Witham Field | |||||||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public use | ||||||||||||||||||
Owner | Martin County Board of Commissioners | ||||||||||||||||||
Operator | Michael C. Moon | ||||||||||||||||||
Serves | Stuart, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Martin County, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 18 ft / 6 m | ||||||||||||||||||
Website | Martin County Airport | ||||||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||||||
Location of airport in Florida / United States | |||||||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Statistics (1999) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration
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Aircraft operations | 120,556 |
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Based aircraft | 235 |
Coordinates: 27°10′54.10″N 080°13′15.90″W / 27.1816944°N 80.2210833°W
Witham Field (IATA: SUA, ICAO: KSUA, FAA LID: SUA) is a public-use airport located 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of the central business district of the city of Stuart in Martin County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned.
With the onset of World War II, patriotic private landowners offered their property to Martin County to build an airport. Martin County's airport was originally known as MacArthur Field, however, it was later named Witham Field in honor of Paul "Homer" Witham, who was the first Naval Aviator from the City of Stuart to die in World War II.
In October 1942, Martin County leased the 900-acre (3.6 km2) airport to the U.S. Government for use as a military training field. The U.S. Navy assumed operation of the airport in exchange for an $800,000 payment to the County. The Navy then committed $10 million to construct and operate a modern naval air station. During the war years, Naval Auxiliary Air Station Witham Field operated as an auxiliary field to Naval Air Station Vero Beach, providing an additional training and proficiency facility for Naval Aviators from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps operating carrier-based and land-based fighter and light bomber aircraft.