Serving During the War Years
Just a week before Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, Bader Field became the first location in the nation to host a Civil Air Patrol (CAP) flight. Many of the local pilots joined the CAP. Like many airports at the time, Bader Field was essentially a large smooth landing pan as opposed to a network of runways. Naval Aircraft Factory N3N Yellow Peril biplane trainers, built in nearby Philadelphia, were seen at the field for several years. The US Navy had a large wartime presence at Bader Field until Naval Air Station (NAS) Atlantic City, located on the mainland in nearby Egg Harbor, began training carrier air groups in 1943.
Mishaps Were Part of Training Naval Aviators
After the activation of NAS Atlantic City, Bader Field was utilized as an outlying practice field by naval aviators in training. Like most stateside Air Stations, both NAS Atlantic City and Bader Field experienced student aviator attrition and plenty of crackups. The tidal marshes between NAS Atlantic City and Bader Field also saw their share of mishaps. The student aviators were flying relatively hot Vought F4U Corsairs, Grumman F6F Hellcats, Grumman/Eastern TBF/TBM Avengers, and Curtiss SB2C Helldivers in the area at first, but later in the war the Air Station switched to fighter pilot training only.
Baseball at the Airport?
A minor league baseball stadium was built on the airfield grounds, opening in 1944. The New York Yankees held spring training at Bader Field that year, playing several games there. The Bronx Bombers used the Senator Hotel for their spring training headquarters and practiced indoors at the Atlantic City Armory. The Boston Red Sox also used Bader Field for spring training in 1945. The last spring training game played at Bader Field was played between the Red Sox and the Yankees on April 8th 1945.
Presidential Landings and Allegheny Commuters
After the war ended, Bader Field was used primarily for private aviation. A municipal football stadium (John Boyd Stadium) was opened at Bader Field in 1949 and stood there until 1994. The airport was modernized, adding field lights, a control tower, updated communications, paved runways and taxiways, and additional hangars. Because of the draw of Atlantic City, every United States President from Theodore Roosevelt to Gerald Ford flew into Bader Field during their terms in Office. Allegheny Commuter Airlines flew de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters on short-haul routes out of Bader Field during the 1960s and 1970s- several of them carrying the author and/or his family.
Even the Coming of the Casinos Couldn’t Save Bader Field
When commercial traffic shifted to Atlantic City International Airport, formerly NAS Atlantic City in Egg Harbor in 1978, Bader Field went into decline. A brief surge in activity coincided with the arrival of the casinos in town, but eventually the control tower, fuel trucks, and onsite aircraft maintenance went away during the late 1980s. Today the site is home to Bernie Robbins Stadium, another minor league baseball stadium built in 1998. By 2006 the airport was in disrepair and closed at the end of September 2006. Some of the airport facilities were moved to the NAS Wildwood Museum in Cape May.
Politics Just Muddies the Waters and Keeps Development From Moving Forward
Over the years since Bader Field ceased being an airport, the site has hosted the Atlantic City Surf, an unaffiliated minor league baseball team who played there between 1998 and 2008, along with Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) autocross racing, and multiple day concert appearances by bands such as Dave Matthews Band, Metallica, and Phish. Today the city hopes to attract a new minor league baseball team to play in the unused Robbins Stadium. Even though the land is in a good location, development plans for the former Bader Field are mired in the mud of politics.
