Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields:
Eastern Puerto Rico
© 2002, © 2008 by Paul Freeman. Revised 2/4/08.
Camp Garcia Vieques (revised 2/4/08) - Dorado Aux Airdrome (revised 7/21/07)
Salinas Aux Airdrome (revised 7/21/07) - Santa Isabel Aux Airdrome (revised 7/21/07)
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Salinas Auxiliary Airdrome, Salinas, PR
17.97 North / 66.27 West (Southwest of San Juan, PR)
Salinas Airfield, as depicted on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Photo of the airfield while open has not been located.
This field on the southern coast of Puerto Rico
was built during WW2 as an Army Air Force auxiliary airfield.
It is located on the north side of Route 3, two miles east of Salinas.
At some point the Salinas airfield was apparently reused as a civilian airport,
as that is how it was depicted on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The 1977 USGS topo map depicted the “Aeropuerto De Salinas” as having a single paved 3,500' northeast/southwest runway,
with several taxiways & small buildings (hangars?) on the southeast side.
At some point between 1964-94, the Salinas Airport was apparently closed & and the runway was reused as a racetrack,
as seen in the 1994 USGS aerial photo.
The Salinas airfield was no longer depicted at all (even as an abandoned airfield) on the 1998 World Aeronautical Chart.
As of 2004, the Puerto Rico International Speedway is still operating on the site,
with a 1.7 mile road course laid out over the former runway.
Thanks to Scott Murdock for pointing out this airfield.
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Santa Isabel Auxiliary Airdrome (PR27), Santa Isabel, PR
17.97 North / 66.39 West (South of San Juan, PR)
Santa Isabel Airfield, as depicted on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Photo of the airfield while open has not been located.
A former military airfield located along the southern coast of Puerto Rico.
A total of 129 acres was acquired in 1940-1942 for an Army Air Force auxiliary airfield.
The site was developed & named the Santa Isabel Auxiliary Airdrome.
The Army's Caribbean Air Command utilized the site as an auxiliary airfield for Losey Field.
The construction at the site consisted of three buildings, runways, taxiways, roads, utilities,
fuel storage & dispensing system, and a railway siding.
The Airdrome remained active until 1946 when its functions were no longer required.
The property was transferred to the US Department of Interior in 1947.
Santa Isabel was depicted as a civilian airport
on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy),
with a single east/west runway.
The 1977 USGS topo map depicted the “Aeropuerto de Santa Isabel” as having a single paved east/west runway,
with a parallel taxiway on the south side of the runway, and several taxiways on the southeast side.
A 1992 Army Corps of Engineers report stated that the site was "undeveloped".
However in the late 1990s the FAA Airport Facility Directory listed Santa Isabel as a current private airfield,
owned by the Israel PR Agricultural Company.
The field was described as having a single 4,000' paved Runway 9/27,
and 1 single-engine aircraft based at the field.
Although the Corps of Engineers report used the plural term "runways" to describe the airfield configuration,
the 1995 USGS photo showed evidence of only a single runway.
Given the intensive agriculture in the surrounding area,
if other runways were part of the original configuration,
it is most likely that they have been broken up & the area returned to farming.
A set of buildings was located southeast of the runway.
See also: http://pirs.mvr.usace.army.mil/fuds/a-d/cptort/preasses/inpr/inpr.htm
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Dorado Auxiliary Airdrome (DDP), Dorado, PR
18.46 North / 66.3 West (West of San Juan, PR)
"Dorado Beach" Airfield, as depicted on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
Photo of the airfield while open has not been located.
This field on the northern coast of Puerto Rico
was originally established for the private use of pioneer aviator Clara Livingstone,
“who used to own hundreds of acres that surround the area”, according to Ricarco Medina.
“The farm was a grapefruit plantation owned & operated by Clara Livingston's father;
she took over management at age 22.
Clara Livingston is listed as being the 11th woman aviator in the world
and she lived most her life on the Island.”
The original date of construction of the airfield has not been determined.
According to Ricardo Medina, “Amelia Earhart was a friend of Clara and this strip was used by her
when she made a stopover with Fred Noonan & stayed overnight at Clara's ranch during her last flight in 1937.”
The Dorado Airfield was reused by the military during WW2 as an Army Air Force auxiliary airfield,
and the military presumably added the paved runway during that period.
However, Ricardo Medina reported, “I have spoken with people of the area
and none of them recall seeing military installations there,
only the airstrip of the 'Americanos' as they refer to mainland Americans.”
According to Ricardo Medina, “The property was sold in 1959 to Lawrence Rockefeller to establish a hotel resort.”
The airfield was reopened as a commercial airport, the Dorado Airport,
at the same time as the Dorado Beach hotel in the early 1960s.
The hotel had strong ties to Eastern Airlines.
It was listed as an active airfield in the 1962 AOPA Airport Directory,
with a 3,500' paved runway,
the operators listed as West Indies Airmotive & the Dorado Beach Hotel,
and airline service provided by Caribair.
