The thought was that at least three new casinos could be built there. The city tried several times to sell the 143-acre site, setting a $1 billion minimum price in 2008 but expecting at least $1.5 billion for one of the largest parcels of developable land near the ocean on the U.S. But a series of fatal plane crashes soured city officials on its use. presidents regularly flew in and out of Bader Field, but it remained the domain of small planes and private pilots bigger jets landed at Atlantic City International Airport about 9 miles (15 kilometers) away.īader Field is where the Civil Air Patrol was founded shortly before the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941.

Walter Wellmann lifted off in the dirigible “America,” only to ditch it off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, when a storm hit shortly afterward.Įntertainers bound for Boardwalk ballrooms, business travelers and even U.S. In 1910, it was the scene of the first attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air, 17 years before Charles Lindbergh would succeed. Bader Field, which closed in September 2006 after 96 years of aviation use, gave the world the term “airport” when a local reporter used the word in a 1919 article.

Atlantic city airport address