One such same-day trip allegedly took place on Friday, February 8, 2013.īiden's official public schedule has him receiving the presidential daily briefing with President Barack Obama at 10:30 a.m. ' "The Air Force Two guys pull their hair out over this," ' Kessler quotes the agent as having said. 'The cost of the flights is doubled because after dropping him off in Delaware or picking him up at Andrews, the Air Force has to fly the plane empty,' Kessler explains.īiden frequently makes same-day trips on the plane as well, a Secret Service agent reportedly told Kessler. He then retraces his steps and goes back to Washington, D.C. Kessler claims a Secret Service agent told him that every Friday Biden takes the Marine Two helicopter to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where he boards Air Force Two and flies home to Delaware.
In The First Family Detail, Kessler, an award winning investigative journalist, dishes on several of Biden's dirty little secrets, including his affinity for skinny dipping and for taking private trips on his taxpayer funded helicopter and plane 'as if taking a taxi.' University and the Boca Raton Airport. And if you look hard enough, you can still detect some aged crackedĪsphalt – the “apron” of the landing strips, where B17s, B25s, and C47s once parked.The book, The First Family Detail, comes out on August 5 Today the northwest section of the former Boca RatonĪrmy Air Field is the site of two younger “installations” of great significance to the community: Florida Atlantic In 1949, the Town of Boca Raton purchased 2400 acres of the former airįield property from the U.S. Operations and personnel were transferred to Keesler Field and BRAAF became the much smaller Boca RatonĪuxiliary Air Force Base until 1959. Nasty hurricane struck Boca Raton, causing extensive damage to base buildings and widespread flooding. The Boca Raton Army Air Field continued to operate as a military installation until September of 1947, when a Every available room or house in town was rented. The permanent population was a little over 700 individuals. In addition to the enlisted personnel, as many as 1500 civilians were employed on the base at one time during the war years.
Although we do not know exactly how many people came to the base between 1942-1947, it was likely between 50,000-100,000 men and women were stationed here, in a town of about 750 residents. The impact of the presence of an important military facility on the little town of Boca Raton can hardly be imagined today. Served at the BRAAF as nurses and in technical clerical capacities. Additionally, women of the Women's Army Nurse Corps and Women's Army Corps Number of African-Americans, who were commonly housed and trained in separate facilities during theĭays of segregation. Included amongst the servicemen who trained at Boca Raton during the war were a significant “Foxholes” covered the golf course and the Succumbed to overcrowding and wartime conditions. Although hotels up and down the southeast coast of Florida were commandeered by the militaryįor similar purposes, few were as luxurious as the Club.
In addition, the military took over the Boca Raton Club for housing and classrooms from 1942 untilġ944. Palmetto Park Road to Yamato Road and from Dixie Highway to what is today the CSX (Amtrak) tracks. The former Boca Raton “airport” quickly grew as hundreds of structures were constructed north of Gus Grissom all served a brief time at Boca Raton. Pop-singer Tony Martin, some of the Tuskegee Airmen, the crew of the Enola Gay, and future astronaut Thousands of men took their radar training at Boca Raton, including all the Army Air Force’s flight crews. The decision was made - Boca Raton was to be home to the Boca Raton Army Air Field (BRAAF), the Air Corps’ only airborne radar training facility during the war years.īRAAF offered classes for electronics and radar officers and related specializations for enlisted men. Here the land was relatively high and dry, yet close to the ocean and shipping lanes with a good climate for flying. A small airport stood just north of the present Glades Road to the west of downtown. “Radar,” an acronym for radio detection and ranging, was a new top secret technology at the time. Mitchell convinced officers of the Army Air Corps to move its technical school for radar training from Scott Field, Illinois, to Boca Raton.
At the beginning of World War II, Boca Raton Mayor J.C.