Boca Raton Army Airfield Boca Raton Army Airfield , was a World War II United States Army Air Forces airfield , located northwest of Boca Raton , Florida . History . Origins . In 1936 , the Boca Raton Airport was a small City Airport . In 1941 , in response to the emerging Axis threat , the United States began to rapidly mobilize and expand its armed forces . In addition to enlarging its Army and Navy , the US also sought to expand its air forces . With America entering into World War II , the Army Air Corps suddenly underwent rapid expansion . The mild winter climate and the flat terrain of South Florida marked the areas as ideal for flying and aviation training . In the early - 1940s , Boca Raton ' s population numbered only 723 . This enabled the United States government to take thousands of acres of land for its use without having to relocate a large number of people . The decision to locate the base at Boca Raton was made because of the already existing city airfield and the land which was available for its expansion . The land was acquired from the farmers through the process of condemnation . However , this is not to say that the establishment of the military airfield was without controversy . A majority of the land was acquired from Japanese - American farmers from the failing Yamato Colony , the land having been seized through the process of eminent domain , leaving many Japanese - Americans little recourse in the early days of World War II . Eventually three major air bases , Homestead in south Dade County , Morrison Field in West Palm Beach , and Boca Raton Army Airfield were developed in the first years of the war . Boca Raton AAF included 5 , 860 acres and stretched from Dixie Highway on the East to Military Trail on the West and from the current Spanish River Blvd . On the North to Palmetto Park Road to some point on the South . Areas like Old Floresta remained in private hands and many of the houses in the subdivision were rented to air force officers and their families . Beginning with the then existing Boca Raton Airport , 3 , 500 construction workers and $ 11 million in government appropriations converted the facility into the Army Air Force ’ s only radar training station during World War II . Construction of the base began in June 1941 and continued to expand during the war . Over nine million dollars was spent constructing the facility and an average of 1 , 200 civilians worked on the base . As the Army Air Force ’ s only radar training station during World War II , the Boca Raton base grew to eight hundred buildings with a troop strength of more than 16 , 000 . Eastern Technical Training Command . The new base was opened on 1 June 1942 . Flight operations from the airfield began during the summer . Boca Raton AAF was placed under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces Eastern Technical Training Command 3501st Base Unit ( Technical School , Radar ) . Other units assigned to Boca Raton were the 319th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron performed the base housekeeping duties . The Air Technical Service Command 13th Sub Depot provided logistical support for transient aircraft at the airfield , although no permanent aircraft were assigned other than some light transport and courier aircraft to the base flight . Although planned as a Radar training base from the onset , one of the first missions of Boca Raton AAF was anti - submarine patrols over the Florida Atlantic coast . The 26th Anti - Submarine Wing , based in Miami deployed A - 29 Hudson , B - 34 Lexington and Lockheed B - 37 Ventura light bombers , all equipped with anti - submarine equipment to operate from the new airfield . The antisubmarine forces remained until mid - 1943 when the Navy took over the coastal patrol mission . The Boca Raton airfield also was used as a way - station for planes being ferried by Air Transport Command over the South Atlantic Ferry Route , its principal ferrying route for combat and transport aircraft being deployed to Europe , North Africa , the Soviet Union and the CBI . The use of the field by Transport Command continued throughout the war . The main mission , however of Boca Raton AAF was the training of Air Force personnel in the use of Radar . The 3501st BU provided instruction courses for airborne radar operators , mechanics , and electronic officers . Aviation cadets sometimes spent up to 20 hours per day on academic and military training . Classes included engineering , aerodynamics , and communications . After finishing their education at Yale University , these cadets were commissioned officers . It is important to remember that during World War II , Radar technology was classified Top Secret . Personnel selected to attend the Radar School were highly qualified and rigorously selected , as well as having to pass a rigorous background investigation . These courses meant an ever increasing need for flight training and for aircraft . The heavy volume of maritime traffic in the Atlantic provided ample opportunity for practice in radar applications . The airfield operated 24 hours a day with B - 17 Flying Fortress es , B - 24 Liberator s , B - 25 Mitchell s , and B - 26 Marauder s supplied by Third Air Force constantly flying . Radar - bombing runs were frequently made on the Avon Park Bombing Range . In addition to teaching the operators , Boca Raton AF was responsible for installing Radar in aircraft and for training pilots in the use of the equipment . Training for B - 29 Superfortress crews from MacDill Field using Radar also took place here during the last year of the war . Life at the Boca Raton base was almost completely self - contained . In fact , the citizens of Boca Raton soon came to be dependent upon the base ’ s recreational , entertainment , and medical facilities . The Army Air Forces also took over the luxurious oceanfront Boca Raton Club to house trainees and officers from the radar training school . Residents reported conditions were anything but elegant , however . The expensive furnishings had been replaced by standard army bunks housing eight to a room , the swimming pool was boarded over , poor water pressure made bathing difficult , and a rigorous schedule allowed no excuses . When the club became too crowded , the grounds , including the golf course , turned into a tent camp . African - American soldiers provided much of the necessary support staff for the operations of the base , and a school was initiated to teach them aircraft engine repair and maintenance . Black soldiers were segregated in Squadron F . Their housing , meals , training , and recreation were all separate from the white soldiers in accordance with the Florida laws regarding segregation at the time . In an administrative reorganization by HQ Army Air Force , on 1 May 1944 , training units in the Zone of the Interior ( ZI ) ( Continental United States ) were re - designated as " Army Air Force Base Units " . At Boca Raton , the 3501st Army Air Force Base Unit ( Technical School , Radar ) assumed the training