Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport serving

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. Located in

Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman: * Clay County, Alabama * Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County) * Clay County, Flor ...

, this facility is included in 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 ...

, which

categorized Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by associating them to a ...

it as a general aviation reliever airport.

History

This airport replaced

Richards Field {{coord, 38.993772, -94.48010, display=title Richards Field was the first airport in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The field was established in 1922 near the border between Kansas City, Missouri, and Raytown, Missouri, at the southeast cor ...

as Kansas City's main airport. It was dedicated as ''New Richards Field'' in 1927 by Charles Lindbergh and was soon renamed Kansas City Municipal Airport. Its prominent tenant was

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

(

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...

), which was headquartered in Kansas City. The airport was built in the Missouri River bottoms next to the rail tracks at the

Hannibal Bridge The First Hannibal Bridge was the first permanent rail crossing of the Missouri River and helped establish Kansas City, Missouri as a major city and rail center. The increased train traffic resulting from its construction also contributed to the ...

. At the time air travel was considered to be handled in conjunction with rail traffic. The airport had limited area for expansion ( Fairfax Airport across the Missouri River in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of the ...

covered a larger area). Airplanes had to avoid the Quality Hill and the Downtown Kansas City skyline south of the south end of the main runway. In the early 1960s, an FAA memo called it "the most dangerous major airport in the country" and urged that no further federal funds be spent on it. A new airport was then constructed to serve Kansas City, being the

Kansas City International Airport Kansas City International Airport (originally Mid-Continent International Airport) is a public airport in Kansas City, Missouri located northwest of Downtown Kansas City in Platte County, Missouri., effective December 30, 2021. The airport o ...

(MCI) which was opened in 1972 with all scheduled passenger airline flights being moved from MKC to MCI at that time. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide (OAG) listed the following weekday departures from MKC: *

Braniff International Airways Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until air operations ceased, was an airline in the United States that once flew air carrier operations from 1928 un ...

- 40 *

(TWA) - 39 *

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

- 9 * United Airlines - 4 * Delta Air Lines - 2 * Ozark Airlines - 2 * Central Airlines - 2 The downtown airport has been renamed for Charles Wheeler who was mayor when Kansas City International opened. Richards Road, which serves the airport, is named for John Francisco Richards II, a Kansas City airman killed in World War I (and whose name was also applied to Richards Field and Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base). Despite concerns about the airport being unsafe,

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...

frequently uses it during Presidential visits. Today the airport is used for corporate and recreational aviation. The terminal building today houses VML, a global advertising and marketing agency headquartered in Kansas City. Its location near downtown has excellent highway access. It is home to the National Airline History Museum. Though this museum primarily contains artifacts from TWA (due to the fact that most of its volunteers are local retired TWA employees), it is dedicated to airline history in general. A second museum, The TWA Museum, is housed in the original terminal that it was founded in at 10 Richards Road and is dedicated to the history of TWA. The airport also hosts the Aviation Expo (Air Show), most years, usually in August.

Facilities

The airport covers 700

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 (283 ha) at an elevation of 757 feet (231 m). It has two runways: 1/19 is 6,827 by 150 feet (2,081 x 46 m) concrete with an EMAS at both ends. 3/21 is 5,050 by 100 feet (1,539 x 30 m) asphalt. Construction on runway 1-19 is complete and both runways are in use to their full length. Taxiway H was at one time part of runway 17/35, which was closed after an FAA decision on the required separation between terminal buildings and the runway. The airport is on the north side of the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River. Levees protected the airport relatively well during the Great Flood of 1951 and the Great Flood of 1993 although there was standing water. The 1951 flood devastated the Fairfax airport and caused Kansas City to build what would become

away from the river to keep the TWA overhaul base in the area after it had been destroyed in the flood at Fairfax. Kansas City, MO Aviation Department announced plans on October 17, 2006 to build a $20 million aircraft hangar complex at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport including: 122 T-hangars, 13 box hangars, a terminal building with offices, a pilots' lounge, meeting rooms and a destination restaurant. In the year ending September 30, 2011 the airport had 67,793 aircraft operations, average 185 per day: 71.5% general aviation, 26% air taxi, 2.2% military, and 0.3% airline. 189 aircraft were then based at the airport: 47.6% single-engine, 28.6% multi-engine, 22.2% jet, and 1.6% helicopter.

Cargo

Accidents and incidents

* On March 31, 1931,

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

Coach

Knute Rockne Knut (Norwegian and Swedish), Knud (Danish), or Knútur (Icelandic) is a Scandinavian, German, and Dutch first name, of which the anglicised form is Canute. In Germany both "Knut" and "Knud" are used. In Spanish and Portuguese Canuto is used whi ...

was killed on a

Transcontinental & Western Air Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

flight from Kansas City to Los Angeles when the Fokker F-10 trimotor broke up in a storm over

Bazaar, Kansas Bazaar is an unincorporated community in Chase County, Kansas, United States. It is located about halfway between Strong City and Matfield Green near the intersection of K-177 highway and Sharps Creek Rd. History A post office was establish ...

. The crash resulted in the grounding of all of the wooden wing Fokker airliners nationwide due to wood rot. It also nearly bankrupted TWA and forced them (and others) to replace their fleet with newer all-metal aircraft. * On June 30, 1956,

flight 2, a

Lockheed Super Constellation The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an American aircraft, a member of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The L-1049 was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC-6 airliner, first flying in 1950. The aircraft was also produc ...

, was bound for Kansas City Downtown Airport when it collided with a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 over the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

. All 128 aboard both aircraft were killed. * On May 22, 1962, Continental Airlines Flight 11

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

en route from Chicago

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...

to Kansas City Downtown Airport exploded over

Unionville, Missouri Unionville is a city in Putnam County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,735 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Putnam County. History Unionville was first named Harmony when established in 1853 as the county seat for Putn ...

. All 45 on board were killed. * On July 1, 1965, Continental Airlines Flight 12

from

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

landed in heavy rain and was unable to stop due to hydroplaning. It impacted a blast mound and broke into 3 pieces, but all 66 on board survived. * On August 6, 1966,

Braniff Airways Flight 250 Braniff International Airways Flight 250 crashed near Falls City, Nebraska, on August 6, 1966, en route to Omaha from Kansas City, Missouri. Thirty-eight passengers and four crew members were killed in the crash, which occurred in a farm fie ...

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

left Kansas City Downtown Airport headed for Omaha and crashed near Falls City, Nebraska, killing all 42 on board. * On January 12, 1970, the Kansas City Chiefs' charter flight returning from New Orleans International Airport following their

Super Bowl IV Super Bowl IV was an American football game played on January 11, 1970 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the fourth and final AFL–NFL World Championship Game in professional football prior to the AFL–NFL merger taking eff ...

victory over the Minnesota Vikings was diverted to the then-unfinished Kansas City International Airport (MCI) due to a runway incursion by fans hoping to greet the Chiefs upon landing at the Downtown airport. * On August 20, 2011, pilot Bryan Jensen was killed when his Vertical Unlimited 12 (a modified Pitts 12) crashed during the Kansas City Air Expo. * On August 5, 2013, a construction contractor working on a taxiway near runway 1 discovered human remains buried in the ground.

References

External links