| LAKELAND'S AVIATION HISTORY AND MUNICIPAL AIRPORTS (RG2720) 1936-1993 |
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE |
This collection includes photocopies of National Archives documents relating to a Works Progress Administration project providing additional development and improvement for the Lakeland Municipal Airport (#1) located north of town on Lakeland Hills Blvd. adjacent to Lake Parker. This is the current location of Joker Marchant Stadium and Tigertown, the Detroit Tigers Spring Training site. The project called for the construction of hangars, paved runways, field lighting, relocation of the administration building, and installation of additional drainage. The intent of this development was to bring the airport up to Class Three specifications. Types of photocopied materials include project proposals (W.P.A. form 301), correspondence, newspaper articles, check sheets, memoranda, notes, telegrams and certificates from 1936 to 1941.
Also included are project proposals from 1938-39 for the removal of water hyacinths from Lake Parker. The purpose of their removal was to make possible the development and operation of a seaplane base on the shores of the lake next to the aviation school (Lodwick School of Aeronautics during WWII).
A 1961 application to the Civil Aeronautics Board for improved and additional scheduled airline service to other Florida cities and Atlanta, Georgia from Lakeland's Municipal Airport (#2), located 3 miles west of the city at the former Drane Field, is included in the collection.
A history of aviation in Lakeland, written in 1993 by Hal Hubener, former Special Collections Librarian, is also part of the collection.
Don Emerson, Airport Director of Lakeland Airport No. 2 (at Drane Field) compiled a pictorial report of the runways from 1958 to 1968, located in folder 5.
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