Dare County Regional Airport is a public

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 mile (2 km) northwest of the central business district (CBD) of Manteo, a town in Dare County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, United States. This

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 ...

airport covers and has two

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. The airport offers a small museum chronicling the history of aviation on the

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...

. Exhibits include models of aircraft that played a part in the history of Dare County aviation, photos and displays about local aviator Dave Driskill, and the history of the airport. The airport is adjacent to the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter

location identifier A location identifier is a symbolic representation for the name and the location of an airport, navigation aid, or weather station, and is used for staffed air traffic control facilities in air traffic control, telecommunications, computer programm ...

for the

FAA 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 ...

and IATA, Dare County Regional Airport is assigned MQI by the FAA and MEO by the IATAGreat Circle Mapper: MEO/KMQI - Manteo, North Carolina (Franklin County Airport)
/ref> (which assigned MQI to Quincy, Massachusetts). The airport's ICAO identifier is KMQI. FedEx Feeder is operated at the field by Mountain Air Cargo.

History

Since the early 1940s Dare County has been served by a small private airport. A public airport was under construction at the time of the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

, which prompted the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

to abandon its plans to construct a Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Cape Hatteras, and instead focus on this airport, on Roanoke Island, which had a similar runway configuration. The Naval Auxiliary Air Station Manteo (NAAS Manteo) was completed by the Navy and commissioned on March 3, 1943. NAAS Manteo was shared by the Civil Air Patrol and the

. As a naval air installation, NAAS Manteo and was used for special training of squadrons of

F4F Wildcat The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atla ...

F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second ha ...

SB2C Helldiver The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver is a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the United States Navy (USN), in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few surv ...

s, TBM and TBF Avengers,

PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served w ...

s and

F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

s. The Navy and the

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

conducted anti-submarine patrols from the airfield until the field was placed in caretaker status December 15, 1945. In 1947, NAAS Manteo was disestablished and control of the airfield was returned to Dare County. In 1983, it was taken over by the Dare County Airport Authority.

Airlines and destinations

Cargo

References

External links

*
Dare County Regional Airport Museum
* at

North Carolina DOT The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is responsible for building, repairing, and operating highways, bridges, and other modes of transportation, including ferries in the U.S. state of North Carolina. History The North Carolina ...

airport guide * * Airports in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Dare County, North Carolina Transportation in Dare County, North Carolina Museums in Dare County, North Carolina Aerospace museums in North Carolina Roanoke Island {{NorthCarolina-airport-stub Closed installations of the United States Navy