Brownwood Regional Airport is six miles north of Brownwood, in Brown County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

'' facility. The 21st Cavalry Brigade of the III Corps, U.S. Army use the airport for training in

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

and

Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856 * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus uru ...

helicopters. The airport has been served by several airlines in the past including Trans Texas/

Texas International Texas International Airlines Inc. was a United States airline, known from 1940 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982, when it merged with Continental Airlines ...

Lone Star Airlines Lone Star Airlines was an American regional airline that operated both domestic and international flights. For much of the airline's life its headquarters were located in the Fort Worth Stockyards in Fort Worth, Texas. The airline's largest hub w ...

, and

Big Sky Airlines Big Sky Airlines was an American commuter air carrier that operated from 1978 to 2008. Headquartered in Billings, Montana, United States. Big Sky was wholly owned by Big Sky Transportation Company, which in turn was a wholly owned subsidiary of M ...

. Service was subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

program until March 13, 2005, when it ended due to federal law not allowing a subsidy over $200 per passenger for communities within 210 miles of the nearest large or medium hub airport (Brownwood is 145 miles from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, a medium hub.)

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

records say Brownwood Regional Airport had 1,764 passenger boardings (enplanements) in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...

2003, 1,417 in 2004 and 232 in 2005.

History

The airport opened during World War II as Brownwood Army Airfield and was used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as a training base. The 68th and 77th Reconnaissance Groups trained at Brownwood during 1942 with a variety of aircraft, including

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

s and A-20 Havocs. In addition to the training performed at the airfield, patrols were flown over the Gulf of Mexico and along the Mexican border. The role of the Brownwood Army Airfield from November, 1943, to September, 1944 was to operate as a refresher school and replacement training unit for liaison pilots within the Third Air Force. One of the primary aircraft used in this role was the Stinson L-5. In October, 1944, the airfield became the new combat crew training center. From January, 1945, until the end of World War II, the primary mission of the Brownwood Army Airfield was the training and preparation of combat crews for overseas replacement. The U.S. Government deeded the airport to the City of Brownwood after World War II. An

F-4 Phantom The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

and an

F-111 The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons ca ...

are on display.

Historical airline service

Trans-Texas Airways Trans-Texas may refer to: * Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), a transportation network in the planning and early construction stages in the U.S. state of Texas * Trans-Texas Airways, a former a United States airline, known as Texas International Texa ...

(TTA) began serving Brownwood in 1947 on a route between El Paso and Dallas which contained several other stops. The airline began flying

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

's and upgraded to

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

and

Convair 600 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

turboprops in the 1960's. TTA changed its name to

Texas International Airlines Texas International Airlines Inc. was a United States airline, known from 1940 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTa), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982, when it merged with Continental Airlines. ...

in 1969 and direct flights to Albuquerque were operated periodically. All service ended in 1976. Eagle Commuter Airlines served BWD from 1976 through 1986 with flights to DFW, San Angelo, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston using

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...

aircraft. Wise Airlines briefly served BWD in 1985 using

Beechcraft 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier Be ...

aircraft to DFW.

served BWD from 1987 through 1998 with flights to DFW using

and

Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in San ...

aircraft.

served BWD from 1999 through 2002 using Swearingen Metroliners to DFW.

Air Midwest Air Midwest, Inc., was a Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificated air carrier that operated under air carrier certificate number AMWA510A issued on May 15, 1965. It was headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, United States, and was a sub ...

, operating as

Mesa Airlines Mesa Airlines, Inc., is an American regional airline based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is an FAA Part 121–certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number MASA036A issued on June 29, 1979. It is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Gr ...

served BWD from 2002 until 2005 when EAS funding had ended. The carrier used Beechcraft 1900D aircraft.Official Airline Guide

Facilities

The airport covers 1,497

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (606 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 1,387 feet (423 m). It has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s: 17/35 is 5,599 by 150 feet (1,707 x 46 m) and 13/31 is 4,608 by 101 feet (1,405 x 31 m).

Cargo airlines

In the year ending February 6, 2012 the airport had 6,000 aircraft operations, average 16 per day: 83%

, 12%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

, and 5% military. 44 aircraft were then based at the airport: 82% single-engine, 16% multi-engine, and 2%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

References

Other sources

* * Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-1997-2402
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

: *
Order 97-4-29 (April 28, 1997)
tentatively reselecting Lone Star Airlines to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Enid and Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Brownwood, Texas, for the two-year period beginning March l, 1997. *
Order 99-12-28 (December 29, 1999)
reselects Big Sky Transportation, d/b/a Big Sky Airlines (Big Sky), to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at El Dorado/Camden, Jonesboro, Harrison, and Hot Springs, Arkansas, Enid and Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Brownwood, Texas, for a new two-year term at a combined subsidy rate of $6,712,448 annually effective December 1, 1999, through November 30, 2001. *
Order 2001-11-14 (November 28, 2011)
extending the final subsidy rates of Mesa Airlines at Oil City/Franklin, Pennsylvania and Gallup, New Mexico; Great Lakes Aviation at North Platte, Nebraska; and Big Sky Airlines at Enid and Ponca City, Oklahoma, Brownwood, Texas, and Hot Springs, Harrison, Eldorado/Camden and Jonesboro, Arkansas. *
Order 2002-7-2 (July 1, 2002)
selecting Air Midwest, Inc., to provide essential air service at seven communities (El Dorado/Camden, AR; Jonesboro, AR; Harrison, AR; Hot Springs, AR; Enid, OK; Ponca City, OK; Brownwood, TX) for a two-year period at subsidy rates totaling $6,693,881 annually. *
Order 2004-6-12 (June 14, 2004)
requests interested persons to show cause why it should not terminate the essential air service subsidy eligibility of Jonesboro, Arkansas, Enid and Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Brownwood, Texas, and allow Air Midwest to suspend its subsidized services at those communities as of October 1, 2004, when the current rate term expires. *
Order 2005-1-14 (January 19, 2005)
selecting Air Midwest, Inc., to provide essential air service at El Dorado/Camden, Jonesboro, Harrison and Hot Springs, Arkansas, at a subsidy rate of $4,155,550 annually for a two-year rate term; selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., to provide essential air service at Enid and Ponca City, Oklahoma, at a subsidy rate of $1,272,557 annually for a two-year rate term; terminating the subsidy eligibility of Brownwood, Texas, and allowing Air Midwest to discontinue its service there, if it chooses to do so.

External links

* at

Texas DOT The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT ) is a government agency in the American state of Texas. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the state's immense state highway system ...

Airport Directory
Aerial image as of January 1995
from

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The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to prov ...

'' *
{{Authority control Airports in Texas Buildings and structures in Brown County, Texas Transportation in Brown County, Texas Former Essential Air Service airports Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Texas