Spencer Municipal Airport , also known as Northwest Iowa Regional Airport, is a public

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 three miles (5 km) northwest 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 Spencer, a city in

Clay County Clay County is the name of 18 counties in the United States. Most are named for Henry Clay, U.S. Senator and statesman: * Clay County, Alabama * Clay County, Arkansas (named for John Clayton, and originally named Clayton County) * Clay County, Flor ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

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 owned by the City of Spencer. The airport is used by charter airlines including Plane Master Services and Nova Air. It has been served by

Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines was an American regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters were in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a hub at Denver International Airport. As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines ...

. The airline was named after the nearby

Iowa Great Lakes The Iowa Great Lakes, often referred to as ''Okoboji'', is a group of natural lakes in northwestern Iowa in the United States. There are seven lakes in the region totaling with the three principal lakes of the group being Big Spirit Lake, West O ...

. The airline has since ceased operations.

History

Activated in March 1942 as Northwest Iowa Regional Airport, the facility provided contract glider training to the United States Army Air Forces between 1942 and 1944. Training was provided by Hunter Flying Service. The airport was an all-way turf airfield with a 4,000' x 4,000' landing/takeoff area. The facility was used primarily to train

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...

and

Waco CG-4 Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

unpowered glider crews in various types of towed and soaring flight, both day and night, and for servicing gliders in the field. Northwest Iowa Regional was deactivated during 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program. The property was declared surplus, turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers on 30 September 1945 and was eventually discharged to the War Assets Administration (WAA) to become a civil airport, eventually renamed Spencer Municipal.

Facilities and aircraft

Spencer Municipal Airport covers an area of which contains two

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

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 concrete, as ...

s: 12/30 measuring 6,001 x 100 ft (1,829 x 30 m) and 18/36 measuring 5,100 x 75 ft (1,554 x 23 m). For the 12-month period ending June 30, 2016, the airport had 15,090 aircraft operations, an average of 41 per day: 76%

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 ...

, 24%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) an ...

and less than 1% military. In November 2018, there were 37 aircraft based at this airport: 27 single-engine, 6 multi-engine, 2 jet and 2

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 ailer ...

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

* {{Airports in Iowa, state=autocollapse Spencer, Iowa Airports in Iowa Transportation buildings and structures in Clay County, Iowa USAAF Contract Flying School Airfields USAAF Glider Training Airfields Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Iowa 1942 establishments in Iowa

History

Facilities and aircraft

See also

References

External links