people flew thgough here....Jake

Carlos Perea		23-Jun-2009 20:42
I'm glad you liked it! Max was the deputy director present at the event. In all the rush, I forgot to get a picture of him. From what I've heard, it's definitely going to be something in airside, and I'll be able to choose from the available openings next Monday. I'm west of the Palmetto, about a minute north of the CVS.

Don Boyd		22-Jun-2009 07:06
Carlos, I have "donated" a zillion hours by working far in excess of 40 hours weekly at no additional pay from 1986 to 2000 and there will be no further donations of my time because I more than gave my share over the years and my wife and daughter enjoy me being home most of the time now instead of at the airport. I got a Google news alert about something this evening and your blog showed up. I clicked on the link and I saw your blog. Congrats on doing that. Which Deputy Director? Max or the other gent? I only know Max. Let me know which division you get. And where in Miami Lakes are you? Don

Carlos Perea		21-Jun-2009 05:29
Sorry to hear that�we could really benefit from your knowledge and experience! If you ever change your mind, the phone number's on the airport web site. I guess the white badge we're issued might be kind of a downgrade from the oft-envied blue. In (soon to be) historical news, Air Europa launched their weekly Tenerife-Miami flight. The airport was in west ops this evening, so I set up shop in the cell phone parking lot at LeJeune and 31st at the end of 26L/R and waited for the arrival. Just my luck, she came in on 30. Having missed that, I sped to the terminal and through security and made my way to Concourse F. There were a bunch of community leaders and news teams present for the inauguration and I was lucky enough to run into the Deputy Aviation Director. I took a bunch of photos of the people and the plane, as well as the signs welcoming Air Europa (going to be posting them on my blog soon). The airport really went all out with this celebration, yet strangely, they did nothing along that scale for the departure of Air Jamaica after 40 years this past February.

Don Boyd		20-Jun-2009 14:46
I hope you get one of the ops divisions. Good luck on that. I already need 36 hours a day for my own stuff so giving up hours to volunteer is out of the question. I need 20 more years to scan my old stuff and get it up on the net and even then I may not get it all. Don

Carlos Perea		20-Jun-2009 05:58
LOL, I came very close to that. I asked for something operations-related and they said they could put me in a terminal operations warehouse taking inventory of uniforms. I think I'm getting something in airside ops (if possible), though. I'm supposed to call on Monday to find out more. You know, if you like customer service, we do have a volunteer program.

Don Boyd		20-Jun-2009 05:14
Carlos, congrats on the internship. Let me know where they post you and I hope it's not in some boring division where you don't know you're working for an airport. No, I retired from MDAD in April 2000 though I do get down there a few times a year to take photos. I'm still in contact with several people that I like. Don

Carlos Perea		19-Jun-2009 21:30
I got the internship! I've already attended the orientation, gotten the physical, and now I'm just awaiting my posting. I start on the 29th. Are you still active with the aviation department? We just opened two new gates on June 5th (D24 and D25), and Delta unveiled their new lounge today. I'm heading there tomorrow to see if there's any memorabilia from the old lounge they don't need--when Northwest moved from G last month, I got to take home their sign that used to be on the counter at Gate G19.

Don Boyd		11-Jun-2009 07:26
Carlos, thank you for your comments. Yes, somewhere in the boxes upon boxes, I do have photos of the H-2 Satellite, inside and out as I recall. I'll find them someday and scan them for the site. You are correct on the gate numbers. There were 6 gates on that satellite that were designed to handle Piedmont's F-28 intra-Florida Shuttle operation. The jet bridges were built lower to handle those aircraft. A couple of the gates could also handle B737's and the building was jammed with people when that happened due to the increased passenger loads. Those windows at F4, F6 and F8, plus the windows on the other concourses, used to open for ventilation back in the late 1950's and through part of the 1960's. Yes, F was rebuilt as an add-on instead of being totally replaced like Concourse D and they never got around to rebuilding the F-4 through F-8 area. The lower gates on Concourse G are also old as heck too. Good luck on the summer internship thingy - let me know if you get it. Don

Carlos Perea		10-Jun-2009 22:10
Hi, Don: Would you happen to have any photos of the commuter satellite terminal that used to be just east of Concourse H? From what I can tell by some old signage covered up in H, it looks like the gates there used to be numbered H2a thru H2g. Gates F4, F6, and F8 also seem to have the original windows from the 1950s/60s. F4 is also the only gate left at the airport with one of the older slat-style gate boards (where you manually insert the flight number, departure time, destination, etc). Concourse F as a whole is really neat because the 1980s addition seems to have basically been built around the original concourse, and the layers are quite evident. On the third floor, next to the ramps leading down to the gates, you can also see the remnants of these HUGE gate numbers written on the wall (in a very '80s-style font), that seem to have been painted over. I want to say these were originally blue, but I don't remember if they were there the last time I flew through in 1999. Thank you so much for your work in preserving the history of this airport! Your insight and your experiences have been one of my inspirations and motivators in applying for an internship in airport operations over the summer.

Larry Creel		08-Apr-2009 12:39
Does anyone remember the 1947 hurricane when almost all the planes that were supposed to be tied down flew backwards thru the air & crashed into the hangars & offices on LeJuene Rd. There were planes on the south side of the railroad tracks behind the airport. A Constellation was upside down by the tower. I was about 9 yrs. old, but I can still see all the damage today in my brain. Most of Miami Springs & Hialeah was also under water for a few months. Lots of damage to the airport in 1947.

