Henry Tift Myers Airport is a 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 surfa ...

located two nautical miles (4 km) southeast of the central business district of Tifton, a city in Tift County, Georgia, United States. It is owned by the Tifton & Tift County Airport Authority. This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a ''

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 ...

'' facility. It does not have scheduled

commercial airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

service.

History

The airport was constructed in 1940. In April, while under construction, the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

indicated a need for the airfield as a training airfield. The immediate construction involved runways and airplane hangars, with three concrete runways, several taxiways and a large parking apron and a control tower. Several large hangars were also constructed. Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled. Most base buildings, not meant for long-term use, were constructed of temporary or semi-permanent materials. Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen, most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper. Tifton Army Airfield (also known as Turner AAF Auxiliary Field No. 9) was activated on August 12, 1940. It was used by the

Army Air Forces Flying Training Command An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, Southeast Training Center (later Eastern Flying Training Command) for advanced two-engine flying training throughout

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, until inactivated on December 28, 1944. Aircraft flown at Tifton AAF were generally

Curtiss AT-9 The Curtiss-Wright AT-9 Jeep was a twin-engined advanced trainer aircraft used by the United States during World War II to bridge the gap between single-engined trainers and twin-engined combat aircraft. The AT-9 had a low-wing cantilever monopl ...

s, and later TB-25 Mitchells. Tifton AAF was placed on inactive status though the balance of the war, being turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on September 21, 1946. Title was returned to civil authorities in 1947. The airport was renamed Henry Tift Myers Airport in honor of Tifton native Colonel Henry T. "Hank" Myers, who was the first pilot of Air Force One.

Facilities and aircraft

Henry Tift Myers Airport covers an area of 826 acres (334 ha) 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 § Ver ...

of 355 feet (108 m) above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. 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 ...

paved

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: 15/33 is 5,504 by 100 feet (1,678 x 30 m) and 10/28 is 3,805 by 75 feet (1,160 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending August 24, 2010, the airport had 17,700 aircraft operations, an average of 48 per day: 99%

and 1%

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 ...

. At that time there were 39 aircraft based at this airport: 67% 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 ...

, 26% multi-engine, 5% jet, and 3%

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

References

* * Manning, Thomas A. (2005), ''History of Air Education and Training Command, 1942–2002''. Office of History and Research, Headquarters, AETC, Randolph AFB, Texas * Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), ''Locating Air Force Base Sites, History's Legacy'', Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC. * Shettle, M. L. (2005), ''Georgia's Army Airfields of World War II''.

External links

TMA – Henry Tift Myers (Tifton)
at

Georgia DOT The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Georgia. In addition to highways, the department also has a limited role in developin ...

Walker Aviation
the

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

(FBO)
Aerial image as of February 1999
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 pro ...

'' * {{US-airport-ga, TMA Airports in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Tift County, Georgia Transportation in Tift County, Georgia Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Georgia (U.S. state) 1940 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Airports established in 1940

History

Facilities and aircraft

See also

References

External links