Aviation in Florida explained

Region:	Florida
Series:	Aviation in the United States
Cs Primary:	20
Cs Non-Primary:	22
General Aviation:	58
Other Public-Use:	29
Military:	24
First Flight:	Balloon - 1878 Heavier-than-air - 1914

The first aeronautical event in Florida was presented on January 28, 1878, when a balloon flew over Jacksonville.^[1] Florida has since hosted four major aviation events.^[2]

Events

• January 1914 - St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line becomes the first airline in the world using heavier-than-air vehicles.
• December 1916 - Navy takes delivery of its first airship, the DN-1
• April 1, 1926 - Florida Airways starts Commercial Air Mail (CAM) Service.^[3]
• Sun 'n Fun air show started in 1974.

Aircraft manufacturers

• Comp Air - Merritt Island, Florida
• Piper Aircraft - Vero Beach
• Progressive Aerodyne - Tavares, Florida

Aerospace

• Florida Institute of Technology
• Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University

Airports

• List of airports in Florida

Commercial service

• Air Florida based in Florida from 1971 to 1984
• Red Arrow Flying Service - Chalk's Ocean Airways - Chalk's International Airlines founded in Miami in 1917.^[4]
• National Airlines founded in 1934.^[5]

Organizations

• Florida Aviation Association - Founded in 1936 in Orlando^[6]
• Space Florida

Government and military

• Florida Department of Transportation ^[7]
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration bases its aircraft at the Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland.

^[8]

Museums

• Air Force Armament Museum, Valparaiso, Florida
• Air Force Space and Missile Museum, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
• Airport Museum (Melbourne, Florida)
• DeLand Naval Air Station Museum, DeLand, Florida
• Fantasy of Flight, Polk City, Florida
• Florida Air Museum, Lakeland, Florida
• Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island, Florida
• Kissimmee Air Museum
• National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida
• United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, south of Titusville, Florida
• US Space Walk of Fame, Titusville, Florida
• Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum, Titusville, Florida
• Wings of Dreams Aviation Museum, Keystone Heights, Florida
• Wings Over Miami, Tamiami Airport, Miami

Notes and References

1. Book: Wings Over Florida. Lynn M. Homan, Thomas Reilly.
2. Book: 200 Quick Looks at Florida History. James C. Clark. 73.
3. Book: Wings over Florida. Lynn M. Homan. 46.
4. Book: Wings over Florida. Lynn M. Homan. 43.
5. Book: Remembering St. Petersburg, Florida: More Sunshine City Stories. Scott Taylor Hartzell. 83.
6. Flying Magazine. November 1938. Florida Sprouts Wings. John Forney Rudy.
7. Web site: FDOT . 1 April 2015 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/19980625052720/http://www.dot.state.fl.us/aviation/ . 25 June 1998 .
8. Web site: Aircraft Operations | Office of Marine and Aviation Operations. 2020-10-06. 2017-09-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20170904232721/https://www.omao.noaa.gov/learn/aircraft-operations. dead.