Bader Field , also known as Atlantic City Municipal Airport, was a city-owned public-use

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

, in

Atlantic County, New Jersey Atlantic County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 census, the county was the state's 15th-most-populous county, It was named after the former mayor of Atlantic City, Edward L. Bader. The airport-turned field is located in

Chelsea Heights, Atlantic City Chelsea Heights is a neighborhood of Atlantic City located west of Absecon Island and the Intracoastal Waterway. It is connected to Atlantic City via the Route 40 bridge, and is also connected to Ventnor Heights, which is connected to Absecon ...

. Bader Field permanently closed on September 30, 2006. The field as of 2016 was for sale. Located less than a mile across the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a Navigability, inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, the ...

from the landmark original Convention Hall, it was Atlantic City's principal airport during the city's

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

golden age. Its decline began in 1958 when the former Naval air station was converted to joint civilian/military use as

Atlantic City International Airport Atlantic City International Airport is a shared civil-military airport northwest of central Atlantic City, New Jersey, in Egg Harbor Township, the Pomona section of Galloway Township and in Hamilton Township. The airport is accessible via ...

. It is about 9 miles further inland. Private planes had continued to use the airport until 2006. The airport land, which has a scenic view of Atlantic City's Boardwalk casinos has long been considered prime real estate for luxury usage or casino, but efforts to develop it have so far not succeeded.

History

Civil Air Patrol Task Force 1 Group Photo

Much like

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina Kitty Hawk is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States, located on Bodie Island within the state's Outer Banks. The population was 3,708 at the 2020 United States census. It was established in the early 18th century as Chickahawk. Hi ...

, Atlantic City offered a long beach and strong winds with which early aviators could test their aircraft. In March of 1910, several local businessmen formed the Aero Club of Atlantic City to encourage pilots and manufacturers to use the city as a proving ground. At a meet the club held the following July, aviation pioneer

Glenn H. Curtiss Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early a ...

became the first pilot to fly an airplane over the ocean. Taking off from the beach near the Million Dollar Pier, Curtiss flew his ''Albany Flier'' biplane 10 laps over a 5-mile course to win a $5,000 prize. At the same meet,

Walter Brookins Walter Richard Brookins (July 11, 1889 – April 29, 1953), was an American aviator. He was the first pilot trained by the Wright brothers for their exhibition team. Biography Brookins was born in July 1889 in Dayton, Ohio to Clara Belle Spitler ...

, flying a

Wright Wright is an occupational surname originating in England and Scotland. The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood. Later it became any occupational worker (for example, a ...

biplane, set an altitude record of 6,175 feet. Other pilots continued to use the city’s beach as a runway, and Curtiss built a hangar for his company’s biplanes on the beach facing the inlet (roughly where Caspian and North Maine Avenues intersect today). The first Pan-American Aeronautic Exposition was held at the

Grand Central Palace The Grand Central Palace was an exhibition hall in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The name refers to two structures, both located on Lexington Avenue near Grand Central Terminal. The original structure was a six-story structure built in 1893 ...

in New York in 1917. As it was entirely indoors, the exposition was essentially a trade show. To secure the second exposition for Atlantic City, the Aero Club proposed the construction of an airfield where planes could take off, land, and be stored during the event. In collaboration with the Aero Club of America and the Aerial League of America, the Atlantic City club acquired 160 acres in the city’s Chelsea Heights, neighborhood and oversaw the construction of two dirt runways and a hangar. The Atlantic City Municipal Airport opened for service on May 1, 1919, marking the start of the second Pan-American Aeronautic Exposition. The first plane to land at the airport was a Curtiss Oriole piloted by

Roland Rohlfs Roland Rohlfs (February 10, 1892 – February 28, 1974) was an American aviator. Biography Roland Rohlfs was born in Buffalo, New York on February 10, 1892, the son of Anna Katharine Green, the crime novelist; and Charles Rohlfs, the actor and f ...

and carrying Cuban diplomat Victor Hugo Barranco as a passenger. Two months after the exposition, the Aero Club of Atlantic City sold the airport to Curtiss. In 1921, the city ordered Curtiss to close his flying station on the beach. The city purchased the airport outright in 1922. In 1927, the airport was renamed Bader Field in honor of Mayor Edward L. Bader, who had died that January. In October of 1927,

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

landed his ''

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on May 20–21, 1927, on the Charles Lindbergh#New York–Paris flight ...

