[citation needed] Much like Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Atlantic City offered a long beach and strong winds with which early aviators could test their aircraft.

[3] At a meet the club held the following July, aviation pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss became the first pilot to fly an airplane over the ocean.

Taking off from the beach near the Million Dollar Pier, Curtiss flew his Albany Flier biplane 10 laps over a 5-mile course to win a $5,000 prize.

[9] To secure the second exposition for Atlantic City, the Aero Club proposed the construction of an airfield where planes could take off, land, and be stored during the event.

The first plane to land at the airport was a Curtiss Oriole piloted by Roland Rohlfs and carrying Cuban diplomat Victor Hugo Barranco as a passenger.

[15] In October of 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis at Bader Field for the 90th of 92 stops on his tour in support of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics.

[16] In July 1933, pilot C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson and Atlantic City physician Albert Ernest Forsythe became the first black men to make a round-trip transcontinental flight in the United States.

On July 17, the pair took off from Bader Field in Forsythe's Fairchild 24, named the Pride of Atlantic City, which had no parachutes, radio, or landing lights.

After two days of being feted at several receptions in Los Angeles, including by Mayor Frank L. Shaw,[17] Anderson and Forsythe took off from Glendale on July 21 and landed at Bader Field on July 28, where Atlantic City Mayor Harry Bacharach proclaimed, "Flying in a small plane, with the limited equipment that you men used, called for a high type of courage and skill.

Allegheney returned in 1971 with Allegheny Commuter service operated by Atlantic City Airlines using de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft on routes from Bader Field to Newark, Philadelphia, and Cape May, NJ.

Casinos began using Bader Field for charter flights and a helicopter service was operated to the West 30th Street Heliport in Manhattan.

[26] On May 15, 2005, the Cessna CitationJet 525A registered OY-JET overran the runway when attempting a 10 knots tailwind landing, ending up in the adjoining Intracoastal Waterway.

[27] An eyewitness video captured the accident from the final approach to the rescue of the plane's occupants by local boaters and the subsequent inadvertent operation of the aircraft as an "airboat".

The South Jersey Region[31] of the Sports Car Club of America hosts autocross events at Bader Field during the non-winter months.

In announcing the location of the event, the Dave Matthews Band cited Bader Field's proximity to several major metropolitan areas in the northeastern seaboard and its accessibility via several modes of public transportation.