Venice Army Air Base

Venice Army Air Base. . , This structure is a replica of the Venice Army Air Base main entrance originally located at the intersection of The Rialto and San Marco. The base history began in May 1942 when surveyors from the US Army landed at the Venice Municipal Downtown Airport to find a suitable site for a training facility for rear echelon maintenance service groups. Construction began in June 1942 in the area now bounded by US 41 on the east, San Marco Drive on the north, the Gulf of Mexico on the west and Lemon Bay on the south., The original army personnel were the 37th Service Squadron of the 27th Service group, followed by HQ and HQ Squadron, 90th Service Squadron, 826th QM Co., 1728th and 1729th Ordnance Companies, 1063rd Signal Co., and 1095 QM Co., Within a year a full fledged training facility was operational. The first combat aircraft arrived from the 13th Fighter Squadron 53rd Fighter Group for pilot training on June 7, 1943. The 14th Fighter Squadron soon followed. Pilot training began with the P-39, followed by P-40, P-47 and finally the famous P-51 Mustang fighters., Reverse: , On January 3, 1944, the Venice Army Air Base command was transferred from Air Service Command to the Third Air Force. At the peak of training, the facility housed 6,000 men, with an estimated total of 20,000 men being trained at the base. A total of nine groups were trained, included the all-Chinese 14th Service Group formed at the request of Madam Chiang Kai-Shek., With the war over, the base was closed in 1945. The property was deeded to the City of Venice in 1947, including the runways, sewage plant, hangers and much machinery and equipment., The immediate impact of the Venice Army Air Base on the City of Venice and the area is obvious, but the long term impact is even more important. Many of the men stationed at the base returned after the war to begin their new lives and some became the civic leaders who guided Venice through the 1950s and 1960s. ,