Pearls Airport was an airport in Grenada in the Caribbean, located at the northeastern corner of the island, northeast of the main town and capital St George's (12 degrees 09 minutes North, 61 degrees 37 minutes West) with a runway set at a direction 082 degrees/262 degrees and long. It was the country's first airport, opened in 1943 and was under the management of the Grenada Airports Authority.

Pan American Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

did not operate in the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea No ...

, because of an excluding agreement made by the British Government to protect

British West Indian Airways BWIA West Indies Airways Limited, known locally as "Bee-Wee" and also as British West Indian Airways and BWIA International, was the national airline based in Trinidad and Tobago. At the end of operations, BWIA was the largest airline operating o ...

. This meant the airport was not in daily operation. Pearls was used by the Allies for military aircraft during

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 ...

. After the war, the airport reverted to civilian operation and the runway was extended and paved to its final length. The airport's principal commercial carrier was Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT), which linked Grenada to nearby islands with its 48-passenger turboprop aircraft. The airport's surrounding hills and its distance from the capital city of St George's made it unsuitable for further improvements. On 25 October 1983, Marines from the

8th Marine Regiment The 8th Marine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. When last active, it was based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and fell under the command of the 2nd Marine Division and the II Marine Exped ...

landed nearby by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

and "captured" Pearls Airport during the

United States invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, ...

, meeting only light resistance. The airport then consisted of a cinder block terminal/operations building and a fuel storage facility. The Marines seized two parked aircraft. One was an AN-26 (CU-T1254) Cubana Airlines turboprop which had arrived the day before from

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

with two high-level Cuban officials. The other was an AN-2R (CCCP-71189) biplane, a gift to Grenada from the Soviet Union, ostensibly for agricultural spray. During the ensuing period of hostilities, the Marines used the airfield as a base for offensive operations to complete subjugation of the eastern side of island. The principal American base was at Point Salines where a 9,000-foot runway and new terminal was nearing completion. Pearls Airport Grenada

In 1984, Pearls was replaced as Grenada's main airport by the Point Salines International Airport, now called

Maurice Bishop International Airport Maurice Bishop International Airport , formerly known as Point Salines Airport, is an international airport located in the parish of St. George's. The town of St. George's is about north of the airport and is the capital of the island natio ...

. Pearls is now a construction site and used a drag racing strip. Both wrecks of the AN-26 and AN-2R sit by the former terminal.

References

Airports in Grenada Airports established in 1943 1943 establishments in North America Saint Andrew Parish, Grenada {{Grenada-geo-stub