The first aeronautical event in Arkansas was the flight of a balloon around 1870 in Yell county. The first heavier than air flight was by James C. “Bud” Mars on 21 May 1910.

Events

*July 1930,

Walter Herschel Beech Walter Herschel Beech (January 30, 1891 – November 29, 1950) was an American aviator and early aviation entrepreneur who co-founded the Beech Aircraft Company (now called Beechcraft) in 1932 with his wife, Olive Ann Beech, and a team of three ...

, founder of

Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacturer of general avi ...

has an offer rejected to build a factory in

Arkansas City, Arkansas Arkansas City is a town in Desha County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 366 at the 2010 census. The town is the county seat of Desha County. Arkansas City's historic Commercial District, located at Desoto Avenue and Sprague Stree ...

, instead building the company in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

. *September 19, 1980, a major mishap occurred after a socket rolled off a platform and punctured a

Titan II The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a medium-lift space l ...

Stage I fuel tank, subsequently causing the entire silo to explode, killing an Air Force airman, SrA David Livingston, and destroying the silo near

Damascus, Arkansas Damascus is a town in Faulkner and Van Buren counties of central Arkansas, United States. The population of Damascus was 382 at the 2010 census. History Damascus is a town located in the Oark foothills on a platea surrounded by clear streams al ...

. A "B" grade television movie portrays this event, "

Disaster at Silo 7 ''Disaster at Silo 7'' is a 1988 American made-for-television thriller-drama film directed by Larry Elikann. It is loosely based on the 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion. Plot During routine maintenance of a liquid-fuelled ICBM, the fuel ...

". *1 April 1981 Arkansas native,

J. Lynn Helms Jonee (pronounced “Johnnie”) Lynn Helms (March 1, 1925 – December 11, 2011), known as Lynn Helms, was a US Marine Corps officer and former president of Piper Aircraft Corp. Due to his impressive aviation experience and solid Republican creden ...

is appointed as director of the FAA, serving through the 1981 Controller strike

Aircraft Manufacturers

* Dassault Aviation maintains a final assembly facility in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

for its Falcon series of jets.

Aerospace

Airports

* *

List of Airports in Arkansas This is a list of airports in Arkansas (a U.S. state), grouped by type and sorted by location. It contains all public-use and military airports in the state. Some private-use and former airports may be included where notable, such as airports that ...

Commercial Service

Organizations

* The Arkansas Aerospace Alliance is part of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Government and Military

*All flight operations in Arkansas are conducted within

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

oversight. *The Arkansas Department of Aeronautics was founded in 1966.

Museums

* Arkansas Air & Military Museum, Fayetteville, Arkansas *Fort Smith Air Museum,

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

References

{{Reflist, 2 Transportation in Arkansas