1905-1920
From kites to catapults — and beyond
- Daytona Beach Attracts Early Fliers
- The Key West-Havana Challenge
- 1911 Tampa Census Celebration
- Miami Takes to the Skies
- Curtiss Aviation School offers flying lessons for everyone
- St. Petersburg-Tampa Air Boat Line is world’s first scheduled air service
- America Trans-Oceanic Company sets up shop in Palm Beach
- Miami’s early Air & Sea spectacles
- Elser Pier: the Miami hotspot that served as an early seaplane base
- Pensacola is Home to First Naval Aviation Station in the Nation
- NAS Key West sends wings over the Keys
- Naval Aviation Station is Built on Miami’s Dinner Key
- Army Signal Corps Establishes Aero-Gunnery School at Chapman Field
- Lt. Cmdr. Albert C. Read and the NC-4
- Aero Limited Arrives in Miami with Pilot Harry Rogers
- George Haldeman explores Cloudland from Lakeland
1920-1930
Fledgling enterprises test their wings
- Aeromarine Begins “High Ball Express”
- 1922-1923: Seasonal operators struggle after flying boat tragedies
- Mabel Cody’s Flying Circus is popular Florida attraction
- Glenn Curtiss Florida Aviation Camp bustles with activity
- Florida Airways pioneers Florida’s first interstate Air Mail-passenger service
- N.W. 54th Street municipal airfield becomes Miami’s “go-to” flying field
- GMAA is formed, board includes area’s most prominent civic leaders
- Viking seaplane base operates from Venetian Causeway
- Jacksonville inaugurates ambitious municipal airport
- Pan American’s Juan Trippe launches an aviation empire from Key West
- Lindbergh charts a route to the future
- A municipal airport is completed in Miami
- All American Air Maneuvers attract thousands
- New Pan American Airport at NW 36th Street is international gateway
- Lindbergh Expands Pan Am routes from Miami to Central and South America, explores Mayan Ruins
- Tampa searches for an airport
- The Legacy of Merle Fogg lives on at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
- Before Eastern Air Lines: Pitcairn Aviation brings Air Mail to Florida
- 1929 National Air Races showcase Greater Miami’s importance to advance of aviation
- Pan Am celebrates 2nd anniversary at NW 36th Street
1930-1940
Scheduled services expand
- From 5 to 79: Number of Florida Airports Skyrockets as the New Decade Unfolds
- Curtiss Wright marine terminal opens on Biscayne Boulevard
- NYRBA and Pan American vie for Dinner Key – and South America
- Eastern Air Transport and Pan Am coordinate Air Mail operations at NW 36 Street Airport
- Eastern Air Transport inaugurates passenger service between Miami and New York
- Pan Am invests in flying boats, shifts operations to Miami’s Dinner Key
- Florida’s own National Airlines begins service from St. Petersburg
- Eastern Air Lines moves its headquarters to NW 36th Street, makes Miami its permanent home
- Amelia Earhart makes Miami her last stop on U.S. soil
- Embry-Riddle School of Aviation is founded in Florida
- Eastern Air Lines celebrates its 10th birthday with Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker
- Tallahassee becomes latest Florida city to be connected to rest of country by regularly scheduled airline service
1940-1945
Wings of War
- Miami Master Airport is sacrificed to wartime needs
- Pan Am returns to landplanes and NW 36th Street
- Intercontinent and Convair produce parts for military aircraft
- Florida becomes a 65,000 square mile national wartime aviation training ground
- Opa Locka emerges as naval aviation superstar
- Pan American Air Ferries provide transport services from Miami to Africa and the Middle East
- Doolittle Raiders train at Florida’s Eglin Field
- National Airlines moves to new headquarters and 36th Street airfields
- Florida Civil Air Patrols hunt down German U-boats
- Pan Am “Cannonball” operation provides a lifeline to China
- Natural catastrophe strikes NAS Richmond
- Air Transport Command builds airport off NW 36th Street
- The enduring enigma of “The Bermuda Triangle”
1945-1965
Postwar travel boom fuels expansion
- Ring out the old, ring in the new: Miami International Airport is born on New Year’s Day 1946.
