Decatur County Industrial Air Park is a county-owned public-use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located six nautical miles (11 km) northwest of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

Bainbridge Bainbridge may refer to: People *Bainbridge (name) Places * Bainbridge Township (disambiguation) United States * Bainbridge Island, Alaska * Bainbridge, Georgia * Bainbridge, Indiana * Bainbridge (town), New York ** Bainbridge (village), New Yo ...

, a city in

Decatur County Decatur County is the name of various past and present counties in the United States, all named for Stephen Decatur Commodore (United States), Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. (; January 5, 1779 – March 22, 1820) was a United States Navy of ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

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Facilities and aircraft

Decatur County Industrial Air Park Airport covers an area of at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. It has two

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

paved

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s: 9/27 is ; 14/32 is . For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2021, the airport had 17,350 aircraft operations, an average of 48 per day: 99%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

and 1%

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

. At that time there were 36 aircraft based at this airport: 35 single-

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

and 1 multi-engine.

History

Following entry of the United States into

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Chief of the Army Air Corps directed the

Air Corps Flying Training Command The Air Training Command (ATC) is a former United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command designation. It was headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, but was initially formed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. It was re-designated ...

Southeast Training Center to immediately take action to select air base sites needed to increase its pilot training rate to meet anticipated wartime demands. A level area near Bainbridge, northwest of the City adjacent to the Seaboard Air Line Railroad was selected by the Air Corps, and the City of Bainbridge and

purchased for $66,800 and then leased the property to the Army for $1 per annum for a basic flight training base authorizing 89.9 million for its construction. The contractor broke ground on 3 April 1942, for Bainbridge Army Airfield. The immediate construction involved runways and airplane hangars, with concrete runways, several taxiways and a large parking apron and a control tower. Several large hangars were also constructed. Initial construction reached completion on 25 August. During World War II, the airfield conducted flight training of new pilots by

Army Air Forces Flying Training Command An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on Ground warfare, land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include avia ...

. It was closed on 24 December 1944. With the airfield's closure, the Army Air Force gifted the base to the City and County. There was little need, however, for the airfield, and in the immediate postwar years, farmers leased the open areas of the airfield for cultivation and the cantonment area was used for various purposes. As a result of the Korean War which began in 1950 and the expansion of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Bainbridge Air Base Bainbridge Air Base is a closed United States Air Force base. It was inactivated on 31 March 1961. History Following entry of the United States into World War II, the Chief of the Army Air Corps directed the Air Corps Flying Training Comma ...

* was reopened to train additional pilots. The base was inactivated and returned to civilian control on 31 March 1961. Today, Bainbridge is used for various purposes in addition to a small amount of aviation activity. On the former base are several manufacturing plants. For a time, the Southern Airways built student housing was used by a mental health facility. Some of the remaining Southern Airways buildings are occupied by the Georgia Department of Corrections as a prison. The golf course built in the 1950s is still in use, and the World War II hangars are still in use. Through the years a lot of material has been gathered about the Southern Airways School and Bainbridge Air Base. The information is located at the Decatur County Museum.

References

* Shettle, M. L. (2005), Georgia's Army Airfields of World War II.

External links

Decatur County Industrial Air Park
page at

Georgia DOT The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Georgia. In addition to highways, the department also has a limited role in developi ...

Aviation website * * {{Airports in Georgia (U.S. state) 1942 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Airports established in 1942 Airports in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Decatur County, Georgia Transportation in Decatur County, Georgia Bainbridge, Georgia

Facilities and aircraft

History

See also

References

External links