See Miami Herald: Restoring South Floiridas fading Military Memory article on museum at old Richmond Blimp Base. Some of these old military bases are being restored to memory in the new Naval Air museum in the Richmond section of SW Miami-Dade near the Metro Zoo/Zoo-Miami. At the bottom of this article South Floridas older military bases and institutions from WWII are listed. Interesting article FYI. My father had part of his Army Air Corps basic training in Miami Beach and they marched on the golf courses. Wish my Air Force basic at Warner-Robins AFB, GA gnat-and snake-infested sweat-box had been that luxurious! Ha! On Sept. 15, 1945, a Category 4 hurricane was aimed at the state, and the blimp base’s towering hangars seemed a suitable sanctuary. So the military stuffed nearly 400 aircraft inside. The no-name hurricane blew roofs off buildings, ripped out power lines, and stirred up one of the largest storm surges recorded in South Florida. It also tragically kicked off a fire that leaped from hangar to hangar and turned South Florida’s aircraft to ash. (This 1945 Hurricane caused major damage in Homestead, only topped by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.) All of it burned in what Atwood calls the “largest loss of federal property in peacetime.” Training and surveillance aircraft, blimp gondolas, and torpedo bombers all “disappeared from our heritage,” he said. miamiherald/2014/03/25/4019169/restoring-south-floridas-fading.html#emlnl=Five_Minute_Herald
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:38:44 +0000
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