Muir Army Airfield was established as an airstrip in the 1930s and was originally the central parade ground and emergency landing field of the Fort Indiantown Gap military reservation. On July 12, 1941, the first airplane piloted by Major Edgar Scattergood, Air Office of the 28th Infantry Division, landed on the newly dedicated Muir Field.[2] The 3200x100 foot runway was of good size for fixed-wing aircraft at the time; however, the Army Corps of Engineers built the runway in a northeast-southwest direction. The prevailing wind blows out of the mountains from the northwest, so there is usually a permanent crosswind during normal weather conditions.
Muir Army Airfield currently accommodates 75 helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft, conducting about 70,000 take-offs and landings annually,[2] making it the second busiest helicopter base in the world.[5]
