Redstone Army Airfield or Redstone AAF is a military

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 at

Redstone Arsenal Redstone Arsenal (RSA) is a United States Army post and a census-designated place (CDP) adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a garrison f ...

, six miles (10 km) southwest of the city of

Huntsville Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in th ...

in Madison County,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, United States. The airfield was originally constructed for munitions testing for the

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 ...

and the U.S. Army Air Forces through the 6th AAF Base Unit (Proving Ground Detachment). It is currently used to support the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, and other U.S. government aviation and space activities.

History

In 1943, the airstrip on Huntsville Arsenal was established to assist with the testing of incendiary bomb clusters. The testing was done during the height of

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 opposin ...

and, after the allied victory, was promptly stopped. The airfield was largely vacated, though it continued to serve as a military landing strip. On April 12, 1956, the city of Huntsville approached the commander of the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency to talk about a new federal airway. It was decided that a

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

would be established at Redstone AAF and it would serve as the control tower for military and commercial flights until a new Huntsville Airport was built. After the establishment of the control tower, the control tower of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

agreed to handle air traffic for Huntsville through the Redstone Control Tower. The airstrip operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week from July 1956 until November 1969, when it was changed to its current schedule of 13 hours a day, five days a week. C-46 L-23 L-26 at Redstone Army Airfield 1950s

C-46 L-23 L-26 at Redstone Army Airfield 1950s

References

External links

Redstone Arsenal Flying Activity
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United States Army airfields Airports in Madison County, Alabama 1943 establishments in Alabama {{Alabama-airport-stub

History

See also

References

External links