Today, a huge, green airstrip lies abandoned in the middle of Florida. Construction started with a big dream Everglades Jetport, It is designed for supersonic jets.

from anywhere in the world With supersonic fighter jets to the US Although it was intended to be a famous place for wealthy people to use, its name has been lost to history. What remained was a lonely, large airstrip in the middle of the swamp, and it was not clear why it was there.

This is known as Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport.

This facility, also known as Everglades Jetport; In the mid-1960s it was promoted as the airport of the future. At that time, millions of passengers from all over the world traveled in supersonic aircraft He would use this airport to reach Miami.

such as Concorde As well as supersonic aircraft developed in Europe There was also a project called Boeing 2707 in the US. With this vision, the world’s largest airport project west of Miami was launched.

View on Google Maps.

If you look at the region from Google Maps, Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport​ An area defined as will appear. We can even say that it is designed as an area where supersonic commercial aircraft will land and take off.

In the early 1960s it took shape along the highway that connected the city to Naples on the Gulf of Mexico.

Boeing-2707

Supersonic at the time Airplanes such as the Boeing 2707 were developed It was a time when air traffic was expanding rapidly. The Everglades region was also an ideal airport that could serve such aircraft without noise restrictions.

When planned with a large area of ​​101 square kilometers It was expected to be one of the largest airports in the world and five times the size of New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, with six runways.

in 1968, Dade County Port Authority A $52 ​​million bond was issued by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration contributed $500,000 to begin construction of the jet port.

However, the uncontrolled rise in fuel prices and the rise of the environmental movement in the early 1970s led to a decline in interest in supersonic aircraft travel.

This situation, On May 20, 1971, the U.S. House of Representatives spoke Canceling funding for the project and halting the Boeing 2707 program abruptly ended construction of the Jetport.

Although activity in the area remained limited, it was actively used in pilot training throughout the 1970s and 1980s, particularly for airlines such as Pan American World Airways and Eastern Airlines. However, with the closure of these major airlines in the early 1990s Large planes left Jetport one by one.

Nowadays this place is open between 8am and 5:30pm. open to trafficOnly a limited number of training flights and very emergency landings are permitted.

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