The Beach

Daytona Beach’s beach was known for having a smooth, hard, and relatively clean surface for motor vehicles, which would frequently race on it. Pilots soon realized the effectiveness of the compact sand and began using the beach as a runway. Hangars were built later, and aircraft service was provided on the beach. This former airport is one of only two beach airports that were successful. The other, Old Orchard Beach in Maine, was the starting point for at least five transatlantic flights during the 1920s and 1930s.

The first flight on the beach was in 1906 by Charles K. Hamilton, using Israel Ludlow's glider. The glider was pulled by an automobile and actually took place in Ormond. He went as high as 150 feet (46 m) on his first attempt, and 250 feet (76 m) on the second, before crashing into a flagpole and surviving with a bruised knee.

Numerous flights followed, including John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, the United States's fifth licensed pilot, in 1911; Phillips Page in 1912; and Ruth Law in 1913. Phillips Page has been credited for taking the first aerial photographs in Florida while flying around the Hotel Clarendon in Daytona Beach. Many other pilots took to the skies above Daytona Beach before it was closed during the winter of 1929–30.

Bethune Point

All flights were moved to the new location at Bethune Point on the Halifax River. Eastern Air Transport was the first airline at Daytona Beach, certified to fly mail to Tampa and Orlando. The first flight crashed just after takeoff, due to a mechanical failure. The pilot was uninjured, and the mail was collected and sent out on another flight.

Florida State Airways, Inc was formed in early 1930 in Daytona Beach. The airline carried passengers to other Florida cities and to the Bahamas on Ryan aircraft. In January 1930, Vice President of Operations Bill Lindley piloted a flight to Palm Beach. While on the descent, he never pulled out of the dive and went into Lake Worth at full throttle. The combination of Lindley's death and the depression soon ended most aviation activity in Daytona Beach.

Municipal Airport

In late 1930, a 740-acre (299 ha) piece of land turned into the current airport, a few hundred feet from the main drag of Volusia Avenue (now International Speedway Blvd). The first name it was given was Sholtz Field, after David Sholtz, the then-governor of Florida, who was from Daytona Beach. The airport began with two gravel runways, one 2,100 feet (640 m) long and the other 1,800 feet (550 m). Before long the name became Daytona Beach Municipal Airport.

Eastern Air Lines began passenger service, flying Kingbirds and Condors. After a few years Eastern did not re-bid, after the airmail route changes of 1934. In 1935 National Airlines won a bid on the cross-state route from Daytona Beach to St. Petersburg. In 1933, the airport was closed for repairs. National rerouted its flights to Jacksonville but Eastern became upset and called National's move an act of "buccaneers". National Airlines then referred to its service as being the "Buccaneer Route".

Pre-war expansion

In the late 1930s, four 4000 feet by 150 feet (46 m) runways were built, all paved, allowing flights on Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s. The terminal was on the south side of the airport.

Naval Air Station Daytona Beach

When World War II broke out, the US Navy took over and used the airport for training, calling it Naval Air Station Daytona Beach. An extensive military construction effort followed to include multiple new buildings for NAS Daytona Beach. Other Naval Outlying Fields (NOLFs) were built at Spruce Creek, New Smyrna Beach, Ormond Beach and Bunnell, and they were shared with Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Naval Air Station Sanford and Naval Air Station DeLand.

Naval Air Station Daytona Beach conducted advanced training for Naval Aviators and enlisted Naval Aircrewmen of the US Navy and US Marine Corps in aircraft ranging from carrier-based single seat F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair fighters to the multi-seat SB2C Helldiver dive bomber. At the end of the war, NAS Daytona Beach was decommissioned and the auxiliary airfields were returned to the respective local governments for civil use as airports.

Many of the buildings constructed by the Navy were later used by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University after the university's move from Miami in 1965, while others were used by the city aviation department that later became the current aviation authority.

Post-war expansion

The April 1957 OAG lists eight departures a day on Eastern Airlines and four on National Airlines. A new passenger terminal was completed on the north side of the airport in 1958, along with a control tower. Jet flights began in December 1967 with Eastern operating Boeing 727s on a round trip routing of Miami (MIA) - Melbourne (MLB) - Daytona Beach (DAB) - Baltimore (BAL) - New York Kennedy (JFK). Also in 1967, National was serving the airport with Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops with nonstop flights to Jacksonville and Orlando as well as direct, no change of plane service to Boston, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Miami, Tampa and West Palm Beach.