Ryan Airfield , also known as Ryan Field, 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 southwest 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 ...

of Tucson, a city in Pima County,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is included in the

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015, which

categorized Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by associating them to a ...

it as a '' reliever airport''. It is mostly used for

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 ...

but also serves a significant amount of law enforcement and military helicopter activity. Approximately 50% of Ryan's traffic is training-related. Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

and

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

, this airport is assigned RYN by the FAA but has no designation from the IATA (which assigned RYN to

Royan - Médis Airport Royan (; in the Saintongeais dialect; oc, Roian) is a commune and town in the south-west of France, in the department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its inhabitants are known as ''Royannais'' and ''Royannaises''. Capi ...

Royan Royan (; in the Saintongeais dialect; oc, Roian) is a commune and town in the south-west of France, in the department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its inhabitants are known as ''Royannais'' and ''Royannaises''. Capi ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

). The airport's

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...

identifier is KRYN.

History

According to historian David Leighton, after the surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941, the military decided that an inland training location was preferred, to the current Ryan School of Aeronautics in San Diego, California, founded by aviation pioneer

T. Claude Ryan Tubal Claude Ryan (January 3, 1898 – September 11, 1982) was an American aviator born in Parsons, Kansas. Ryan was best known for founding several airlines and aviation factories. Early years Ryan began his flying career in 1917 when he en ...

and Tucson was chosen as the site. Ground was broken in June 1942 for the new Ryan School of Aeronautics of Arizona under the direction of the

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 ...

, located about 15 miles southwest of Tucson, along the Ajo Highway. By August 1942, the institution with its half-completed buildings and roofless offices, was training aviators in the Ryan P-22 aircraft, which functioned surprisingly well in the heat, wind and dust storms, although crashes did occur at the school, at times, leading to death in certain incidents. By July 1943, when T. Claude Ryan, the president of the school, returned the following year, Ryan Airfield had been completed. By this time the airfield had electricity, plumbing and air conditioning. The ground was covered with asphalt to hold the desert dust. It also had barracks and a PX.David Leighton, "Street Smarts: Ryan Airfield was founded by important early aviation pioneer," Arizona Daily Star, Feb. 2, 2020
/ref> Military flight training at Ryan ceased in 1944 and the property was conveyed to the State of Arizona in 1948. Currently owned by the City of Tucson, Ryan is operated by the Tucson Airport Authority under an agreement which expires in 2054. An air traffic control tower was constructed at Ryan in 1993. The airport was added to the Contract Tower Program in 1996. In September 2004, the tower staff completed the one millionth operation without an error. In May 2010, the tower staff achieved two million operations without an error. Significant infrastructure improvements and major maintenance projects are accomplished continuously, as is private and commercial hangar construction. TowerKRYN

Facilities and aircraft

Ryan Field 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 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 with

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 ...

surfaces: * 6R/24L is . * 6L/24R is . * 15/33 is . Only runway 6R is serviced by an instrument approach. It allows pilots to land with

ceiling A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a story above. Ceilings ...

s as low as 250 feet above ground level. Runways 6L and 6R are the preferential runways, and they are used with tailwinds up to 10 knots. For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2009, the airport had 159,806 aircraft operations, an average of 437 per day: 97%

and 3%

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 192 aircraft based at this airport: 91.7% 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 ...

, 5.7% multi-engine, 2.1%

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 1.6%

References

Other sources

* * 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.

External links

Ryan Airfield
official website
Aerial image as of May 1992
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 ...

'' * * * ; Flight training at Ryan Airfield :
Alpha Air
:
Kelly's Aviation

{{USAAF Training Bases World War II Airports in Pima County, Arizona USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Arizona USAAF Western Flying Training Command American Theater of World War II 1942 establishments in Arizona

History

Facilities and aircraft

See also

References

Other sources

External links