Waynesville-St. Robert Regional Airport , also known as Forney Field, is a public and military use airport located at

Fort Leonard Wood Fort Leonard Wood is a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of The City of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard Woo ...

in Pulaski County,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, United States. The airport's passenger terminal is operated under the control of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and general aviation is under the direction of a board named by the cities of Waynesville and St. Robert. Formerly known as Waynesville Regional Airport at Forney Field, it is served by one commercial airline with scheduled service subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is t ...

program. 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 2021–2025, which categorized it as a ''non-primary commercial service'' airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year).

History

During World War II the airfield was used by the

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 ...

. It was known as Forney Army Airfield until 1998. It was attached to

and was part of the

Army Service Forces The Army Service Forces was one of the three autonomous components of the United States Army during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces, created on 9 March 1942. By dividing the Army into three large comman ...

Facilities and aircraft

Waynesville-St. Robert Regional Airport covers an area of 237

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 (96 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 1,159 feet (353 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 one

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 ...

designated 15/33 with an asphalt surface measuring 6,037 by 150 feet (1,840 x 46 m). For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2016, the airport had 25,807 aircraft operations, an average of 71 per day: 50%

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 ...

, 32%

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 ...

and 18% scheduled commercial. In June 2021, there were 14 aircraft based at this airport: 9 single-engine and 5 military.

Airline and destination

The following

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

offers scheduled passenger service:

Statistics

Accidents and Incidents

*On August 4, 1955,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

Flight 476, a

Convair CV-240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

flying from Tulsa to New York crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, after the No. 2 engine caught fire. While descending the right wing caught fire and eventually failed, crashing in a forest 1 km NW of the airport. All 30 occupants (3 crew, 27 passengers) died. The investigation revealed a defective cylinder in the No. 2 engine failed, causing the fire.

References

Other sources

* Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-1996-1167
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

: *
Order 2007-3-5
selecting Big Sky Transportation Co., d/b/a Big Sky Airlines, and Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at the above communities (Burlington, IA; Cape Girardeau, MO; Fort Leonard Wood, MO; Jackson, TN; Marion/Herrin, IL, Owensboro, KY) for the two-year period from June 1, 2007, through May 31, 2009, using 19-seat Beech 1900D turboprop aircraft as follows: Big Sky at Cape Girardeau, Jackson, and Owensboro for a combined annual subsidy of $3,247,440; and Great Lakes at Burlington, Fort Leonard Wood, and Marion/Herrin for a combined annual subsidy of $2,590,461. *
Order 2009-10-13
selecting Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd. to provide subsidized EAS at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for the two-year period from November 1, 2009, through October 31, 2011, at an annual subsidy of $1,292,906. *
Order 2010-9-9
selecting Hyannis Air Service, Inc. d/b/a Cape Air to provide EAS at Fort Leonard Wood, for an annual subsidy of $1,478,102, also for a two-year period beginning when the carrier inaugurates service. An additional $959,664 in annual subsidy may be incurred when all-cargo flights are used to transport luggage to/from Fort Leonard Wood.

External links

at Waynesville – St. Robert Chamber of Commerce * * {{authority control Airports in Missouri Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Missouri Essential Air Service Buildings and structures in Pulaski County, Missouri Forney Army Airfield