Origins

Before the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport was built, both Sarasota and Bradenton had their own airfields: Bradenton's Bradenton Airport and Sarasota's Lowe Field. Bradenton Airport was located on the southeast corner of 9th Street and 13th Avenue (near LECOM Park) established somewhere between 1935 and 1937 being abandoned at an unknown point during World War 2. Lowe Field was dedicated on January 12, 1929 and ended up opening on March 12. It was Sarasota's first municipal airport, located on 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land west of what was then Oriente Avenue, which is now known as Beneva Road, and north of Fruitville Road. National Airlines began flying out of the airfield on August 4, 1937. Flights were often canceled because the landing strip got too wet to land on, which led to National Airlines leaving later that year after Sarasota could not pay for building concrete runways. During World War II, Lowe Field was used by the Civil Air Patrol. After the war, most civilian operations at Lowe Field went to the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport, with the exception of student pilots, mosquito control programs, and crop dusters. The airport continued operating until 1961 when the owner sold the land.

The airport was considered a replacement for Lowe Field's poor conditions and low capacity. Construction on the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport started in 1939 and opened the following year with CCC and WPA assistance at a cost of $1 million. In May 1941, the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority was created.

Name origins

In the 1940s, SRQ was known by its two-character designation, RS. By 1948, growth in aviation demand prompted IATA to coordinate the assignment of three-character codes. The airport initially received the designation "SSO", a short-lived code subject to misinterpretation as the international distress signal, SOS. SRQ was chosen, with "Q" serving as filler text. The airport's IATA airport code, "SRQ", is used as a general nickname for the city of Sarasota and Sarasota area, as exemplified by media outlets like SRQ Magazine, WSRQ radio, and numerous local businesses in the area that include SRQ in their names.

World War II

In 1942, with the United States entering World War 2, the airport was leased to the Army Air Corps and became known as the Sarasota Army Airfield. The Army Air Corps later added 250 acres making the airport 870 acres. The 97th Bombardment Group was the first group, being transferred from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa for training with B-17 Flying Fortresses staying from March to May. The 97th also performed construction and maintenance, including the construction of barracks and runway repair.

After the 97th left, the 92d Bombardment Group arrived for training and also performed construction work. In June the base was designated as a sub base changing its focus from bombers to fighters because the runways could not withstand the bombers' weight. The 69th Fighter Squadron transferred to the airfield from Drew Army Airfield to train with P-39 Airacobras. Sarasota had sub bases in: Bartow, St. Petersburg, Fort Myers, and Tampa, while Immokalee, Lake Wales, Punta Gorda and Winter Haven served as auxiliary fields for the base. Training was conducted as well on the base, with 70 pilots graduating on average every 30 days.

On July 25, 1945, a Douglas TC-47B that left out of Sarasota to Lake Charles on a navigation training session crashed after going through a thunderstorm north of Tampa. All 13 crew members died on board. The aircraft crashed roughly 20 miles northeast of Tampa.

After three years of use, the base officially closed and was transferred to civilian usage in 1947. Despite its transfer, the airport and its facilities deteriorated until the Florida Legislature passed the 1955 Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority Act. This act gave the airport more legal power and guidelines to operate.

Post-World War II expansion

National Airlines was SRQ's first airline, moving from Lowe's Field by 1947.

Cancer research institute Jackson Memorial Laboratories considered establishing a laboratory on airport property. The extent of the plan is not known.

It was known as Sarasota-Bradenton Airport until 1956 when it got the word "international" added onto it toward the end becoming thus known as Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport. By April 1957, OAG showed six NA departures a day. Construction started on a terminal building designed by Paul Rudolph and locally known architect, John Cromwell, on August 18, 1958, and opening on May 2 the next year. with: a control tower, ticketing area, offices, gift shop, coffee shop, and a balcony for passengers to watch their planes arrive. In its opening year of 1959, the airport had roughly 22,000 annual passengers. Eastern arrived in January 1961, along with an air mail service as well. The airport's first jet flights were Eastern 727s in winter 1964–65 (though the longest runway was 5006 ft for a few years after that). By the 1960s the airport along with Eastern and National Airlines, welcomed two commuter airlines: Executive in 1964 and Florida Air in 1968.