'' at Bader Field for the 90th of 92 stops on his tour in support of the

Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics was established by Daniel Guggenheim and his son, Harry Guggenheim on June 16, 1926. Between 1926 and 1930 the fund disbursed $3 million, making grants that established schools or resear ...

. In July 1933, pilot C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson and Atlantic City physician

Albert Ernest Forsythe Albert Ernest Forsythe (25 February 1897 – 6 May 1986) was a physician and pioneer aviator. Early life Born in Nassau, Bahamas, he was the third child (second to survive infancy) born to Horatio Alexander Forsyth and Lillian Maud Byndloss. ...

became the first black men to make a round-trip transcontinental flight in the United States. On July 17, the pair took off from Bader Field in Forsythe's

Fairchild 24 The Fairchild Model 24, also called the Fairchild Model 24 Argus and UC-61 Forwarder, is a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft designed by the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in the 1930s. It was adopted by the United Sta ...

, named the ''Pride of Atlantic City'', which had no parachutes, radio, or landing lights. Two days later they touched down at

Grand Central Airport Grand Central Airport is a privately owned and licensed airport which is open to public air traffic. It is located in Midrand, halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria in South Africa. Prior permission to land at Grand Central is not required ...

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

, where they were greeted by aviator William J. Powell. After two days of being feted at several receptions in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, including by Mayor

Frank L. Shaw Frank Lawrence Shaw (February 1, 1877 – January 24, 1958) was the first mayor of a major American city to be recalled from office, in 1938. He was also a member of the Los Angeles City Council and then the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor ...

, Anderson and Forsythe took off from Glendale on July 21 and landed at Bader Field on July 28, where Atlantic City Mayor

Harry Bacharach Harry Bacharach (October 24, 1873 – May 13, 1947) was the Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1912 for 6 months, and from 1916 to 1920, and again from 1930 to 1935. A Republican, he also served as a city commissioner. Biography Bacharach wa ...

proclaimed, "Flying in a small plane, with the limited equipment that you men used, called for a high type of courage and skill. The citizens of Atlantic City are indeed very proud of you."" Bader Field is a historically significant location of the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

(CAP). It was home to Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol Base No. 1, activated on February 28, 1942 alongside Coastal Patrol Base No. 2 at

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Rehoboth Beach ( ) is a city on the Atlantic Ocean along the List of beaches in Delaware, Delaware Beaches in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. As of 2020, its population was 1,108. Along with the neighboring coastal town of Lewes, ...

. Civil Air Patrol began their coastal patrol operations out of Bader Field by March 10, 1942. It was the first of what would be 21 CAP coastal patrol bases that operated from 1942-1943. By April 28, 1943, there were a total of 34 CAP aircraft operating out of the base.

Historical airline service

Commercial airline service for Atlantic City was first provided by All American Airways beginning in 1949. All American was changed to

Allegheny Airlines Allegheny Airlines was a local service carrier that operated out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1952 to 1979, with routes primarily located in the eastern U.S. It was the forerunner of USAir that was subsequently renamed US Airways, which i ...

in 1953 and service continued until all flights were moved to the

by 1959. Allegheney returned in 1971 with

Allegheny Commuter Allegheny, Alleghany or Allegany may refer to: Places Geologic and geographic features * Allegheny River, in Pennsylvania and New York * Allegheny Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountain Range in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir ...

service operated by Atlantic City Airlines using

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking ...