Dale Reed		02-Feb-2009 18:59
Does anyone else remember the rickety old wooden bridge from parameter road and Red Road? How about Kelley�s hamburger drive in on Red Road just south of there? Man those burgers and fries were great, each one topped with a dill pickle on the outside of the bun that looked for all the world like a shamrock. I never liked to eat the pickle but looking back it was a unique presentation My Dad Norman (Pete) Reed was a QB and flew as a Captain out of MIA for many years for numerous enterprises. Later I became a pilot and flew out of MIA in both fixed wings and Rotery wing aircraft, sometimes as my own Dad�s Co Pilot. If you are a QB in Miami please contact me at photonpro@hotmail.com I�d love to visit and drink a toast to all those great pilots who have gone west including my late Dad. Back in the days before 1960 and the tear down of the old wooden American Aeromotive hanger north of the Old tower My Dad hungered, A. V. Davis�s Bell model 47-G2 N2820B during that period. I believe this to have been the first privately owned helicopter in the world. It was followed by a Bell model 47-J N57D the first delivered just before the Air Force got two of them for President Ike. It�s hard for me to grasp that it was so long ago. I remember watching the first Jet to land at Mia, it was a 707 and the whole family was parked on parameter road to watch it come in. I also recall the first nonstop flight from MIA to Great Britain and how you could see the vapors from the dry ice on the wings in the night, as they packed the fuel by freezing it to put more pounds of it on board. Those were heady days back then. Legends were made and many forgotten to all but a few now.

Bracciodiferro		28-Nov-2008 17:08
Nice pics,vote.

Don Boyd		19-Sep-2008 03:15
Good question, Ray. I doubt that there are any public accessible spaces that look like they did in 1959. Most of the Aviation Department offices in the office tower on top of the terminal (3rd through 6th floors) still have the original windows as I recall but that's about it. There are probably some original rooms in the terminal - one I can think of is the bathroom under the tower cab that was the FAA tower when the terminal opened and now used by Aviation Department gate controllers. There is a locked equipment room next to that bathroom that is probably still original too - it still has some FAA electronics gear in there despite the FAA moving over to the west side in the early 80's. The bag rooms under the terminal are pretty much the same as in 1959 except for a few areas that were rebuilt to put new bag conveyor systems in - it's a different world down there. I don't believe there is a historian employed by the airport. Most of the terminal has been rebuilt or remodeled over the years though I'm sure there are some non-public areas that have never been touched like airline back office spaces behind the ticket counters. When Eastern died in 1991 we went into their long-term leased Concourse C and it was like a trip back in time to the 60's with all the white marble in there. That was the last time I had that feeling anywhere in the airport and the concourse was remodeled shortly thereafter. That concourse will totally disappear as part of the $2.7 billion North Terminal project. Your trip to the employee cafeteria in the bag room area brings back memories of that place - the food was pretty awful in my opinion and I didn't go there very often. There used to be a barber shop just for employees next to the employee cafeteria too. Yep, airports are definitely not the place to act suspiciously at these days. Of course far more innocent activities are now viewed as suspicious activities by the paranoid. Don

Ray		19-Sep-2008 02:49
If you were looking for history at MIA, where would you go? Is there like some out of the way room that's pretty much as it was built? Maybe too active of an imagination, but I've always hoped there was some place at the airport that was built around and wasn't functional, so they just left it alone. Like behind the scenes room that has some original fixtures in it. Maybe too much to hope for, but I hope the airport has some sort of historian that documents and makes sure some things stay as they were. Back in the 1980s a company I worked for was asked to come in and install a TV antenna for the employee cafeteria. After being in the airport so many times, I was blown away there was a full cafeteria hidden in there. I wish I had the time to explore more. So many interior walls and weird angles, I could imagine a small space being sealed off and becoming a sort of time capsule. Like I said, active imagination. Reminds me of a story from the early 2000's... I was at O'Hare killing time for a long connection. I got bored and took a walk around in the terminals. I found a place with offices on a balcony with a 1960's look I remember from the classic Airport movies. I spent a few minutes just looking at the beautiful architecture. Big mistake. Within a few minutes I was surrounded by police. Seems that NOT being in a hurry at an airport is to be avoided. When I started talking about architecture I think they got bored of me and let me go. Ray

Don Boyd		26-Jul-2008 05:29
Bill, thanks for writing. Unfortunately, as stated on the main memories page, I don't sell prints due to lack of resolution for printing on most of the photos and there is no money in it compared to selling stock photos to ad agencies. Don

BILL Moore		24-Jul-2008 02:01
Don, Great job of keeping alive some of my best memories. I was raised in Miami Springs and graduated from Hialeah High in 1965. My dad was a captain with National Airlines from 1951 to 1973 (medically retired). I'd like to buy some of those pictures of National aircraft and old Miami. Again, great job. Bill Moore

SMNative		20-Feb-2008 17:50
Wow! My father worked for PanAm from 1946 to 1981. If he worked overtime on Sundays, Mom would pile us kids in the car to go get him. Sometimes, we would watch planes taking off and landing before Dad got to the car. We grew up with Miami International airport. My grandfather helped build the airfield during WWII and worked for the Port Authority after the war thru the 1950's.

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