DeLand Naval Air Station Museum - DeLand, FL
N 29° 03.443 W 081° 17.283
17R E 471959 N 3214377
The DeLand Naval Air Station Museum is located in the old Chief Master at Arms House. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 15, 2002.
Waymark Code: WMBKD6
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 05/29/2011
Views: 5
The following history of the DeLand Naval Air Station and the Chief Master at Arms House is from the
DeLand Naval Air Station Museum website:
"The City of DeLand started the airport in the 1920s with the first asphalt runway built around 1936. The Navy came to DeLand in 1941 and the City donated the airport to the Navy and the Navy bought additional property around it encompassing what is now the DeLand airport.
The Navy base was opened in November 1942. Bomber squadrons patrolled the coast of Florida for submarines. Trained pilots came here to team with a gunner and they trained together to dive bomb using the SBD Douglas Dauntless aircraft. The men were shipped out after their 3 month training period. The SBDs are credited with sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers and helped to win the war at Midway.
The DeLand Naval Air Station was officially closed in March of 1946 and the Navy returned the entire field over to the City of DeLand.
Florida Military School occupied some of the old buildings at the airport from 1956 to 1971.
The DeLand Naval Air Station Museum was started in 1992, on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the base. The City of DeLand donated the Master of Arms Residence for the Museum. The building was restored and dedicated in November, 1995, and has grown steadily ever since. In 2001, the Museum building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Fred Clark gave the Museum a MASH helicopter from the Korean War and the use of his hangar, and Chris Stubbs donated a 1941 Buick convertible which is being restored. The Museum has also received a 1954 Army jeep all of which are housed in the hangar. The US Navy has given the Museum a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber which is sitting in the backyard. A group of Museum volunteers are restoring the plane every Wednesday and Saturday morning.
The Museum and Hangar are filled with military artifacts, vintage photographs, memorabilia that have been donated to the Museum. There is also a room dedicated to World War I.
The DeLand Naval Air Station Museum is dedicated to preserving our military history for the DeLand community, its visitors and for future generations so they may realize the sacrifices made for their freedoms."