Thomasville Regional Airport 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 six

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s (7 mi, 11 km) northeast 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 Thomasville, a city in

Thomas County, Georgia Thomas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census the population was 44,720. The county seat is Thomasville. Thomas County comprises the Thomasville, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Thomas Count ...

, United States. 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 ''

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 ...

'' facility. The airport does not have scheduled commercial airline service.

History

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 opposin ...

, Thomasville Army Airfield was a

United States 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 ...

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in E ...

training base for reconnaissance and later fighter pilots. In 1941, civic leaders applied to the Civil Aeronautics Administration to build a modern airport. A site was selected 8.5 miles ENE of the city. After the City and the County purchased 903 acres, the CAA awarded a $316,000 contract for the construction of two runways, fences, lighting, and a hangar. By the time the contract had been completed in September 1942, the City and County had leased the airport to the

for $1 per year for the duration of the war. The Army planned to utilize Thomasville as a sub-base of

Dale Mabry Army Airfield Dale Mabry Army Airfield, was a World War II United States Army Air Force located at the Dale Mabry Field airport in Tallahassee, Florida. The military airfield closed in 1946 and the airport was returned to civil use. History The military u ...

, Tallahassee, Florida for

dive-bomber operational training. Work continued on extending the runways to 5,000 ft., and adding an apron, taxiways, and hardstands. The AAF purchased an additional 152.5 acres for the cantonment area. Eleven

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

buildings were moved from Halo, Florida and erected as the initial barracks and mess hall. Forty additional buildings were constructed to provide accommodations for 340 officers and 1000 men. Essentially, the buildings were shacks with 30# tarpaper on the exterior walls and 90# tarpaper on the roof. The structures had neither central heat nor indoor plumbing, requiring the use of potbellied stoves and outdoor latrines. A 50-man unit arrived from Dale Mabry on December 2, 1942 to guard the rising base.

World War II

The Army activated Thomasville Army Airfield on March 1, 1943. Shortly thereafter, the

59th Reconnaissance Group The 59th Quartermaster Company is a bulk petroleum company designed to provide semi-portable storage for of fuel and to provide distribution of fuel to military units within a specified geographic area while deployed overseas. Its secondary missi ...

, consisting of the 9th, 104th, 119th, and 126th Reconnaissance Squadrons (Fighter) arrived from

Fort Myers Army Airfield Page Field Army Airfield is an inactive United States Army Air Forces base, approximately 4 miles south of Fort Myers, Florida. It was active during World War II as a Third Air Force training airfield. It was closed on 30 September 1945, tw ...

, Florida with

P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...

s. The mission of the 59th RG was the training of replacement pilots. In actuality, only two of the squadrons were fully manned. Two of the squadrons were squadrons in name only as they had a strength of one man. In August, the 59th was redesignated as the 59th Fighter Group. In turn, the 9th, 104th, and 119th Squadrons became the 488th, 489th, and the 490th Fighter Squadrons. The 126th was redesignated as the 34th Reconnaissance Squadron and transferred to

Peterson Army Air Field Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a U.S. Space Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to the ...

, Colorado Springs, Colorado. These changes were administrative in nature and the overall manning of the base remained as before. On September 26, 1943, the base had an "Open House" attended by an estimated 25,000 people. Due to the distance from town, a local bus line provided scheduled service to the base. "Air Puffs" was the base newspaper. In the autumn of the year, additional construction took place at the area commonly referred to as, "Up on the Hill." This wooded area had been used for hunting by some of the men. The new construction provided headquarters, a mess hall, and barracks for the Base Detachment, which operated and maintained the base. The guard squadron, that had been living in tents, received new barracks as well. In November, the last squadron of the 59th FG, the 447th, formed. On May 1, 1944, the Army redesignated the 59th Fighter Group as the Thomasville Replacement Training Unit. Support organizations included the 1333rd Guard Sq and 493rd Sub Depot. The same month, the P-39s were replaced by

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

s. During mid-1944, a $52,000 project provided some additional buildings. Eventually, Thomasville had 128 buildings plus three hangars. Bombing, skip bombing, and strafing took place on a 6,900-acre leased range, 28 miles ESE near Quitman, Georgia. In May 1945, all these units were replaced by the 339th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School, Fighter) which flew the

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

, replacing the P-40s. On August 1, the Army held another "Open House" on the base. With the end of the war, Thomasville closed on September 30, 1945.

Thomasville Regional Airport

The former base was used for various purposes after the war including a technical college. The runways were used for drag racing and the "Up on the Hill" area became the local "lover's lane." Very little evidence of the Army remains. Tucked away in a remote part of the airport can be found a taxiway with the base's former bore sighting range and revetment. Still in evidence is a small pit on the range's taxiway for a P-39's nose gear. The pit has a sloped entry that lowered the P-39's nose to allow the bore sighting of the guns. Taildraggers such as the P-40 and P-51 had to have the tail jacked up to bring the guns to bear. The original Army light beacon was also in evidence in 2004.

Facilities and aircraft

Thomasville Regional Airport covers an area of 1,301

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (526 ha) 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 264 feet (80 m) 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 two

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 ...

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: 4/22 is 5,496 by 100 feet (1,675 × 30 m) and 14/32 is 5,000 by 100 feet (1,524 × 30 m). For the 12-month period ending August 12, 2010, the airport had 12,500 aircraft operations, an average of 34 per day: 98%

and 2%

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 48 aircraft based at this airport: 58% 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 ...

, 23% multi-engine, 13%

jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

, 2%

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 4%

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

References

* * Shettle, M. L. (2005), Georgia's Army Airfields of World War II. * Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . * Maurer, Maurer (1969), Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II, Air Force Historical Studies Office, Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

External links

Aerial image as of February 2000
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 ...