Dorado was the home to Dorado Wings airlines for over twenty years,
according to former Dorado Wings employee Michael Miller.
They operated flights from San Juan to St. Thomas, St Croix, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda,
with about 80 flights a day.
The Quonset hangar at Dorado was used for maintenance of their aircraft.
"Dorado Beach" was depicted as a civilian airport
on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The 1977 USGS topo map depicted the “Aeropuerto de Dorado” as having a single paved east/west runway,
with several small buildings (hangars?) on the north side of the strip.
According to Ricardo Medina, “The concrete runway was laid out many years later
on top of the existing compacted macadam material
by a commercial aircraft company that operated at that place in the 1970's & 1980's.”
In 1981 the Dorado Wings airline had a fleet of 8 Britten-Norman Islanders, 3 Jetstreams, a Piper Navaho,
and a Cessna 182 used for pilot transfer to San Juan.
The remains of N116DW, a Britten-Norman Islander, are most likely still next to the hangar.
It crashed on take-off in San Juan on the night of July 20, 1981.
The airline was sold in 1981 & became Crownair,
moved its operations to San Juan, lasted about 3 years & then want bankrupt.
By the time of the 1982 AOPA Airport Directory (courtesy of Ed Drury)
Dorado Airport was listed as a private airfield, with a 3,420' asphalt Runway 10/28.
Dorado Airport was closed sometime shortly after 1982.
In an unusual twist, Dorado Airport was used to shoot the 1991 HBO movie “Doublecrossed”,
starring Dennis Hopper as drug smuggler pilot Barry Seal.
The hangar was used as a set, and a Beech 18 was crashed for the movie.
The 1994 USGS aerial photo showed the airfield to consist of a single 3,500' paved Runway 10/28,
a small ramp & a single small hangar.
Closed-runway "X" markings were visible along the runway, but it remained in very good condition,
and two light aircraft were still parked on the ramp north of the runway.
Dorado was depicted on the 1998 World Aeronautical Chart as an abandoned airfield.
Unfortunately, according to Ricardo Declet
(whose uncle had worked at Dorado Airport as an Eastern Airlines mechanic),
the portion of the airport visible from the road was redeveloped for housing construction in 2001.
A 2003 photo by Ricardo Medina looking west along the remaining portion of the Dorado runway,
along with a small recently-constructed Quonset-hut on the right,
which houses a museum which houses memorabilia of airfield founder Clara Livingstone.
Thanks to Scott Murdock for information about Dorado.
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Camp Garcia Vieques Airfield (PR18), Vieques Island, PR
18.12 North / 65.42 West (Southeast of San Juan, PR)
Vieques Airfield, as depicted on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
The Navy purchased 27,000 acres of land on Vieques Island in 1939,
which was used for a target range & for amphibious exercises by the Marines.
The airfield on Vieques was built in 1960 by a Marine engineering company.
The airfield served as the base's primary logistical lifeline:
transports flew in supplies & training units, and flew out departing units.
The earliest depiction which has been located of the Vieques Airfield
was on the May 1964 USAF Operational Navigation Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).
It depicted Vieques as having a single 4,000' runway.
Apparently the runway at Vieques was a dirt strip at first.
Norman Massey recalled, "I landed on this dirt strip in 1975 on a Navy C-1 from Roosevelt Roads.
That was the worst scare of my live.
Coming for landing it just above tree top,
all I could see what looked jungle out the missing cargo door.
I just knew the plane was going down into it & all of us were going die.
The plane circled out over open water & on around then landed.
There 10 or so head of cattle on the runway."
Starting in the 1970s, various groups in Puerto Rico started an escalating series
of protests & incursions against the military use of the Vieques facilities.
As a result, the Marine Corps deactivated Camp Garcia in 1978
(although the Navy has attempted to continue to use Vieques for target practice).
The 1982 USGS topo map depicted “MCAS Camp Garcia (Closed)” as having a single east/west runway,
with a parallel taxiway on the north side & a ramp on the northeast side.
A few small buildings were depicted on the northeast side of the airfield.
USGS aerial photo 1997.
According to Randy Nickum, NAS Roosevelt Roads “was officially closed in 2004,
and with it, the bombing range & airfield at Camp Garcia.”
As of 2003, the Vieques Airfield was still listed in the FAA Airport/Facility Directory,
although with the remark, "Airport closed permanently".
It was described as having a single paved 5,000 Runway 10/28.
A 2004 photo by Paul Houston looking along the former Camp Garcia runway.
Paul observed, “I vacation each year on the island of Vieques.”
A 2004 photo by Paul Houston of the road leading to the Camp Garcia buildings.
Randy Nickum reported in 2006, “The former bombing range will be allowed to return to a natural state
as something of a natural ecological area.
The unintended consequence of the protests against the bombing ranges
is that there is now considerable unemployment in Vieques.”
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