Greenville Municipal Airport is a former airport located 4 miles east-southeast of
Greenville, Mississippi
Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta.
H ...
. It was closed about 1970 with air service being moved to the
Mid Delta Regional Airport. Today it is used a municipal recreation complex known as
Washington County Convention Center.
History
The airport was built about 1942 as an auxiliary airfield for the Army pilot training school at
Greenville Army Airfield as part of the 30,000 Pilot Training Program. It had three paved runways, the longest being the northwest/southeast & northeast/southwest runways. It had an aircraft parking ramp but did not have any hangars.
After the war ended, the airfield was turned over to the City of Greenville and it became the city municipal airport.
Southern Airways
Southern Airways was a regional airline (known at the time as a "local-service air carrier" as designated by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board) in the United States, from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979, when it merged with ...
began scheduled passenger airline service during the early 1950s with
Douglas DC-3 prop aircraft flying daily round trip routings of Memphis - Greenville - Vicksburg - Jackson, MS - Natchez - Baton Rouge - New Orleans and also Memphis - Greenville - Vicksburg - Jackson, MS - Laurel - Hattiesburg - Mobile. By 1962, Southern was operating "Aristocrat" service into the airport with a
Martin 4-0-4
The Martin 4-0-4 was an American pressurized passenger airliner built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. In addition to airline use initially in the United States, it was used by the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy as the RM-1G ( ...
prop aircraft flying a round trip routing of Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City - Knoxville - Nashville - Jackson, TN - Memphis - Greenville - Monroe, LA - Baton Rouge - New Orleans in addition to its other flights serving Greenville. Southern subsequently moved its flights to the Mid Delta Regional Airport where in later years it operated
Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas.
After ...
jet service.
The municipal airport also had general aviation service until it was closed about 1970 as the airfield had relatively short runways and was being encroached by the city.
The airfield remains relatively intact, being used for recreational activities.
See also
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Mississippi World War II Army Airfields
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) established numerous airfields in Mississippi for antisubmarine defense in the Gulf of Mexico and for training pilots and aircrews of USAAF fighters and bombers.
Most of these airfield ...
References
{{Reflist
Defunct airports in Mississippi