As a small city airport in 1936, the Boca Raton Airport expanded quickly at the dawn of WWII and was renamed the Boca Raton Army Airfield.

Though the Airfield served as a base for air-sea patrol, and a weigh station for planes being ferried to Europe, its primary mission was much more unique. Playing a critical role in the war, the Airfield was the training base where all of the Army Air Force’s flight crews learned to use radar — a then brand new technology.

After the war, training continued at the base until it was shut down in December of 1947. In 1948, the Airport was transferred from the United States of America to the Town of Boca Raton, with a provision that it be used for the benefit of the flying public.

Over the next three decades, the airport passed through the stewardship of five different government agencies as it evolved to better serve the local flying community.

In 1982, the Boca Raton Airport Authority was created by the state legislature to control the Airport. On October 27th of that same year, the land lease became effective from the State of Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund to the Boca Raton Airport Authority, expiring at midnight on January 22, 2073.

Watch the video to learn more about how the Airport grew into the premier general aviation facility that it is today.

Control of the land was transferred to the State of Florida in the 1950s. The State released one thousand acres for educational use, which eventually became Florida Atlantic University.