Sebring, FL
In the main concourse, recently renovated. Open 7 days — breakfast & lunch 8am-2:30pm weekdays, 7am-2:30pm weekends. Sebring's field was originally Hendricks Field, a WWII B-17 training base — the same concrete from that era still forms parts of the apron. The Sebring International Raceway, home of the legendary Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring endurance race, shares the field on the old runway system. KSEF also hosts the US Sport Aviation Expo each winter — one of the country's biggest LSA shows.
Host of the annual US Sport Aviation Expo — the largest LSA/ultralight show in the country. Sebring International Raceway (home of the 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race) is adjacent to the airport. The raceway was built on a WWII B-17 training base — Hendricks Army Air Field.
The Sebring International Raceway is built directly on the bones of Hendricks Army Airfield, a WWII B-17 training base. From the air, the connection is unmistakable: the main straightaway is the old primary runway, and the tight turns trace taxiway intersections. At its WWII peak, over 6,000 personnel trained here to fly Flying Fortresses in formation bombing runs over Europe. Today it hosts the 12 Hours of Sebring, one of the most prestigious endurance races in motorsport, running since 1952. The WWII control tower still stands trackside.
Edward Bok's 1929 carillon tower — 205 feet of Georgia marble and pink Etowah stone, with a 60-bell carillon that performs daily concerts. Set in 250 acres of gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. on Iron Mountain, central Florida's highest point at 295 feet. National Historic Landmark. Quiet sanctuary 25 miles from the Disney chaos. Lake Wales sits in citrus country.
At 730 square miles, Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in the southeastern US — so large that from low altitudes over its center, you cannot see the far shore. Remarkably shallow at an average of 9 feet deep, it is completely encircled by the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike, built after the catastrophic 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane that killed over 2,500 people. From the air, the dike appears as an unnatural straight line separating the lake from surrounding sugar cane fields. The lake is the liquid heart of the Everglades ecosystem.
Lakeland Linder hosts Sun 'n Fun every April — the second-largest fly-in aviation event in the United States, after EAA Oshkosh. 200,000+ visitors, 4,000+ aircraft, the Florida warbird flyovers, daily airshow with the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds. Permanent buildings include the Florida Air Museum (year-round), Aerospace Center for Excellence, and the historic Piedmont Airlines DC-3. KLAL is the airport; the grounds are on the field.