Orlando-Sanford International Airport (IATA: SFB , ICAO: KSFB , FAA LID: SFB ) is a public commercial air service airport in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando. It was originally constructed as a military installation known as Naval Air Station Sanford that was in operation as a Master Jet Base for carrier-based attack and reconnaissance aircraft until 1969.
Due to heavy flight training operations at the airport, it is consistently in the top 30 busiest airports in the world in terms of total flight operations (takeoff and landings). It functions as the Orlando area's secondary commercial airport, but is located farther away from downtown Orlando and the attraction areas of Walt Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and SeaWorld Orlando than the larger, primary airport, Orlando International Airport (MCO/KMCO).
The airport is owned by the Sanford Airport Authority and managed by TBI plc, one of the world's leading airport operators, which owns London Luton Airport, Cardiff International Airport, and Belfast International Airport in the United Kingdom, as well as Stockholm-Skavsta Airport in Sweden, and operates airports in South America. Because of that affiliation, Orlando Sanford International Airport is served primarily by British carriers. TBI is also the provider of ground handling services for airlines. Although it is primarily a landing point for European travel, Sanford is also the second largest focus city for Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air and the smallest focus city for Myrtle Beach-based Direct Air.
History
Orlando-Sanford International Airport started life as Naval Air Station Sanford with the airport codes NRJ and KNRJ . Commissioned on November 3, 1942, the base initially concentrated on advanced land-based patrol plane trainng, operating PV-1 Venturas, PBO Hudsons and SNB-2 Kansans. Peak wartime complement reached approximately 360 officers and 1400 enlisted men with 150 officer and enlisted WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) during 1943-1945. In 1944, training at NAS Sanford shifted to carrier-based fighter aircraft using the F4F and FM-1 Wildcat and F6F Hellcat. The air station also held oversight of an auxiliary airfield known as Outlying Field Osceola (OLF Osceola) approximately 6 nautical miles southeast of NAS Sanford.
Decommissioned in 1946 and placed in a caretaker status, the base was recommissioned as Naval Auxiliary Air Station Sanford (NAAS Sanford) in 1950 in response to both the Korean War and the Cold War. Subsequently redesignated as a full naval air station and renamed NAS Sanford , substantial upgrades followed in order to turn the air station into a Master Jet Base for the carrier-based Douglas A-3 Skywarrior (at the time, designated A3D) nuclear attack aircraft of Heavy Attack Wing ONE (HATWING ONE). In addition to the Skywarrior, other associated land-based training aircraft supporting A3D training, such as the P2V-3W Neptune, were also assigned.
The upgrades to the former NAAS to achieve status as a full-fledged NAS and Master Jet Base included construction of additional new hangars, barracks and administrative support buildings for the air station, heavy attack wing and heavy attack squadrons, precision approach radar/ground controlled approach (PAR/GCA), non-directional beacon (NDB) and tactical air navigation (TACAN) navigational aids, a robust storage and distribution system for JP-5 jet fuel (which relied on resupply via a railroad spur into the base), a Navy Dispensary, Navy Exchange complex, base theater, two swimming pools, recreational facilities and separate clubs for officers, chief petty officers and enlisted personnel. Like Pinecastle AFB (later renamed McCoy AFB), a Strategic Air Command installation approximately 25 miles to the south, a commissary and full-fledged Naval Hospital facilities were not considered necessary at NAS Sanford due to the relatively close proximity of a commissary and USAF Hospital at Central Florida's other major military installation at the time, the nearby Orlando AFB (which was transferred to the U.S. Navy control in 1968 and renamed Naval Training Center Orlando ).
NAAS / NAS Sanford also retained control of OLF Osceola into the early 1960s. However, OLF Osceola's 4000 to 5000 foot runways lacked sufficient length and pavement strength for contemporary carrier-based jet aircraft like the A3D. As a result, no improvements were made to the OLF's infrastructure.
HATWING ONE consisted of nine Heavy Attack Squadrons (VAH), also known as HATRONs: VAH-1, VAH-3, VAH-5, VAH-6, VAH-7, VAH-9, VAH-11, VAH-12 and VAH-13. All were Fleet deployable units with the exception of VAH-3, which conducted Replacement Air Group (RAG) functions. In addition to the HATWING ONE squadrons, Air Development Squadron FIVE (VX-5), based at NAWS China Lake, California also maintained a detachment at NAS Sanford.
