Vero Beach Regional Airport | |||||||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public use | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | City of Vero Beach | ||||||||||||||||||
Operator | Eric Menger | ||||||||||||||||||
Serves | Vero Beach, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Indian River County, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 24 ft / 7 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Website | Vero Beach Regional Airport | ||||||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||||||
Location of airport in Florida / United States | |||||||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Statistics (2008) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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Aircraft operations | 164,665 |
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Based aircraft | 224 |
Coordinates: 27°39′20″N 080°25′04.60″W / 27.65556°N 80.4179444°W
Vero Beach Regional Airport (IATA: VRB, ICAO: KVRB, FAA LID: VRB) is a public airport one mile northwest of Vero Beach in Indian River County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned and is the home of Piper Aircraft.
In 1929, Bud Holman, whose sons and grandsons now operate Sun Aviation, was one of the members of the group that built the Vero Beach airport. The Vero Beach Regional Airport was dedicated in 1930 and in 1932 Eastern Air Lines began refueling there. In 1935 EAL started passenger and mail service from Vero Beach, continuing until around 1972. By the end of the 1930s and the airport got runway lights and radio and teletype machines. In 1939, using Public Assistance workers, the runways were extended and a year later the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) spent $250,000 on more improvements.
In 1942 the U.S. Navy notified Vero Beach that it had selected its airport for a naval air station and purchased 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) surrounding the airport. The base was commissioned as Naval Air Station Vero Beach in 1942 and initially functioned as an operational training unit (OTU) training for Naval Aviators beginning in February 1943 with the SB2A Buccaneer aircraft.