Central Nebraska Regional Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Central Nebraska Regional Airport


USGS aerial photo - 7 Apr 1999
IATA: GRI – ICAO: KGRI – FAA: GRI
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Hall County Airport Authority
Serves Grand Island, Nebraska
Elevation AMSL 1,847 ft / 563 m
Coordinates 40°58′03″N 098°18′35″W / 40.9675°N 98.30972°W / 40.9675; -98.30972
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
17/35 7,002 2,134 Concrete
13/31 6,608 2,014 Concrete
Statistics (2008)
Aircraft operations 23,048
Based aircraft 37
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Central Nebraska Regional Airport (IATA: GRI, ICAO: KGRI, FAA LID: GRI) is a public use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) northeast of the central business district of Grand Island, a city in Hall County, Nebraska, United States. It is owned by the Hall County Airport Authority[1] and is served by one commercial airline, with service subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

Air Midwest, operating as US Airways Express, commenced service on October 29, 2006, with two daily flights to Omaha Eppley Airfield and one daily flight to Kansas City International Airport. Air Midwest ended service in May 2008, and Island Air planned to take over service, but then backed out. Allegiant Air began commercial air service out of Grand Island to Las Vegas on September 4th, 2008, along with Great Lakes' service to Kansas City.

Central Nebraska Regional Airport was selected to be the site of a new Chinook Helicopter Base. The Nebraska National Guard has been on site since 2004, with ground scheduled to be broken in 2006 and the base opening in 2008.

Contents

[edit] History

Central Nebraska Regional Airport was constructed as a military airfield by the United States Army Air Force in 1942. Grand Island Army Airfield as the facility was known while in military use, was one of eleven USAAF training bases in Nebraska during World War II. A portion of the 2,125 acre site was a former national defense airport. The site is bordered on all sides by farm ground. The Army Airfield was constructed, in part, over the pre-existing Grand Island Arrasmith Airport. To convert the existing airport into a military airfield, 173 buildings and structures were constructed at Grand Island Army Airfield.

The airfield was activated on 1 April 1943, under the command of Second Air Force Headquarters, Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado. It was used in the early part of the war to train bomber air crews. Later in the war, the field was a staging area for bomber crews preparing for assignments in Guam and Tinian in the Pacific Theater of Operations. It was also a Strategic Air Command base in 1946. Major engine and airframe repair facilities were available for B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress bombers. One bombardment training wing (Second Air Force), and three bombardment groups (Twentieth Air Force) were attached to Grand Island during the war.

The 242nd (Operational Training Unit, Very Heavy) of the 17th Bombardment Training Wing commanded the support elements at Grand Island AAF as part of Air Technical Service Command.

Known B-29 Superfortress units that trained at Grand Island AAF were:

24th, 39th and 40th Bombardment Squadrons
Deployed to Twentieth Air Force, Tinian
402nd, 411th, and 430th Bombardment Squadrons
Deployed to Twentieth Air Force, Guam
512th, 513th, 514th, and 515th Bombardment Squadrons
Inactivated 10 November 1945
716th, 717th, 718th, and 719th Bombardment Squadrons
Assigned to Strategic Air Command at Grand Island AAF
Inactivated 4 August 1946
77th, 717th, and 718th Bombardment Squadrons
Assigned personnel and equipment from inactivated 449th Bombardment Group, reassigned to Elmendorf AAF Alaska.

With the departure of the B-29 units the USAAF closed Grand Island Army Airfield on 31 October 1946. The facility was turned over to the City of Grand Island for use as a municipal airport and industrial park.

However the military use of the base did not end entirely. During the 1960s, Grand Island Regional Airport was utilized by Convair F-106 Delta Darts of the 328th Fighter Wing, 326th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron (Air Defense) of Air Defense Command as a dispersal base. These aircraft were deployed from Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base outside of Kansas City, Missouri. These dispersal flights ended in 1968.

Today, about a dozen military buildings still exist at Central Nebraska Regional Airport including several aircraft hangars, some former warehouses being used for commercial storage and several sheds along with the old parachute building.

[edit] Facilities and aircraft

Central Nebraska Regional Airport covers an area of 1,847 acres (747 ha) at an elevation of 1,847 feet (563 m) above mean sea level. It has two runways with concrete surfaces: 17/35 is 7,002 by 150 feet (2,134 x 46 m) and 13/31 is 6,608 by 100 feet (2,014 x 30 m).[1]

For the 12-month period ending January 1, 2008, the airport had 23,048 aircraft operations, an average of 63 per day: 64% general aviation, 22% scheduled commercial and 15% military. At that time there were 37 aircraft based at this airport: 62% single-engine, 5% multi-engine, 5% jet and 27% military.[1]

[edit] Airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations
Allegiant Air Las Vegas
Great Lakes Airlines Kansas City

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d FAA Airport Master Record for GRI (Form 5010 PDF), effective 2009-05-07.

[edit] Other sources

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

United States Air Force portal


Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Nebraska_Regional_Airport"
Personal tools