DeLand Naval Air Station Naval Air Station DeLand was a United States Naval Air Station located in DeLand , Florida from 1942 - 1946 . After the war , the airfield and associated infrastructure was redeveloped into DeLand Municipal Airport History . Official Opening . In 1942 , the City of DeLand donated the facility that was located on the grounds to the U . S . Navy and it was renamed Naval Air Station DeLand on 17 November . The airfield officially opened after several months of land acquisition and building construction . CAPT Tom Turner , the air station ' s first commanding officer , officiated . A Navy band had not been formed , so the DeLand High School band played for the opening of the base . Following extensive military construction , NAS DeLand ' s primary focus was advanced training for Navy flight crews in land - based PBO Ventura and PB4Y - 2 Privateer patrol bombers , and carrier - based SBD Dauntless dive bombers . The first planes to arrive were the Venturas . They were not there for training , but were patrolling the coast of Florida looking for German submarines . When the SBD Dauntless dive bombers began to arrive , along with pilots and crew members , the " Venturas " were reassigned to Brazil for patrol duty . The SBDs were aircraft that were being replaced by newer dive bombers in the Pacific Fleet ; it was the SBDs that sank the four Japan ese carriers at the Battle of Midway . Many of DeLand ' s citizens were employed at the base and were paid wages that were significant coming out of the depression . Several of the U . S . Navy ' s former and present day maritime patrol and reconnaissance ( VP ) squadrons operating the P - 3 Orion trace their squadron lineage to being initially established at NAS Deland during World War II . Military Training and Exercises . Nine Mile Point on Lake George was also under NAS Deland ' s control and was used as a practice bombing site with a Navy PBY Catalina seaplane stationed nearby in the event of an aircraft mishap on the lake . The Lake George site is still used today as part of the Navy ' s Pinecastle Range complex in the Ocala National Forest that is managed by NAS Jacksonville . The DeLand Naval Air Station also had an outlying Field ( OLF ) in New Smyrna Beach , and bombing targets near Paisley , Hawkinsville , the Indian River Lagoon , and east of Lake Dias . In 1944 , training in the carrier - based F6F Hellcat fighter was also added to NAS DeLand ' s mission . Outlying Field New Smyrna Beach refueled and rearmed planes practicing landings at OLF Spruce Creek and conducting target practice over the Atlantic Ocean . The planes occasionally carried 500 pound bombs when they were over the ocean just in case there was a spotting of a German U - boat . Sometimes , the occasional whale was mistaken as a U - boat and was bombed . NAS DeLand also had two sailors stationed at the Springs to patrol Lake Woodruff . Decommissioning . Following the end of World War II , the base closed as an active naval installation on March 15 , 1946 . Its control tower also closed and ownership of the air station returned to the City of DeLand as an uncontrolled civilian airport . After the city resumed control of the field , it became DeLand Municipal Airport . DeLand Naval Air Station Museum . Located in the historic Chief Master at Arms House in DeLand , Florida , the DeLand Naval Air Station Museum was dedicated in 1995 and focuses on the history of the DeLand Naval Air Station and United States Navy history . Exhibits include an F - 14 Tomcat , a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber , a Korean War MASH helicopter , a 1954 U . S . Army jeep , military artifacts , vintage photographs , memorabilia .