The Virginia Beach Airport is a private civilian

airfield An aerodrome ( Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for pub ...

located in

Pungo, Virginia Pungo is a rural community located in the southern part of the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia and was one of the seven original boroughs when the City of Virginia Beach was created in 1963. The area derives its name from a local Indi ...

, approximately {{convert, 4, mi, abbr=off South-East of

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

. It is the home of the

Military Aviation Museum The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is home to one of the world's largest collections of warbirds in flying condition. It includes examples from Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, from ...

, which uses it to maintain, display, and fly vintage and replica

warbird A warbird is any vintage military aircraft now operated by civilian organizations and individuals, or in some instances, by historic arms of military forces, such as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the RAAF Museum Historic Flight, or th ...

s; the aircraft are primarily from the

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 opposing ...

era, but they range from the 1910s to the 1950s. The facilities include an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

main building, one grass landing strip, a checkered

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...

, and a large number of medium-size

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s. There are no commercial airline services at Virginia Beach Airport; most people getting from outside of Virginia to Virginia Beach use

Norfolk International Airport Norfolk International Airport is seven miles (11 km) northeast of downtown Norfolk, an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is owned and operated by the Norfolk Airport Authority: a bureau under the municipal government. The ...

in nearby

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

instead.

History

The airport was created in 1969 by four local pilots; the original concept was for a small airport, including a

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, concre ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

, restaurant, a small terminal, and several hangars. These intentions fairly quickly did not pan out, and so much of the land was returned to agriculture. The runway did remain active, and was used for

crop dusting Aerial application, or what is informally referred to as crop dusting, involves spraying crops with crop protection products from an agricultural aircraft. Planting certain types of seed are also included in aerial application. The specific sp ...

planes and

banner towing Aerial advertising is a form of advertising that incorporates the use of flogos, manned aircraft, or drones to create, transport, or display, advertising media. The media can be ''static'', such as a banner, logo, lighted sign or sponsorship bran ...

planes. In the early 2000s, the founder of the Military Aviation Museum, Gerald "Jerry" Yagen, purchased the property as a home for his collection of warbirds, and began planning the creation of the Museum.

External links

VA Beach Airport

FAA Information
Transportation in Virginia Beach, Virginia Airports in Virginia 1969 establishments in Virginia