St. Paul Downtown Airport , also known as Holman Field, is an airport just across the Mississippi River from downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is one of several reliever airports in the Twin Cities operated by the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The airport has three runways and serves aircraft operated by corporations in the local area, a flight training school and the Minnesota Army National Guard aviation unit, as well as transient general aviation aircraft. The airport is home to an installation of the Minnesota Army National Guard. Two properties at the airport are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the 1939

Holman Field Administration Building The Holman Field Administration Building is a Kasota limestone building designed by Clarence Wigington and built in 1939 by Works Progress Administration, WPA employees. It serves as the control building for the St. Paul Downtown Airport in Saint ...

and the 1942

Riverside Hangar The Riverside Hangar is a historic hangar complex at the St. Paul Downtown Airport in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It comprises two parallel hangars with a connecting structure and some additions. Built on the bank of the Mississippi R ...

History

Holman Field was named for Charles W. "Speed" Holman (1898–1931), who was a stunt pilot, barnstormer,

wing walker Wing walking is the act of moving along the wings of an aeroplane (most commonly a biplane) during flight, sometimes transferring between planes. It originated as a daredevil stunt in the aerial barnstorming shows of the 1920s, and became the sub ...

parachutist Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...

, airmail pilot, aviation record holder and airline pilot. Born in Bloomington, he was the first pilot hired by

Northwest Airways Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines- ...

in 1926. In 1928, Holman set a world record of 1,433 consecutive loops in an airplane in five hours over the St. Paul Airport. He died in an accident during an air show in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

in 1931 at the age of 32. During World War II, Northwest Airlines employed up to 5,000 people at the site, modifying new

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

bombers, some of which received the highly classified H2X radar, which proved to be an invaluable tool in the European theater. The terminal was used as a backdrop for scenes in the 1972 film '' Slaughterhouse-Five''. During the 1970s and early 1980s, commuter airline Lake State Airways offered scheduled airline service between the St. Paul Downtown Airport and Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport in Minnesota. It cost $5 USD for a one-way ticket between the two airports, and $10 round-trip. Capitol Air flew MDW-STP with a Swearingen Metroliner for roughly a year starting in December 1993.

Facilities and aircraft

St. Paul Downtown Holman Field covers an area of which contains three asphalt paved runways: 14/32 measuring 6,491 x 150 ft (1,978 x 46 m), 13/31 measuring 4,004 x 150 ft (1,220 x 46 m) and 9/27 measuring 3,642 x 100 ft (1,110 x 30 m).St. Paul Downtown Airport was actually Minnesota's first international airport, with having a Customs and Immigration center on site. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2014, the airport had 66,475 aircraft operations, an average of 182 per day: 74% general aviation, 15% military and 11% air taxi. In January 2017, there were 68 aircraft based at this airport: 20 single-engine, 12 multi-engine, 18 jet, 7 helicopter and 11 military.

Annual aircraft operations

Based on annual reports and data released by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, aircraft operations declined 65.3% in the decade 2011-2020.

Charter Airlines

Cargo airlines

Flood wall considerations

Recently local debate has ensued over plans to build a flood wall around the airport. In 1993, 1997, and 2001, the airport was flooded due to its proximity to the Mississippi River. Supporters do not want to deal with the future inconvenience of having to deal with the flood again, while critics say that the proposed wall would ruin views and make the airport "ugly". A dike to protect the airport from the nearby river was considered since the National Guard stated that they may leave if the dike is not constructed in a timely manner. In 2009, a removable flood wall was installed that is only erected when flooding is imminent, leaving the views of the river intact for the rest of the year. Steel plates are embedded in the concrete on the river side of the runways. The flood wall is composed of steel posts that anchor to the embedded plates and aluminum planks that are stacked between the posts to form a flood barrier. These are then removed and stored when the flood event has passed.

Gallery

Image:Holman_Control_tower.jpg, Holman Field administration building with historic control tower Image:Holman field Building.jpg, Holman Field administration building Image:KSTP.JPG, 1990s flood Image:spairport1.jpg, St. Paul Downtown Airport Image:Landing at the Downtown St Paul Airport Runway 4643320357 o.jpg, View from a plane landing on runway 32 at Holman Field

References

External links

MSP Reliever Airports: St. Paul Downtown Airport
* * * Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation, filed under Saint Paul, Ramsey County, MN: ** ** {{Airports in Minnesota Airports in Minnesota Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota Transportation buildings and structures in Saint Paul, Minnesota Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Technical Service Command Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Minnesota