Due to the Skywarrior's nuclear strike mission and the presence of an associated special weapons storage area at NAS Sanford, Marine Corps personnel provided both base security and special weapons storage area security, leading to the establishment of Marine Corps Barracks Sanford.
On February 6, 1959, NAS Sanford was dedicated as Ramey Field in honor of Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Ramey, USN, who lost his life by electing to guide his crippled A3D Skywarrior away from a residential area. By staying with the aircraft, LCDR Ramey not only gave his flight crew time to bail out of the aircraft, but also saved the lives of numerous families in the residential community.
In the early 1960s, the A-3 aircraft began to be replaced by the Mach 2+ North American A-5A Vigilante aircraft. But by 1964, the strategic nuclear strike mission for carrier-based aircraft was eliminated and the Navy's nuclear strike mission under the SIOP was transferred to the Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) nuclear submarine force. As a result, all Vigilante squadrons were converted to a carrier-based tactical reconnaissance mission and redesignated as Reconnaissance Attack Squadrons (RVAH). Existing A-5A and A-5B aircraft were modified to the RA-5C Vigilante configuration and the North American production line shifted to producing all subsequent aircraft as RA-5Cs. Heavy Attack Wing ONE was renamed Reconnaissance Attack Wing ONE and NAS Sanford-based squadrons routinely deployed aboard both Atlantic and Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers of the FORRESTAL, KITTY HAWK and ENTERPRISE classes, seeing extensive action during the Vietnam War. Numerous RA-5C flight crews and aircraft were lost to enemy action, with several Sanford-based Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers becoming prisoners of war in Vietnam until repatriation in 1973. In addition to RA-5C aircraft, NAS Sanford also continued to operate the TA-3B variant of the Skywarrior, several examples of which were attached to the RA-5C Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), Reconnaissance Attack Squadron THREE (RVAH-3) for training Naval Flight Officers as Reconnaissance Attack Navigators (RAN) in the RA-5C. NAS Sanford also operated the R4D-8/C-117 Skytrain as an operational support aircraft assigned to the air station proper.
Congress closed NAS Sanford in 1968 due to funding constraints caused by the Vietnam War, transferring the wing and squadrons to the former Turner AFB, renamed as NAS Albany, Georgia. The wing and squadrons subsequently relocated to NAS Key West, Florida during 1974-75 and continued to deploy to both the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific aboard FORRESTAL, KITTY HAWK, ENTERPRISE and NIMITZ class aircraft carriers. RA-5C units remained operational at NAS Key West until the RA-5C's retirement from active service in 1980. A commemorative NAS Sanford Memorial Park, along with plaques and a retired RA-5C Vigilante aircraft on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation were dedicated in May 2003 and are positioned on the main entrance road within the Orlando Sanford International Airport perimeter in memory to NAS Sanford personnel who served their country during World War II, Vietnam and the Cold War. A PV-1 Ventura, also on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation, is in the process of being restored at the airport and will join the RA-5C on display. An A-3 Skywarrior has also been requested from the Navy for future restoration and display.
The City of Sanford assumed control of the former NAS Sanford in 1969 and renamed the facility Sanford Airport, hiring the air station's recently retired Executive Officer, Commander J. S. "Red" Cleveland, USN (Ret.), as the first Airport Manager. The city concurrently established the Sanford Airport Authority as its policy and oversight body. For the next twenty-five years, the airport was a general aviation facility, supporting numerous locally-based and transient private and corporate aircraft and periodically hosting combined civilian/military air shows and associated static displays. Initially functioning as an uncontrolled airfield, the former Navy control tower was reactivated in the early 1970s as a non-FAA facility, employing a number of retired enlisted Navy air traffic controllers who had previously served at NAS Sanford.
Additional name changes followed, to include Sanford Regional Airport, Central Florida Regional Airport, Orlando Sanford Regional Airport and the current Orlando Sanford International Airport. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, many of the former Navy buildings that had been constructed during World War II had reached the end of their useful service life and were demolished, while those constructed by the Navy in the 1950s and 1960s were renovated
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