Cut Bank Municipal Airport is three miles southwest of

Cut Bank A cut bank, also known as a river cliff or river-cut cliff, is the outside bank of a curve or meander in a water channel (stream), which is continually undergoing erosion.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak Cut banks are found in abu ...

, in

Glacier County Glacier County is located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,778. The county is located in northwestern Montana between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, known to the Blackfeet as the "Backbone ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, United States. It is owned by Cut Bank and Glacier County. The airport's website calls it Cut Bank International Airport. Its first flight was on 1 June 1941.

Facilities

Cut Bank Municipal Airport covers 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 3,854 feet (1,175 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: 5/23 is 5,299 by 75 feet (1,615 x 23 m) and 13/31 is 5,300 by 75 feet (1,615 x 23 m). In the year ending August 22, 2008 the airport had 5,800 aircraft operations, average 15 per day: 90%

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 ...

, 9%

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 2% military. 32 aircraft were then based at the airport: 88% single-engine, 3% multi-engine and 9% ultralight.

History

During World War II Cut Bank Army Air Field was used by the

Second Air Force The Second Air Force (2 AF; ''2d Air Force'' in 1942) is a USAF numbered air force responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. In World War II the CONUS unit defended ...

as an auxiliary heavy bomber training airfield, being controlled by Great Falls Army Air Base. Several squadrons of groups training at Great Falls in

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 ...

es trained at Cut Bank. Known squadrons were: * 2nd Bombardment Group, 429th Bomb Squadron, November 1942-March 1943 * 385th Bombardment Group, 550th Bomb Squadron, March–June 1943 * 390th Bombardment Group, 569th Bomb Squadron, June–July 1943 * 401st Bombardment Group, 613th Bomb Squadron, July–October 1943 During the Cold War Cut Bank AFB was an interceptor base, part of

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), 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 est ...

. The Cut Bank Municipal Airport and Army Air Force Base, on Valier Highway in Cut Bank, Montana was built in 1942. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2008. The listing included eight

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, 27 contributing structures, and four contributing sites on . It was built by the Army Corps of Engineers and includes World War II temporary buildings. It has also been known as Cut Bank International Airport.

References

External links

* * * 1943 establishments in Montana Airports established in 1943 Airports in Montana Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Montana Historic American Engineering Record in Montana National Register of Historic Places in Glacier County, Montana Transportation in Glacier County, Montana Airports on the National Register of Historic Places World War II on the National Register of Historic Places Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Montana {{Montana-NRHP-stub

Facilities

History

See also

References

External links