Cross City Airport is a county-owned, public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located one nautical mile (2 km) east of the central business district of Cross City, a city in

Dixie County, Florida Dixie County is a county located in the Big Bend region of the northern part of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,759. Its county seat is Cross City. History Dixie County was created in 1921 from the so ...

, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which 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.

History

The airport was opened as a public airfield in April 1940. In August 1942, the facility was requisitioned 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

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

military airfield, and was named Cross City Army Airfield. The airfield was assigned as a training base to the

Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

(AAFSAT),

50th Fighter Group 5 (five) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typ ...

, headquartered at

Orlando Army Air Base Orlando Executive Airport is a public airport three miles (6 km) east of downtown Orlando, in Orange County, Florida. It is owned and operated by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) and serves general aviation. Overview Orlando ...

, Florida. After the war, the airfield was returned to civil control. However, in the 1950s, the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

re-established a radar facility on the airport under the operational control of the 891st Radar Squadron of the Air Defense Command (ADC), later renamed the

Aerospace Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly ina ...

. This facility remained at Cross City Air Force Station and was part of the ADC's

20th Air Division The 20th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida where it was inactivated on 1 March 1983. During most of the division's history it ...

from 1959 to 1969 when the facility was closed and transferred back to civilian control.USAFHRA Document 00463594
/ref> In 1972, the Florida Department of Corrections commenced converting the former

Cross City Air Force Station Cross City Air Force Station is a former United States Air Force facility, located east of Cross City, Florida. Overview Originally a small civil airport, during World War II it was active as a training base for the Army Air Forces School of ...

to a prison for adult male offenders known as the

Cross City Correctional Institution The Cross City Correctional Institution is a state prison for men located in Cross City, Dixie County, Florida, owned and operated by the Florida Department of Corrections The Florida Department of Corrections operates state prisons in the ...

Facilities and aircraft

Cross City Airport covers an area of 591 acres (239 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 § Ver ...

of 42 feet (13 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. 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 ...

paved

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, concre ...

s: 4/22 is 5,005 by 75 feet (1,526 x 23 m) and 13/31 is 5,001 by 100 feet (1,524 x 30 m). For the 12-month period ending April 5, 2018, the airport had 18,000

aircraft operations, an average of 49 per day. At that time there were 11 aircraft based at this airport: 7 single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

, 1 multi-engine, 2 jet, and 1

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

External links

Cross City Airport
( PDF) fro
Continuing Florida Aviation System Planning Process (CFASPP)

Aerial image as of February 1999
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

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 pro ...

'' * {{Florida airports Airports in Florida Transportation buildings and structures in Dixie County, Florida 1940 establishments in Florida Airports established in 1940

History

Facilities and aircraft

See also

References

External links