Garden City Regional Airport

Garden City Regional Airport
Garden City Regional Airport
IATA: GCK – ICAO: KGCK
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	City of Garden City
Location	Garden City, Kansas
Elevation AMSL	2,890 ft / 880.9 m
Coordinates	37°55′39″N 100°43′28″W / 37.9275°N 100.72444°WCoordinates: 37°55′39″N 100°43′28″W / 37.9275°N 100.72444°W
Runways

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Garden City Regional Airport (IATA: GCK, ICAO: KGCK, FAA LID: GCK) is a public airport located eight miles (13 km) southeast of the central business district (CBD) of Garden City, in Finney County, Kansas, USA. The airport covers 1,848 acres (748 ha) and has two runways. It is mostly used for general aviation, but is also served by one commercial airline. Service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Great Lakes Airlines	Denver, Kansas City, Liberal, Salina

[edit] History

During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces used Garden City Airport as a training airfield by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, Gulf Coast Training Center. The facility was known as Garden City Army Airfield.

The immediate construction involved runways and airplane hangars, with five concrete runways, several taxiways and a large parking apron and a control tower. Four large hangars were also constructed. Buildings were ultimately utilitarian and quickly assembled. Most base buildings, not meant for long-term use, were constructed of temporary or semi-permanent materials. Although some hangars had steel frames and the occasional brick or tile brick building could be seen, most support buildings sat on concrete foundations but were of frame construction clad in little more than plywood and tarpaper.

The airfield opened in early 1942 and originally trained Royal Air Force pilots in basic flight training. In June 1943 it wa converted as part of the 70,000 Pilot Training Program into the Army Air Forces Pilot School (Basic) (later 49th Basic Flying Training Group). Flying cadets learned to fly with Vultee BT-13A Valiants. The BT-13 was the basic trainer flown by most pilots during WWII. It was the second phase of the three phase training program for pilots.

There were three auxiliary airfields associated with Garden City AAF which were built in 1943. On 15 December 1944 flying training ceased at the airfield and Garden City AAF was reassigned to Air Service Command, becoming an auxiliary storage depot for the Oklahoma City Air Depot, and was placed on standby status. On 27 April 1945, the airfield was reactivated as an aircraft storage depot, and for the next two years, may of the basic and primary training aircraft used by Air Training Command were flown to Garden City for storage, and ultimately sale or reclamation. The main Garden City Army Airfield and it's auxiliaries were closed at the end of the war in November 1945, and were declared excess by the military on 18 May 1947. Civil authorities developed the main airfield into Garden City Regional Airport.

Garden City Regional Airport's former status as Garden City AAF helped it serve an important role during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When orders were dispatched to ground all domestic flights, three large jets were ordered to land at GCRA as it was the closest airport with runways that could accommodate the planes. Since planes of such size don't normally use the airport, the passengers had to be evacuated with the aid of ladder trucks from the Garden City Fire Department.