MAYBVM

70 71 THE BARTOWMUNICIPAL AIRPORT The Municipal Airport AT A GLANCE THE BARTOWMUNICIPAL AIRPORT WHAT: A municipally-owned, regional airport WHERE: Bartow, Polk County, Florida WEBSITE: www.bartow-airport.com A HISTORY OF PILOT TRAINING L ikemanyof theairports inFlorida,theBartow MunicipalAirport (BOW) inPolkCounty,was originallybuilt asaWorldWar II airbase.“Thevast majorityof theairports inthestatewerebuilt in less thanayear at theoutsetofWorldWar II,”says John Helms,BOW’sExecutiveDirector.“Itwas just anamazing featof engineering.It’shardtobepartofmilitaryaviation andnothavesomeconnectiontotheStateof Florida.” “BOWopened in1943as theBartowArmyAirField and itoperatedasa fighter replacement trainingstation forP-51Mustangs,until 1945,”Helmscontinues.“The airportwasbrieflyturnedover toacivilianoperatoruntil 1951,whentheAirForcecame inandtookpossessionof it,openingtheBartowAirBaseasaprimarypilot training base.TheyoperatedT-6Texans,T-28Trojans,T-34Mentors, andT-37Talons.ManyAirForcepilotscame throughand receivedtheirprimarytrainingatBartow.Wealsohad threeastronautscome throughfor theirprimarytraining– BuzzAldrinwas trainedhere; EdWhiteandBoBobko.” WhentheAirBaseclosed in1961,theownershipwas transferredtotheCityofBartow,withaviation facilities leasedtoa fixed-baseoperator.In1964 theCityrequestedauthorityfromtheFeder- alAviationAdministrationtoconvert a large buildingarea intoan industrial parkand,in1967, theBartowMunicipalAirportDevelopment Authoritywasestablished.Today,theAuthority operatesboththeairport andthe industrial park,aswell as servingas theprimaryfixedbase operationfor theairfieldandtheoperatorof its