- Port Authority’s first year at Miami International Airport is marked by growing pains
- Tamiami Airport provides all-in-one services for private fliers
- Postwar CAB “Latin American Decision” threatens Miami, riles airlines
- Port Authority cobbles together a greatly expanded Miami International Airport
- World class Miami International Airport opens at 20th Street
- Pan Am pioneers the Jet Age.
- Miami: Proving ground of the Jet Age
- Colorful commuters provide convenient localized service
- Skyjackers seize Cubana Airlines plane after Miami takeoff
- Operation Pedro Pan & Freedom flights offer oppressed Cubans a lifeline
- Historic 36th Street terminal sacrificed to Jet Age expansion
1965-1980
Triumph and turbulence
- Pan Am Launches the Second Jet Age
- The star-crossed history of the Clipper Victor
- The Judy Years at MIA
- Orlando International Airport rises to aviation superstardom
- European Airbus A300 makes U.S. debut — in Miami, of course
- 1978 Airline Deregulation Act revolutionizes commercial air travel
- Air Florida is Deregulation Success Story. Until it isn’t
1980-
The Deregulation revolution
- People Express introduces the low fare generation
- Opa-locka Airport begins its comeback
- The Demise of the Giants (Parts I-III)
- MIA – Cargo gateway to the world
- ValuJet tragedy exposes pitfalls of deregulation
- NetJets and the Jet Set reimagined
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport comes of age
Stories
People
- Charles Hamilton defies death at Jacksonville Beach
- Lincoln Beachey brings powered flight to Florida
- Glenn Curtiss: Pioneer of the air, godfather of Miami aviation
- J.A.D. McCurdy in Florida
- Ruth Law makes baseball history at Daytona Beach
- Richard B. Hoit, Miami’s first commercial aerial photographer
- Remembering Ervin Edward Ballough
- Albert Whitted: Gulf Coast aviation pioneer
- Grover Loening and the rise of amphibians
- Miami’s aviation pioneers
- Remembering Bessie Coleman
- Ruth Elder, Florida’s “Flying Flapper”
- Jacksonville’s Laurie Yonge is area legend
- Juan Trippe: Creator of an American aviation empire
- Hugo C. Leuteritz, radio navigation pioneer
- Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker: Eastern Air Line’s indomitable chairman
- A. B. McMullen: The “Flying Farmer” who transformed Florida’s aviation landscape
- The unlikely aviator – Jackie Cochran
- W. F. Gerecke – Miami’s aviation photographer of the 1930s
- Lt. Col. Joseph C. Mackey, Broward County’s “Mr. Aviation”
- Zack Mosley and Smilin’ Jack
- Florida’s Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. is first African American four-star general
Places
- The Bimini Bay Rod and Gun Club
- Tampa, NYRBA and the Southern Star
- Boarding the flying boat – a Dinner Key memory
- The Fritz Hotel: From boom era dream to Aviation Building
- The Florida Flying Alligators Club
- Dinner Key (1946-1954): From seaplane base to Miami City Hall
- The Space Age arrives in Florida — with the help of Pan Am
- Miami jetport projects fail to fly
- Sun ‘n Fun – Lakeland Fly-In becomes an aviation institution
Events
- Edith’s Miami Winter
- Florida Airways’ misadventure in Nashville
- When Charles Lindbergh touched down in Jacksonville
- Juan Trippe’s close call
- The day Biscayne Boulevard became an airstrip
- September 15, 1928: A Red Letter day for Miami’s future
- Miami hosts nation’s first civilian air convoy
- The rise and fall of Miami Aircraft Corporation and the Miami Maid
- “No Parking!” Pitcairn autogiro arrives in Miami
- DO-X: The future of air travel arrives in Miami
- October 23, 1933: A day with the Graf Zeppelin
- Watch the newsreel: Lindberghs in Miami after historic expedition
- Bull creates uproar at MIA
- Col. Michael McCoy and the crash that shook Orlando