aircraft on routes from Bader Field to Newark, Philadelphia, and Cape May, NJ. Atlantic City Airlines was later changed to

Southern Jersey Airways Crown Airways was a regional airline operating for USAir Express (Then US Airways Express) with its headquarters on the grounds of DuBois Regional Airport in Washington Township, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Washington Township, Jefferson Cou ...

and Allegheny Airlines was changed to

USAir US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it was renamed Allegheny Airlines an ...

in 1979. By 1983 service was added to New York and Washington D.C. as well as the introduction of a much larger aircraft, the

de Havilland Canada Dash-7 The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with short take-off and landing (STOL) performance. Variants were built with 50–54 seats. It first flew in 1975 and remained in producti ...

. Southern Jersey Airways ended their affiliation with USAir in 1988 and new code-share alliances were added with both

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

and

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade ...

. Southern Jersey ended all operations soon after in 1990. Other commuter airlines also served Bader Field in the 1980s including Jet Express, operating as

Trans World Express Trans World Express (TWE) was the fully owned and certified regional carrier for Trans World Airlines ( TWA) and an airline trademark name for TWA's corporation. * Trans World Express - The formerly independent regional airline known as Ransom ...

on behalf of

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...

using

CASA C-212 Aviocar The CASA C-212 Aviocar is a turboprop-powered STOL medium cargo aircraft designed and built by Spanish aircraft manufacturer Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA). It is designed for use by both civil and military operators. The C-212 was ...

aircraft on flights to New York -JFK- Airport. Service was also flown to the

Republic Airport Republic Airport is a public airport in East Farmingdale in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation ''reliever airpor ...

in East Farmingdale, NY. These services were brief, only operating from February through September, 1989 before moving to the Atlantic City International Airport. Casinos began using Bader Field for charter flights and a helicopter service was operated to the

West 30th Street Heliport The West 30th Street Heliport is a heliport on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Originally constructed by the Port of New York Authority in 1956, the facility has been operated by Air Pegasus since 1981. The heliport currently op ...

in Manhattan. All commercial service to Bader Field ended by 1991 at which time all air carriers were serving the Atlantic City International Airport/Pomona Field. The

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled a ...

was removed in the late 1990s and some of the former airport property was used to build a minor-league baseball stadium,

Surf Stadium Surf Stadium is a 5,500-seat baseball stadium in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that opened in 1998 and is now the home stadium of the Atlantic Cape Community College Buccaneers baseball team. The stadium was called The Sandcastle until 2006, and has ...

Non-aviation uses

In 1920, actor and producer Jimmy Callahan built a film studio at the airport in a hangar he leased from Curtiss.

Accidents and incidents

On May 15, 2005, the

Cessna CitationJet The Cessna CitationJet/CJ/M2 (also known as the Model 525) are a series of light business jets built by Cessna, and are part of the Citation family. Launched in October 1989, the first flight of the Model 525 was on April 29, 1991. Federal Avi ...

525A

registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...

OY-JET overran the runway when attempting a 10 knots tailwind landing, ending up in the adjoining

. An eyewitness video captured the accident from the

final approach In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of A ...

to the rescue of the plane's occupants by local boaters and the subsequent inadvertent operation of the aircraft as an "airboat". The

NTSB The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inc ...

report of the accident noted, "...the airport diagram...observed attached to the pilot's control column after the accident...read, 'airport closed to jet aircraft'".

Redevelopment and later uses

Bader Field is considered a prime redevelopment site. In 1998,

Bernie Robbins Stadium Surf Stadium is a 5,500-seat baseball stadium in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that opened in 1998 and is now the home stadium of the Atlantic Cape Community College Buccaneers baseball team. The stadium was called The Sandcastle until 2006, and has ...

