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Fort Sumner Municipal Airport

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This article is about the airport in New Mexico. For the South Carolina fort where the U.S. Civil War began, see Fort Sumter. For other uses, see Fort Sumner (disambiguation).
Fort Sumner Municipal Airport

Fort Sumner Army Airfield
USGS 2008 orthophoto
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerVillage of Fort Sumner
ServesFort Sumner, New Mexico
Elevation AMSL4,165 ft / 1,269 m
Map
FSU is located in New Mexico
FSU
FSU
Location in New Mexico
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
3/21 5,802 1,768 Asphalt
8/26 5,254 1,601 Asphalt
Statistics (2011)
Aircraft operations150
Based aircraft5

Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (IATA: FSU, ICAO: KFSU, FAA LID: FSU) is two miles northeast of Fort Sumner, a village in De Baca County, New Mexico.[1] The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a general aviation airport.[2]

History

The airfield's origins date to the 1920s when the Transcontinental Air Transport airline built an airfield in Fort Sumner as part of its coast-to-coast air passenger network, but the site was abandoned when the airline's plans collapsed in the Great Depression.

The airfield reopened in February 1941, and was rebuilt in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces as a World War II training airfield. It was assigned to the AAF Flying Training Command West Coast Training Center and was known as Fort Sumner Army Airfield. The flying cadets at the airfield were trained in advanced twin engine aircraft as phase three of their pilot training. The airfield had at least seven auxiliary landing fields, two of which have been identified:

The facility later became a Prisoner of War Camp in March, 1944 as pilot training was phasing down. Now Tucumcari Municipal Airport

On August 6, 1944, the airfield was transferred to Second Air Force, where it became a replacement facility for B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator crew training.

The facility was inactivated on November 15, 1945 and returned to civil control. It is now a public airport providing general aviation service.

The airport retains the large parking ramp from its training use. Two of the three wartime runways are still in use, the 00/18 runway now abandoned. The containment area street pattern still exists, with large numbers of foundations of wartime buildings still in evidence, including the foundations of a large cluster of what were probably the barracks of the POW Camp on the north side of the station.

NASA use

In the 1980s the airport was chosen as a launch site for NASA's high altitude balloon program. NASA spent about $100.000 to construct large insulated walls and air conditioning inside the one remaining wartime hangar so payloads could use the place in a controlled environment. Three bays with tall sliding doors that opened into the main hangar area provided a workable area for scientists and their payloads with large steel A-frames used to suspend the payloads. Other NASA buildings were constructed at the airport.

Current two operational balloon launch campaigns are conducted at the airport each year. These occur in the May–June and September–October timeframe surrounding the two stratospheric turnaround events. The NASA Ft. Sumner facility has grown in capability over the years and now includes a machine shop and still utilizes the old World War II hangar as a work area, storage area for support vehicles, and a hangar for NSBF aircraft during balloon flight operations.

Facilities

The airport covers 960 acres (388 ha) at an elevation of 4,165 feet (1,269 m). It has two asphalt runways: 3/21 is 5,802 by 75 feet (1,768 x 23 m) and 8/26 is 5,254 by 60 feet (1,601 x 18 m).[1]

In the year ending April 9, 2011 the airport had 150 general aviation aircraft operations. Five aircraft were then based at the airport: 60% single-engine and 40% multi-engine.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d FAA Airport Form 5010 for FSU PDF. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective April 5, 2012.
  2. ^ "2011–2015 NPIAS Report, Appendix A" (PDF, 2.03 MB). National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems. Federal Aviation Administration. October 4, 2010. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)


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