Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Florida: Key West area

Florida - Key West area

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Trumbo Point Seaplane Base, Key West, FL

24.56 North / 81.79 West (Southwest of Miami, FL)

The earliest depiction which has been located of the Key West seaplane base

was on the April 1937 Miami Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

Note that it depicted the seaplane base on the western side of the island (which is further to the west of all subsequent depictions).

This different location may have been erroneous.

A Naval Air Station was first opened at Trumbo Point in 1917.

It hosted patrol flights & conducted preliminary flight training,

with 18 seaplanes & 4 kite balloons.

In 1919, the station's blimp hangar was disassembled & moved to Opa-Locka.

In the same year, the first flight to Havana (90 miles over water) departed from Trumbo Point.

The Navy closed Trumbo Point in 1920.

No seaplane facility was depicted at Key West on the December 1935 Miami Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).

The earliest depiction which has been located of a Key West seaplane base

was on the April 1937 Miami Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

Note that it depicted the seaplane base on the western side of the island (which is further to the west of all subsequent depictions).

This different location may have been erroneous,

or the seaplane base may have been originally located on the western edge of the island,

and later moved to its eventual location at Trumbo Point.

As part of the pre-WW2 military buildup,

the Navy began to reactivate Trumbo Point in 1939,

with a PBY Catalina flying boat squadron conducting neutrality patrols.

Trumbo Point was commissioned again as Naval Air Station Key West in 1940.

The May 1941Miami Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

depicted the seaplane base on the northern side of the island, at Trumbo Point.

"Key West (Navy)" seaplane base, as depicted on the 1943 Miami Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

Aircraft based at Trumbo Point during WW2

included the OS2U Kingfisher, PBM Mariner, and J2F Duck.

The total complement at Trumbo Point during WW2 was a total of 2,614 personnel.

A WW2-era aerial view looking east at Trumbo Point (National Archives photo).

"NAS Key West" was still depicted as a seaplane base on the August 1954 Miami Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

Seaplane operations were discontinued at Trumbo Point at an unknown date after 1954.

The aviation facilities were then reused by Navy helicopter squadrons through the late 1960s.

An undated photo of two Pegasus class hydrofoils at speed.

After the helicopter units departed,

Trumbo Point became the home of the Navy's hydrofoil squadron PHMRON-2,

which operated the 6 ships of the PHM-1 Pegasus class from 1977-93.

USGS aerial photo 1999.

In 2002, the piers on the western portion of Trumbo Point are used by the Coast guard to operate cutters.

Housing has been built over the eastern portion of the point.

In the center, an 1,100' square portion of the original seaplane apron still remains,

along with one hangar.