, a 5,500-seat baseball stadium, opened on the site, housing the

Atlantic City Surf The Atlantic City Surf were a professional minor league baseball team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Surf was most recently a member of the Can-Am League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The Surf played its home gam ...

minor league baseball team until it discontinued operations in 2009. An indoor ice skating rink, Flyers Skate Zone, also opened up at the Bader Field site. The South Jersey Region of the

Sports Car Club of America The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, HPDE, Time Trial, Road Racing, RoadRally, and Hill Climbs in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs ...

hosts

autocross Autocross is a form of motorsport in which competitors are timed to complete a short course using automobiles on a dirt or grass surface, excepting where sealed surfaces are used in United States. Rules vary according to the governing or sanctioni ...

events at Bader Field during the non-winter months. The SJR SCCA has been using the site for a few years to date. In March 2011, the

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known as DMB) is an American rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The band's lineup consists of Dave Matthews (lead vocals, guitar), Stefan Lessard (bass), Carter Beauford (drums), Tim Reynolds (lead guitar), R ...

announced that Bader Field would be the first of four sites for the

Dave Matthews Band Caravan Dave Matthews Band Caravan was a series of concert festivals headed by the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). The four festivals, occurring during the summer of 2011, took the place of DMB's usual summer tour, after the band announced its intentions to ta ...

, a three-day music festival featuring an eclectic group of musical acts, with the Dave Matthews Band being the headlining performer for each night. The Atlantic City event was to take place June 24–26, 2011. In announcing the location of the event, the Dave Matthews Band cited Bader Field's proximity to several major metropolitan areas in the northeastern seaboard and its accessibility via several modes of public transportation. Improvements to the site prior to the event included burning overgrown brush as well as improvements to the long-neglected Bernie Robbins Stadium, which would house VIP seating for special ticket holders as well as host a later music festival featuring rapper

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. An influential figure in modern Hip-hop, hip hop music, Rick Ross has become known for his "Wiktionary:booming, booming" vocal perfor ...

. Improvements would also make way for other events, such as motorsports events on the runway strips. In April 2011, Bader Field was included in the new state-run Tourism District controlled by the

Casino Reinvestment Development Authority The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority or CRDA is a New Jersey state governmental agency that was founded in 1984 and is responsible for directing the spending of casino reinvestment funds in public and private projects to benefit Atlantic ...

. The site's large parcel and potential for redevelopment led to its inclusion, which received much scrutiny from mayor Lorenzo Langford, who cast the lone "no" vote on the formation of the district, citing the inclusion of Bader Field as his reasoning. In February 2012,

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

announced that their two-day

Orion Music + More Orion may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology Arts and media Fictional entities Characters and species * Orion (character), a DC Comics c ...

Festival would be staged at Bader Field on June 23 and 24, 2012. The popular

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jam session, jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to musical improvisation, improvise ove ...

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

performed a three-day run at Bader Field, June 15–17, 2012. Bader Field was scheduled to host a round of the

Global Rallycross Championship Global Rallycross (known as Red Bull Global Rallycross for sponsorship reasons) was a rallycross series operated by businessmen Colin Dyne in conjunction with Sponsor RedBull. The series ran for seven seasons, primarily in North America, from 201 ...

in 2016.

Facilities and aircraft

Bader Field covered an area of at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of 8 feet (2.4 m) above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It had two

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

paved

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 4/22 measured 2,595 by 100 feet (791 × 30 m) and 11/29 measured 2,948 by 100 feet (899 × 30 m). For the 12-month period ending January 4, 2001, the airport had 10,683 aircraft operations, an average of 29 per day: 81%

and 19%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

References

External links

Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is a website detailing information and first hand memories about airports in the United States which are no longer in operation, or are rarely used. The website was started by Paul Freeman in 1999 as he had d ...

Atlantic City Municipal Airport / Bader Field
(2006-10-01) * * {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Atlantic City, New Jersey Tourist attractions in Atlantic County, New Jersey Transportation buildings and structures in Atlantic County, New Jersey Defunct airports in New Jersey Airports established in 1919 Airports disestablished in 2006