Frederick Regional Airport is a city-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 surface ...

located three nautical miles (6 km) southeast of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

, a city in Tillman County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, United States. It was formerly known as Frederick Municipal Airport.

History

The airport was opened on 23 September 1942 as Frederick Army Airfield with four hard-surfaced runways, three of length (00/18; 04/22; 13/31) and one long (09/27). It was also used as a civil airport under a joint-use agreement. The airport was assigned to 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 ...

' Gulf Coast Training Center (later Central Flying Training Command) as an advanced twin-engine (level 3) pilot training airfield, with one of its instructors being comedian

George Gobel George Leslie Goebel (May 20, 1919 – February 24, 1991) was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, ''The George Gobel Show'', broadcasting from 1954 to 1959 ...

. It had four local auxiliary airfields for emergency and overflow landings. Military flight operations from the airfield ceased on 31 October 1945 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. It was then declared surplus and turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 21 September 1946. Eventually it was discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) and became a civil airport.

Facilities and aircraft

Frederick Regional Airport covers an area of 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 1,258 feet (383 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...

. It has three

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 6,099 by 150 feet (1,859 x 46 m) with an

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 ...

surface; 3/21 is 4,812 by 60 feet (1,467 x 18 m) with a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

surface; 12/30 is 4,578 by 75 feet (1,395 x 23 m) with a concrete surface. The airport is also home to the World War II Airborne Demonstration Team Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization located in the historic former Frederick Army Airfield portion of the airport. In addition to its museum functions focused on World War II

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

airborne infantry/paratrooper operations, the team also maintains two flyable

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

transports in one of the airport's remaining World War II military hangars. Painted in

U.S. 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 ...

markings, these aircraft are regularly flown for use in historical reenactments of paratrooper airdrop operations. For the 12-month period ending June 9, 2008, the airport had 63,700 aircraft operations, an average of 174 per day: 94%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and 6%

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 ...

. At that time there were 17 aircraft based at this airport: 76% 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 gen ...

, 18% multi-engine and 6%

References

External links

Aerial photo as of 8 February 1995
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 prov ...

'' *
{{USAAF Training Bases World War II 1942 establishments in Oklahoma Airports established in 1942 Airports in Oklahoma Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Oklahoma Buildings and structures in Tillman County, Oklahoma USAAF Central Flying Training Command American Theater of World War II

History

Facilities and aircraft

See also

References

External links