school mission . By 1944 , several hundred planes were regularly transiting the airfield , being equipped with Radar . Although most were B - 17 Flying Fortresses , in 1945 , several B - 29 Superfortress es were brought in for training procedures in radar bombing . With the end of World War II in 1945 , the radar training for both American and allied troops continued at Boca Raton but the numbers in the program constantly declined . With the rapid demobilization of the armed forces in late 1945 and 1946 , a major problem facing Air Training Command was a severe shortage of instructors , as many had been separated from the military in the rush to demobilize after the war ended . The 3501st AAFBU , however , remained active and training was continued despite difficulties . As a cost - cutting measure , War Department officials in early 1947 were making plans to dispose of the facility , The radar training program would be moved Keesler Army Airfield , Mississippi in November . This led to the inactivation of the Radar School on 5 May 1947 when the last class was graduated . However , Mother Nature put a kink in those arrangements . On 18 September a hurricane caused major damage to Boca Raton AAF and the radar school , causing over $ 3 million ( $ 27 million 2010 dollars ) worth of property damage . Keesler officials began airlifting personnel to the base to assist with salvage , packaging , and shipping equipment . However , before the move could be completed , on 12 October a second hurricane slammed into the base , again dumping torrential rains . By the time that storm had moved on , Boca Raton Army Airfield was totally uninhabitable . Whatever could be salvaged was moved to Keesler . The resulting unsanitary conditions caused medical authorities to condemn the base , and that caused the facilities at Boca to be closed on 15 December . On 1 January 1948 , jurisdiction of Boca Raton AAF was transferred to Air Technical Service Command ( ATSC ) , whose mission was the transfer of any useful military equipment to other bases around the country . On 1 March , it was again transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers . In December 1948 the Town of Boca Raton acquired the station area of the facility from the War Assets Administration , while the 838 acres of airfield were re - designated as Boca Raton Air Force Auxiliary Field ( AFAF ) , control of the field was assumed by the Palm Beach Air Force Base ( the wartime Morrison Field ) . Cold War use . Boca Raton AFAF was used by Research and Development Command used the airfield for various R & D projects , including testing of the Convair XB - 46 Experimental jet bomber . In 1952 , it became a secondary airfield for Palm Beach ' s Military Air Transport Service 1707th Air Transport Wing large transports . It was also used as part of the MATS training school at Palm Beach as an auxiliary airfield . During the Cold War , the U . S . Government pursued the development of biological weapons for use in the event the Soviet Union initiated a biological war . The tests were part of a campaign to find a fungus powerful enough to wipe out wheat crops in the Soviet Union and starve millions of Soviet citizens in the event of a war . Boca Raton AFAF was one of many research sites scattered around the country , including Immokalee , Belle Glade , and Ft . Pierce in Florida . Boca Raton was chosen for its isolation , size , and climate . For the testing , the U . S . Army Chemical Corps recruited enlisted men from the farm states of the Midwest . Close to a hundred men worked from a large laboratory in a Quonset hut at the north end of the test site . No one wore uniforms , and vehicles were painted black . The men planted wheat between and along the runways of the military airfield . When the wheat was about a foot high , it was sprayed with a fungus called “ stem rust of rye , ” which formed spores that multiplied rapidly . Every three days , the men vacuumed up the resulting millions of spores and packed them in one - to - two gallon stainless steel containers , which were driven to the Avon Park Air Force Range , near Sebring . From there they were flown to an unknown destination . In 1957 the Chemical Corps shut down the secret operation at Boca Raton and kept only a skeleton crew at the base . Air Force budget restraints in the late 1950s and local pressure to close Palm Beach Air Force base led to the closure of the Boca Raton airfield in 1957 . Subsequently it was transferred to the General Services Administration ( GSA ) for disposal as excess by the end of the year . Closure . In 1958 , budget reductions means the closure of the Boca Raton AFAF . As part of the turnover of the facility , the Federal Government released 1 , 000 acres of the property in 1959 for educational use ( Florida Atlantic University ) and transferred control of all the land to the State of Florida . Only 200 acres were left before the Boca Raton Airport Authority was authorized to take possession of the land . In 1969 , the chemically - treated wheat gathered from Boca Raton and related sites was destroyed by order of President Richard Nixon . A 1994 United States Army Corps of Engineers survey found nothing harmful at the biological warfare test site in Boca Raton . U . S . Senator Bill Nelson initiated a Senate investigation of the program after the Department of Defense refused his request for information . Current uses . With the turnover of the military airfield to civil control , a new Boca Raton Airport was constructed in 1960 . The former military airfield was completely torn up and removed , and new facilities , were built . A new parking ramp and a new 04 / 22 NE / SW main runway and taxiway were constructed along with hangars , a terminal and other components . The new airport does not use any of the runways , taxiways or buildings of the former Air Force facility . That said , several World War II buildings remain in use on the grounds of the Florida Atlantic University campus , built in 1961 to the east of the Boca Raton Airport on the east side of the airfield . These can be found in the area bounded by El Rio Canal on the east , Florida Atlantic Boulevard on the west , N . W . 32d Street on the north , and N . W . 28th Street on the south . In addition , the former military north - south taxiway exists north of the FAU Stadum on the campus , part of it being used as a parking lot . Palm Beach State College , located adjacent to FAU , uses the wartime main aircraft parking ramp as it ' s parking lot . The wartime ramp stretches from Classroom Building " A " on the south end up past the main Administration building , north past Boca Tech and past FAU Boulevard in the north . Today a myriad of cars , trucks and SUVs park on the same concrete that during World War II , B - 17s and other historic aircraft used and parked on . East of the drainage canal , the former Radar training base is now all but unrecognizable , the landscape being a mixture of homes , retention lakes and light commercial businesses .